Old town stroll: focus on the Panier district

Stroll to discover the monuments and must-see sites in the heart of Marseille's Old Town, the Panier district.

This walk begins in front of the Town Hall (1). Turn left around the building into Rue de la Prison. At the end of the street, take the stairs that lead to the Maison Diamantée (2).

Cross the Place Bargemon towards the bust of the Massaliote Euthymènes, famous navigator and explorer, and turn left along the restaurant terraces.

Before the staircase, turn right through an archway and cross Place Victor Gélu straight ahead into Rue Bonneterie.
At the corner you reach the Hôtel de Cabre (3) and turn left into the Grand' Rue.

You'll pass the bust of Honoré Daumier, a famous 19th-century Marseilles artist whose works were intended to comment on the social and political life of his day. Enjoy the view of the Hôtel Dieu (4) on your right and Place Bargemon on your left, with Notre Dame de la Garde in the background. You will also pass in front of the Daviel Pavilion (5), today an annex of the Hôtel de Ville. Jacques Daviel was King Louis XIV's surgeon. He was a famous ophthalmologist because he was the first to perform a cataract operation in 1745.
Pass the Accoules church and bell tower on your right (6), then climb the Montée des Accoules flight of stairs on your right (7).

At number 23 Montée des Accoules (8), fork right and continue up the stairs to Place des Moulins (9). Pass under the plane trees and at the end, go down the stairs of the rue des Moulins.

Turn right into Rue des Moulins and the first left into Rue Puis Saint-Antoine and Traverse Saint-Antoine. Stairs lead up to Place de Lorette.

Turn left onto rue de Lorette, which goes slightly uphill and continues into rue du Petit Puits.

Follow the signs to the Vieille Charité.

When you are in front of the main entrance of this former hospice (10), go under the plane trees that adorn the Place des Pistoles (11). At the end of the square, go up Rue du Panier for a few metres, then turn right into Rue du Refuge, which leads to another part of Montée des Accoules.
In front of the old building of the communal school of the girls, take on the right and at the end the stairs which make you arrive on the Place de Lenche.

Cross the square to the statue of Henri Tasso, a former socialist mayor of Marseille between 1935 and 1939. It was during his term of office that the terrible fire at Galeries Lafayette on La Canebière took place, claiming 73 victims on October 28, 1938. Since then, the municipal fire department has been disbanded and replaced by a military battalion of marine firefighters.

Walk along rue Saint-Laurent on the right until you reach the square in front of the Saint-Laurent church (12) and the belvedere where the statue of the teddy bear trainer stands. Enjoy the view of Fort St Jean (13), Tour du Fanal (13), Fort Saint-Nicolas (14) and the Old Port as a whole.


From here, you have two options:

- Take the Jean-Paul Chaix-Kohler staircase down to the Old Port and back to Hôtel de Ville (750 meters, 9-minute walk).

- Walk around the Saint-Laurent church and down the esplanade de la Tourette to reach the parvis des Cathédrales de la Major (POI) (500 meters, 5-minute walk).