France
Les Calanques de Marseille
Jagged white inlets slicing into the coast like fjords filled with Mediterranean turquoise.
The white limestone cliffs drop sheer into water of a blue that makes the sky look pale. The calanques stretch from the edge of Marseille to Cassis along a stretch of France's Mediterranean shore where every inlet — narrow, deep, turquoise — takes a scramble through pine and garrigue to reach. The effort is the filter and the swimming the reward.
The Calanques National Park, created in 2012, covers the coast and the sea between Marseille, Cassis and La Ciotat, the Frioul islands included, and it manages the crowds as much as the landscape: in summer the Calanque de Sugiton is open only by reservation, and the massif closes altogether on days of high fire risk. There is no driving to the water. From the gates of the park — the Col de l'Oule for the lookout over En-Vau, Luminy, Callelongue — you walk down, and each inlet has its own character: Sormiou and Morgiou with their cabins and tiny harbours, Sugiton's smooth rocks, En-Vau's sheer white walls enclosing a pool that is reached by a steep scramble, by kayak or by boat. The coast path links them with the sea always alongside, and the walls hold climbing routes from short pitches to long faces. Bring water; there is none out there.
Solo
The walk to En-Vau alone — through garrigue, down a steep scramble, into turquoise water between vertical white walls — is one of the finest half-days on the Mediterranean. The effort is the price of the water.
Friends
Kayaking between the calanques, a swim where the path allows it, climbing the limestone, drying off on the rocks and heading back to Marseille for pastis and panisse. The calanques turn any group into an expedition.
- White limestone inlets cut into the coast like miniature fjords — the water is transparent to the seabed.
- The coast path from Marseille to Cassis follows the cliff edge, dropping by steep paths to inlets that close on high fire-risk days — carry water; there is none out there.
- En-Vau is the most dramatic inlet — sheer white walls, a turquoise pool, and access only by scramble, kayak or boat.
- Rock climbers cover the calanque walls — routes from beginner to expert on featured limestone above the sea.
Panisse — fried chickpea-flour chips, hot and salty — from the stands at l'Estaque after climbing back from the coves.
Pastis on ice at a harbourside bar in Marseille or Cassis while the salt dries on your skin.
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