A short guide

A city that rewards doing very little. Long lunches, water you can swim in from the rocks, and enough good food to make five days feel short.

Eat

Poissonnerie Kennedy - the best meal in the city. Fish, an outside table, dress up slightly. Book ahead.

Cielo - a small Italian inside the Jogging Jogging store. Pasta, wine, the tiramisu.

Bonnies - the menu changes daily. The fish curry, if it's on.

Pétrin Couchette - good coffee and an excellent BLT. Next door to Maison Empereur, so go afterwards.

Loulou Monsieur Glace - the best ice cream in Marseille. Get the frozen yoghurt with toppings at least once.

Tuba Club - the hardest reservation in Marseille and worth it for the setting alone: cliffs, blue water, a world away. Order the madeleines.

Buy

Maison Empereur - a hardware shop that sells everything, including Liberty fabric. The fragrance room, the linen room, and the soap.

Jogging Jogging - Paloma Wool, Simone Rocha, Rier.

Focus Focus - an independent optician on rue Paradis, with a selection worth the detour even if you don't need glasses.

Ensemble - photography books, editions and a few objects, from the people behind Loose Joints.

Swim

Calanques National Park - an hour and a half each way and hot on the return. Take a baguette and stay for the day.

Piscine maritime des Auffes — a sea pool cut into the rocks, a short walk from Malmousque. Swim, then eat.

Stay

Hotel 96 - family-run, residential, a pool you'll have to yourself. You'll need a car.

Also

Dormir comme le soleil, Centre de la Vieille Charité - six hundred recycled linens, hand-dyed and embroidered. Free, and the building alone is worth the trip. Go early.