Plan a group trip
A cruise ship moored below a pastel hillside town on the Mediterranean coast

Country guide

Cruise ports in France

2 ports we cover in France, across the Western Mediterranean. Each guide covers how ships berth, how far the town is and what a group can do with the day.

  • Western Mediterranean
  • 2 port guides

Practical basics

Drawn from the individual port guides below. Currency, language and berthing can differ between ports in the same country, so the detail that matters is on each port's own page.

Plan a group cruise calling at France

How France's ports compare

The two French ports on a Western Mediterranean week are opposites in almost every respect. Marseille is France’s oldest city and largest working port, and its cruise terminal sits 10 km from anything a visitor wants. Villefranche is a village with a natural harbour deep enough for any ship afloat and no pier at all.

That means Marseille is a walk-off berth you cannot walk anywhere from, and Villefranche is a tender port that lands you in the middle of somewhere worth being. For a group, Villefranche costs time at both ends of the day but removes the transfer entirely.

What each reaches differs too. Marseille opens onto Provence — Aix, the Calanques, Avignon in a long day. Villefranche opens onto the Riviera, with Nice fifteen minutes away by train and Monaco ten beyond that, on a cheap and frequent coastal railway that beats a coach in summer traffic.

Every France cruise port

Regions France sits in

Other countries with cruise ports

Taking a group to France

Five cabins or more held together as one block, quoted once, with each household booking and paying separately. Tell us roughly when and how many.

Get group rates