Calanques of Cassis and Marseille Boat Tour from Bandol

Bandol harbour and the Var coast

Bandol is a lively seaside town on the Var coast between Marseille and Toulon, with a palm-lined promenade, a busy marina and small sandy beaches. Its harbour is the starting point for many boat trips, and the afternoon departure of this tour lets you enjoy a relaxed morning on the beach or in the old streets before boarding.

As the boat leaves Bandol it follows the coast west past the headlands of Saint-Cyr-sur-Mer and Les Lecques towards La Ciotat. This first part of the route gives you a good look at the wooded hills and small coves of the Var, and it is a pleasant warm-up before the dramatic cliffs of the national park. If you are looking for things to do in Bandol, a Calanques boat trip from the harbour is one of the most popular choices.

La Ciotat: Île Verte, Bec de l'Aigle, Mugel and Figuerolles

The eastern entrance of the Calanques National Park lies off La Ciotat. Here the boat passes between Île Verte, the only wooded island along this coast, and the Bec de l'Aigle, a huge cliff of reddish conglomerate rock shaped like an eagle's beak. The rock here is very different from the white limestone further west, made of pebbles and sand cemented together millions of years ago.

Next come two small calanques of La Ciotat. Mugel lies at the foot of the Bec de l'Aigle, with a park of exotic plants behind its cove, while Figuerolles is a narrow inlet framed by eroded red cliffs and a small pebble beach. These quiet calanques are less known than those near Cassis, which makes seeing them from the sea a real bonus of this Calanques tour.

Cap Canaille and Cassis

Between La Ciotat and Cassis the coast rises into Cap Canaille, a band of ochre and red cliffs that climb almost 400 metres straight out of the sea, among the highest sea cliffs in Europe. Along the top runs the Route des Crêtes, a famous panoramic road, and from the water you can clearly see the layers of rock that give the cliffs their striped look.

The boat then crosses the bay of Cassis, a charming fishing port with pastel houses, a castle on the hill and a small harbour full of traditional boats. Cassis is the classic starting point for exploring the calanques, and seeing it from the sea, framed by Cap Canaille, is one of the most beautiful views of the whole Provence coast.

Port-Miou, Port-Pin and En Vau

West of Cassis the boat enters the heart of the national park, created in 2012 as the first national park in Europe to cover land, sea and the edge of a large city. Port-Miou is the longest calanque, a former stone quarry that is now a sheltered harbour lined with sailing boats. Next door, Port-Pin is a smaller inlet with a little beach shaded by Aleppo pines.

Then comes En Vau, often called the jewel of the calanques. Sheer white cliffs and limestone needles rise on both sides of a narrow channel of turquoise water that ends at a small pebble beach. Reaching En Vau on foot means a steep hike, so many people ask how to get to En Vau the easy way: by boat, as on this tour, you see the whole inlet from the water without any climbing.

Devenson, Sugiton, Morgiou and the Cosquer Cave

Beyond En Vau the cliffs of L'Oule and Devenson rise high above the sea, and the boat passes the small calanque of Saint-Jean-de-Dieu at the foot of Mont Puget. Sugiton, with its rocky islets and clear water, is a favourite swimming spot for the people of Marseille, who reach it on foot from the university campus above.

Morgiou is famous for its cabanons, the simple fishermen's cabins that cluster around a tiny harbour. Just beyond lies La Triperie, a small calanque where a diver discovered the Cosquer Cave, whose entrance is 37 metres below the surface. Inside, prehistoric people painted horses, bison and even seals and penguins more than 20,000 years ago, at a time when the sea was much lower.

Sormiou, the largest calanque

The last calanque on the route is Sormiou, the largest in the national park and the closest to Marseille. Its wide bay is surrounded by white limestone walls and pine-covered slopes, with a sandy beach, a small harbour and more of the traditional cabanons that give the Marseille calanques their character.

After Sormiou the boat turns back east and follows the same spectacular coast to Bandol, giving you a second chance to photograph the cliffs in the softer light of late afternoon. The best time to visit the Calanques by boat is from spring to autumn, when the sea is usually calm; on windy days the captain may adapt the route for comfort and safety.