Gay Marseille
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France’s largest commercial port, Marseille is a vibrant city. Sometimes you barely realize that you’re in France, with landmarks like the Byzantine-style Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde, a beloved church with great vistas, the city’s most photographed sight. Open-air markets let you know that North Africa is not far away, and the amount of Italian you hear on the street is a reminder that a third of the population can trace their roots back to Italy. Almost every exploration of the city starts at the Vieux Port, or Old Port, flanked by two ancient forts.
Palaeolithic cave paintings in the underwater Cosquer cave, near the Morgiou calanque, dating between 27,000 and 19,000 BC, and neolithic brick habitations from around 6000 BC are evidence of long-time human habitation. Called the oldest city in France, Μασσαλία was founded as a trading port in 600 BC, by Greeks from Phocaea. As the Roman city of Massalia it thrived, contributing goods and wine from inland Gaul to the wealth of the empire. The rule of Visigoths, Frankish kings, the Emperor Charlemagne and the Carolingian dynasty followed.
During the 18th century Marseille became France's leading military port in the Mediterranean, with a major role in French imperial conquests from 1830 onwards, in Algeria/Morocco and other parts of Africa, and in Southeast Asia. After WWII over a million immigrants came to France through the city, many from former colonies. Those who stayed gave the city a French-African quarter with it's famous market.
As with just about any port city, Marseille has an active gay scene. Locals aren’t into public displays of affection seen in Paris, so you won’t see many men holding hands on the street; but the Marseille Gay Pride each July is an open and festive occasion with parade and downtown street party, now embraced by much of the population at large. The nearby cities of Avignon, Montpelier, and Nîmes, form a regional triangle with Marseille; each has it's own gay scene.
Getting here
Marseille Provence Airport is about 12 miles northwest of the city. It’s France’s second largest gateway, so there are direct connections from almost everywhere except North America. You’ll likely have to transfer in Paris. Trains and buses, each running every 20 minutes or so, will get you from Vitrolles station to Marseille in 25 minutes for around five to ten euros. Take the 5 minute shuttle bus at quay 2 from the terminal building. Arles, Avignon, Montpelier, and Nimes also have direct rail links, and for Aix-en-Provence there's a bus. Shuttle buses and taxis are also standing by to take you to your hotel. For Cannes, Nice and Toulon, change at Marseille. The Gare Saint Charles, main train station, has national and regional rail connections provided by SNCF and TER
Getting around
Downtown Marseille is crisscrossed by bus routes, 30 stations on two lines of the Metro train system, and a tramway - all operated by RTM. Single trip fares are €1.70, or €2 on board the bus. Ten trip multi-user cards are €14. A 24-hour pass costs €5.20 and for 72 hours it's €10.80. For an overview of local transit in English see UrbanRail/Marseille.
From the Tourist Office you can buy a City Pass for a day (€26), two days (€33), or three days (€41), with unlimited access to all RTM routes, entry to 15 museums, a boat trip, a guided tour of Chateau d'If fortress, and the train to the Basilica of Notre-Dame de la Garde. Taxis are a good bet late at night, and to see the other towns and villages of Provence, a car rental is useful.
To bike around town, sign up for five euros at the website of Le Vélo to use their network of 1,000 self-service stations, 6am to midnight all year round, roughly 300 meters apart all over town. As with similar plans in other cities, the 30 first minutes of each trip are free of charge, so short trips cost nothing.
Currency and Money
France is part of the Euro Zone, so the euro is the accepted currency. There are plenty of ATMs in the downtown area.
Media & Resources
LOM, the gay magazine for cities in the south of France, is published every other month - read back issues online or follow their links.
TarpinBien also has listings of LGBT venues, restaurants and upcoming events of interest.
Têtu is the national gay magazine, packed with interesting features and profiles. It’s also one of the slickest gay magazines ever produced, and they publish periodic gay listings guides for all of France.
LGBT en Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur - LGBT-PACA is the local activist group with information resources, social activities and events such as film screenings - at various locations around the region.
Lez Community blogsite has articles and lists resources and events of interst to women/lesbians throughout the area.
For the local Office of Tourism with hotels, restaurants and events listings, see Marseille.
See listings of gay and gay-friendly businesses, with map locations and website links, at our gay Marseille listings tab.
See our Marseille activities page for tips on local beaches, sights such as the Chateau d'If, Notre-Dame de la Garde and vieille Major Cathedral, plus the cafe/restaurants, concert halls and shopping centers of the area from Vieux Port to Les Terrasses du Port.
Going Out
l'Annexe (7, rue Saint-Bazile), 6pm - 2am daily gay/mixed bar, terrace, themed evenings, dancing, live music.
Aux 3G (3 rue Saint-Pierre), women's association bar for lesbians open Thursday-Saturday nights, with DJs, dancing and theme events.
Brasserie Les Danaîdes (6 square Stalingrad), gay-popular bistro, all-day cafe, 12-3pm lunch, grand terrace on the square.
Caffe Noir (3 rue Moustier), bar and bistro cafe, lunch, sandwiches, omelets, steaks, salads, cocktails, events.
Dock des Suds (12 rue Urbain V, Docks), entertainment, World Music concert venue, Pride dance parties and special events.
L'Endroit (242 route des 3 Lucs, La Valentine), lively Wednesday through Saturday resto/disco club east of Marseille, gay-friendly mix, DJs, dancing, go-go boys and girls, shows, karaoke, Latin and women's nights.
Flamingo (7 rue Venture, Vieux Port), Saturday night gay dance club on two levels, midnight to 7am Sunday morning.
Le Mineshaft (28 rue Mazagran), men's Friday and Saturday night leather/fetish sex club; BDSM and fisting nights, Dog Party, leather shop.
Le Pulse (94 cours Julien, Notre Dame du Mont), gay/mixed wine/cocktils bar, men/women, terrace, electronic music DJ sets; formerly E-Wine Bar.
Le Trash (28 rue du Berceau), men's cruise bar/sex club, bear nights, naked strippers, fetish parties, leather porn shows, DJ sets.
New Cancan (3 rue Sénac de Meilhan), popular nightly gay disco, entertainers/shows, go-go boys, special parties including Scream.
Play Bar (133 rue Breteuil), Wednesday through Sunday gay cocktails and music bar, afterwork crowd, variety of music styles, special theme parties.
Polikarpov (24 Cours Honoré d'Estienne d'Orves), vodka bar, gay-friendly mixed crowd, art exhibits, Wednesday live music and weekend DJ sets.
CLOSED: Cerber Cruise Bar (147 avenue des Chartreux), men's cruise club, porn videos, naked nights; Crazy Time at venues, every other month gay dance/circuit parties; Link Hall (11 rue Moustier, Vieux Port), gay/mixed bar, beer and wine, karaoke.
Saunas & Sex
Cargo Club (7 rue Moustier), large men's bathhouse complex, saunas, pool and spa, private cabins, cafe/bar, cruise and sex club.
Klub Cruising (82 La Canebière), daily noon to 8pm, weekends 3-11pm men-only cruise bar, cabins, maze, showers, TV lounge and BDSM area. Took over MP Sauna space by New Cancan Club.
Sauna Salvador (20, boulevard Salvator), two hammans, two saunas, private cabins, slings, S&M backroom playspace.
The Eros Center (5 boulevard Garibaldi), four-level straight and gay sex shop, toys, accessories, DVD videos, dark cinema cruising, and cabins.
See some restaurant and hotel/guesthouse suggestions at our map and listings pages.