Discover the Calanques national park between Cassis and Marseille which boasts a magnificent collection of deep white cliffs and clear blue sea waters which span over 20km.
There are two ways to experience the beauty of the wild Calanques national park:
- hiking along the many trails
- by sea
Access Calanques by sea
For the sea option, we do not recommend to take one of the many ferry boats from Cassis or Marseille which visit 3, 4, 5 or more Calanques. These boats only stop very briefly at each Calanque and are full of people all wanting to take the same picture 🙂 Because the boats are pretty big, they also are not allowed to go into the calanques.
A better option would be to
- hire a private boat (for 8-10 people or more)
- use the services of Bleu Evasion – small boats with time for a swim in the Calanques, underwater camera and scuba diving masks!
- hire a sea kayak in Cassis (Port-Mioux calanque) – with a kayak you can go into the Calanques and actually go on to the beach
Access Calanques by land
We took the first option – a good walk on one of the many trails. We took the hiking trail which starts at the Port-Mioux Calanque in Cassis. After +/- 1h30m you'll arrive at the beach ‘Plage d'En Vau' which is magnificent! (second picture below!). Oh, and don't forget to take your food, drinks and swimsuit for this walk!
In summer months the access to the Calanques via the trails is limited for safety reasons (wood fires). You can view the current situation at the site http://www.calanques13.com/. Most of the time the Calanques are still accessible between 6am till 11am in the morning (which is really the best time to visit during the hot summer months). We don't recommend this walk with young children because the rocky trail is sometimes very steep and tiring.
Beautiful pictures!