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Private excursion In Marseille


Larainerenee8
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There are some tour companies online.  I do not recall seeing many recommendations for private tours/guides out of Marseille.  But to get a car/driver/guide you can expect to pay 500€ plus for a day.  As to doing both Aix and Marseille in a day it would be a matter of limiting what you can see and do in both places....but yes it could be done.   Mind you, it is certainly not something we would do :).  On the other hand, we also don't use tour guides in this part of Europe.

 

Hank

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We used One Day in Provence just last week and really enjoyed our day.  We were in port in Marseilles and went to Aix, then Cassis.   At the end of the day we went to Marseilles, but it was raining so we didn't get out much.  We went to the Basilica, which was wonderful. 

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 11/24/2018 at 7:16 PM, TupeloHoney said:

We went with Tour Designer and designed our own one day tour when we were in Provence.  We went to Arles and Les Baux and to a place that makes olive oil.  It was a fantastic tour.  She worked with us to put together something that would make everyone in the family happy.

https://www.provence-travel.com/ 

May I ask how much was the day tour?

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  • 2 weeks later...

Our group of 4 did a tour with a tour company and had a great time with our guide and driver Simon. He is now running his own tour business and I would highly recommend him. He picked us up in Marseille. From there we went to Aix-en-Provence, followed by a fantastic cliff top view of Cassis, then onto Cassis town, and finally back to Marseille cathedral with panoramic view of the city. His calls his business Simon Says Provence Tours; I'm working on trying to get contact information for him.

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On 10/22/2018 at 7:58 PM, nybumpkin said:

We took a tour wth Provence Connection: http://provence-connection.com/cruise_passengers/arriving_in_marseille.html.  We didn't go to Aix - we did their tour to Avignon, St. Remy, Les Baux and Arles - but can recommend their tours. We had a really good tour.

We also did this tour with Provence Connection and can recommend it.  Can't believe how much we actually saw in one day.  On a different trip we did Aix.  However we did not combine it with Marseille and spent most of the day in Aix.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Oh, please look into 1388, France.   Michel our tour guide in the South of France was incredible.  It was a small van tour organized by an individual on our roll call.  Truly a day like no other.  To say we felt like locals and enjoyed a variety of activities is an understatement.  Michel was happy to please us. Touring the coast,  visiting a market day Sanary sur Mer, French bocce with wine along the coast, a wonderful lunch stop, a few church stop and a winery to boot.  

 A wonderful day to remember.  You can’t go wrong!

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  • 2 weeks later...

 

One of the best tours we ever had was with William of One Day in Provence.  He is one of the owners and a very professional tour guide.  We spent time going over what we wanted to see on our private (four of us) tour.  He has lots of great suggestions and I highly recommend that you try this tour company.  I'm in the process of booking again with him for when /i am in Marseille this spring

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thank you for this very helpful information! I'm looking into all the suggested options (listed below to help others) but I'm running into one problem - they are all for up to 8 people and we're a group of 9! Ugh.

So far I think the De Baux castle sounds like a great option with kids. I'm curious if anyone has gone to Arles and seen the Vincent Van Gogh and if they enjoyed that. I'm still trying to figure out what to do during our time at point. Our family wants to see sites as much as possible.

https://onedayinprovence.com

https://www.provence-travel.com/

http://provence-connection-tours.com/cruise_passengers/arriving_in_marseille.html

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Those are three very good tour providers.  Do send a message to each of them describing the size of your group.  If there are younger children, they may be able to fit all of you in a van, or they may have other options.  Don't go just by the info in their websites. Ask.

 

Les Baux-de-Provence is an entire medieval village, more than just a castle.

http://www.lesbauxdeprovence.com/en/discover/culture-and-heritage

 

Just the same, there is a lot more to Arles than Van Gogh, for example, the Roman arena.  The Van Gogh Foundation has a very limited display of Van Gogh paintings and it is really dedicated to his influence in modern art  That will be the main focus of its exhibits.  If you are a Van Gogh admirer, you will see landscapes and scenes he painted not only in Arles, but throughout the entire region.  Of particular interest could be just outside Saint-Remy-de-Provence where you can visit the St-Paul-de-Mausole psychiatric institution where he was confined.

http://www.vangoghroute.com/france/saint-remy-de-provence/

 

If you want to see as many sites as possible, a great option would be les Baux and Avignon.  Avignon has a spectacular palace and much more.  St Remy is between both of them and that would make for a very good tour day.  Or you could go to les Baux, Arles and Nimes.  Many choices. . .

 

Also, the private tour companies will customize their tours to suit your interests.  Their set standard tours are popular combinations of places to visit.  If you are interested in something in particular (for example, the Pont du Gard), just ask and they may be able to add it to one of their standard tours. 

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  • 1 month later...

Hello there, for those of you who have used "One Day In Provence" did you have a hard time getting a hold of them?  I have emailed multiple times to ask questions and set up a private tour and I am not hearing back from them. I'm also checking my spam folder. 

 

Did they reply back to you right away?  Or is it usual to wait a week or two for a reply?  I'm reaching out about a tour day in June.

Edited by Kimmus66
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5 hours ago, Kimmus66 said:

Hello there, for those of you who have used "One Day In Provence" did you have a hard time getting a hold of them?  I have emailed multiple times to ask questions and set up a private tour and I am not hearing back from them. I'm also checking my spam folder. 

 

Did they reply back to you right away?  Or is it usual to wait a week or two for a reply?  I'm reaching out about a tour day in June.

I had no problem before with them but noticed in the past six months it has been very difficult to get hold of them.. I am going back to Marseille and wanted to tour with William again.  I sent numerous emails and no answer.  When I did get one after 4 1/2 months I found I had another question.   Still waiting for an answer.  At this point, I would not deal with them

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Thank you so much for the reply.  OMG, 4 1/2 months for a reply.  All I can say is NEXT!  I"m glad I inquired. I thought maybe I was being impatient.

 

I emailed another tour company called Provence Private Tour today and they replied back to me within hours.  I think I am going to do a Aix en Provence & Cassis Tour with them, as well as a Nice & Saint Paul de Vence Tour.

 

Thanks again.

Kim

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On 2/13/2019 at 8:48 PM, LipstickLeslie said:

Thank you for this very helpful information! I'm looking into all the suggested options (listed below to help others) but I'm running into one problem - they are all for up to 8 people and we're a group of 9! Ugh.

So far I think the De Baux castle sounds like a great option with kids. I'm curious if anyone has gone to Arles and seen the Vincent Van Gogh and if they enjoyed that. I'm still trying to figure out what to do during our time at point. Our family wants to see sites as much as possible.

https://onedayinprovence.com

https://www.provence-travel.com/

http://provence-connection-tours.com/cruise_passengers/arriving_in_marseille.html

Hello, my parents are in a group of 10. Considering that the max capacity is 8, I was thinking of booking 2 cars (with 5 people each). Did you have any luck? Thanks

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4 of us have booked a private tour from Marseille with ItalyTours.EU.  It's 8 hours, and we plan to go to Aix en Provence and Cassis in December.  Cost is 145 Euros per person.  We saw some great reviews of this company, and they do tours in both Italy and France.  We have also booked them to take us from our hotel in Rome to the port with touring along the way and touring after we drop off our luggage at the ship.  

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frenchhorn-

Cassis is a summer town.  Most things will be closed in December.  Also, the boats that take you to the Calanques will not be running or will be on very limited weather-dependent schedules.  In 8 hours you can go to Aix and some other place - Les Baux, Arles, etc. 

Edited by marazul
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28 minutes ago, marazul said:

frenchhorn-

Cassis is a summer town.  Most things will be closed in December.  Also, the boats that take you to the Calanques will not be running or will be on very limited weather-dependent schedules.  In 8 hours you can go to Aix and some other place - Les Baux, Arles, etc. 

We're interested in the Cassis market, particularly because it's Christmas season.  We are there on a Saturday.  Definitely would not want to go out on the boat to Calanques in December even if it were running!  We've been to Les Baux, although we considered visiting Le Lumiere Carriere, since we haven't been there.  We've also been to Arles.  Second visits to either aren't out of the question, though.    

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The Cassis Christmas market runs from November 28 through December 8 in 2019.  

 

The Christmas markets in Aix (Cours Mirabeau) and Marseille (Vieux Port) are very large and run through December.  The one in Aix is excellent.  There are also "Santons" markets (Foires aux Santons) in both places for at least the whole month of December.  They are at the Esplanade Cézanne in Aix and at the Place Général de Gaulle in Marseille. 

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