Experience the best of La Ciotat

La Ciotat's harbour, ringed by café terraces and painted houses, has built ships for centuries; its yards sent vessels down the slipways until the late 1980s and now refit large yachts. The Lumière brothers had a summer villa here and filmed a train pulling into the station in the mid-1890s, and the Eden Théâtre claims to be the oldest cinema still working.

Offshore, the small Île Verte sits just beyond the bay, reached by boat. To the west, Cap Canaille rises nearly 400 metres out of the sea in red-ochre cliffs, and the clifftop Route des Crêtes links La Ciotat to Cassis with views down the coast. The limestone creeks known as calanques, with their turquoise water, begin beyond Cassis.

Bouillabaisse, grilled sea bream and fish soups are the local order of the day, with a glass of pastis or cool rosé on the terraces. Cassis white wine comes from the vineyards just along the coast. Swimming is warmest from June to September, while spring brings the scent of wild herbs on the hills.