Marseille-Saint-Charles (Marseille)

The following train services depart from and and arrive Marseille-St Charles:

• TGV InOui trains to / from Paris Gare De Lyon, Aeroport CDG, Aix-en-Provence TGV, Angers, Antibes, Avignon TGV, Bruxelles, Cannes, Colmar, Dijon, Le Havre*, Le Mans, Lille, Lyon-Part Dieu, Luxembourg*, Marne La Vallée, Nancy*, Nantes, Nice, Metz*, Rennes, Rouen*, Strasbourg, St-Raphael, Toulon, Valence TGV Rhône-Alpes Sud and Versailles*
• Ouigo Grand Vitesse trains to / from Paris Gare De Lyon, Lille, Lyon, Aeroport CDG and Marne La Vallée
• the SNCF /DB train* to / from Karlsruhe, Mannheim and Frankfurt (Main)
• the SNCF / RENFE train* to / from Nimes, Montpellier-St Roch, Narbonne, Perpignan, Figueres-Vilifant, Girona, Barcelona, Zaragoza and Madrid
• Intercités trains to / from Agen, Beziers, Bordeaux, Carcassonne, Montpellier-St Roch, Nimes, Narbonne and Toulouse
• TER trains to / from Aix-en-Provence Centre, Antibes, Avignon Centre, Beziers, Briancon, Cannes, Gap, Hyeres, Lyon-Part Dieu, Montpellier-St Roch, Narbonne, Nice, Nimes, St-Raphael, Toulon and Valence-Ville.

*= 1 x train per day

There are detailed travel guides available for many of these journeys.

The night train to Paris departs from Marseille Blancarde station.

Marseilles St Charles is a terminus station so it’s comparatively easy to use.
The (voies) platforms/tracks are on the same level as the main concourse, which also houses ticket and information offices and the access to the metro station.
Changing trains simply involves walking from one voie (platform/track) to another via the main concourse, which is convenient as Marseille is where connections have to be made when travelling by train along the Mediterranean coast in France, between locations to the east such as Toulon, Nice and Cannes, and locations to the west such as Nimes and Montpellier.

Seven things worth knowing about Marseille-St Charles:

(1) At Marseille-Saint-Charles the voies (platform/tracks) by the main concourse have letters in place of numbers the run from A - N.

(2) Voies (platform/tracks) A - E are in the older part of the station, so for some of their length they are under the arched roof.
Voies F - N are between the older part of the train station and the adjacent bus station.

Voies F, G, H and I have canopies along their length, which are as long as the older station roof.
However, voies L - N have very short roofs which over little protection from inclement weather.

(3) Voies (platform/tracks) 1 and 5 are located away from the main comcourse, towards the far end of voie (platform/track) A.
They are used by some TER trains, particularly to and from destinations to the east, which includes the trains to Toulon and beyond.
So voies 1 -5 are some distance from the main concourse.

(4) Aside from its avenue of trees inside the station, the other untypical aspect of Marseilles St Charles is that the building also houses the city’s long distance bus station.
When looking at the departure screens don’t confuse the buses with the trains - the bus departure screens are labelled Gare Routière.

(5) A smart shopping area links the rail station and the bus station, so it can be a good location for picking up travel essentials.

(6) The station occupies an elevated position overlooking the city, so on a fine day the best location to wait for a train is on the huge terrace in front of the station with its magnificent views.
These views contribute to the station’s wow factor.

Due to the station's elevated position, the most famous aspect of the station is the flight of stairs that links Marseille St Charles to the Place De Marseillaises.

(7) As Marseille St. Charles train station is up on a hill, taking the metro between the station and the city centre is particularly recommended.
The Metro station by the harbour side in the downtown area of the city is named 'Vieux-Port - Hôtel de Ville'.

When planning a trip, finding convenient accommodation can be trickier than working out which train to take.
Hence ShowMeTheJourney has partnered with the innovative accommodation portal, Stay 22, to offer three options for discovering your optimum accommodation:

1: Use the map above to see which hotel rooms and Vrbo rentals, with easy access to Marseille-St Charles, are available.

2: Or click on these cherry-picked properties, offered by Stay 22 partner Booking.com, which are by Marseille-St Charles and have been selected on the basis of high guest ratings:

Holiday Inn Express Marseille Saint Charles

B&B Casa Ortega

Alex Hotel & Spa

ibis Styles Marseille Gare Saint-Charles

3: Or see what's available with Stay 22's accommodation partners; which include, Expedia, Hotels.com and Trivago - by clicking the large button below.
Stay 22 will 'shuffle' the booking services so that you can be automatically directed to its partner that currently has the optimum availability at this location.

ShowMeTheJourney has anticipated what questions are most often asked about taking trains to and from Marseille-St Charles and answered them below.
Though note that some of this info may be temporarily subject to change, due to the ongoing building work which will transform the station.

If you can't find the information you are seeking, you can ask a question by using the Travel Planning Service.

Yes, Marseille-St Charles is a terminus station so all of its voies (platforms / tracks) are on the same level as the main concourse, so travellers can simply walk to and from the trains

The heart of Marseille, around its harbour, is a 20 -30 minute walk from St Charles station.
The pedestrian route through a smart area of the city is:

1. Descend the staircase on the left of the station forecourt
2. From its foot, walk straight ahead along the Boulevard d'Athenes and go straight ahead when the street changes its name to Boulebard Dugommier.
3. Turn right on to the street named La Canebiere and at its end will be the harbour

The alternative is to take the Line M1 of the Marseille Metro, its blue line, to the station named Vieux Port.
Note that the walk from the harbour area to St Charles station is gently uphill and then the staircase has more than fifty steps.

Confirm your ferry departure terminal prior to following these routes:

To the Vieux Port ferry terminal

Take Line M1 of the Marseille Metro, its blue line, to the station named Vieux Port and it is adjacent to the ferry terminal for the shorter-distance routes to Pointe Roug, Estaque, les Goudes and the Frioul Islands.

To the La Joilette ferry terminal

The ferry terminal for [the departures to Corsica] (https://www.corsicalinea.com/eng/prepare-your-trip/the-ports/marseille) and and Algiers is within a 10 minute walk of Joilette metro station - take Metro line M2, the red line, from / to St Charles station.

The public transport network in and around Marseille is managed by RTM and it operates a pay-as-you-go system, so tickets are not issued - instead you can tap in and out of metro station ticket gates, trams and buses with a bank card.
Or if you will be spending an extended period of time in Marseille, multiple types of tourist cards can be purchased at certain stations, including St Charles, which can then also be used to tap in and out of the system.

There is seemingly only one restaurant with a full meal service in the building which houses St Charles station, the Caffe San Carlo, which is located on the lower level of the Gare Routiere bus station.

There are a few other cafes and fast-food outlets in Marseille-St Charles, including a McDonalds.

The left-luggage facility is not managed by SNCF and it is also somewhat awkwardly located outside the front of the building at street level - which is one level below the station concourse.
So the quickest route between it and the trains, is by using a staircase on the veranda in front of the station, by the outside seating for the branch of McDonalds.
The two elevators at the station, that opposite voies B and C, and the other by the bus station concourse, provide the step-free access.

Note that luggage can only be dropped off and collected during opening hours.

Yes, the station has a Grand Voyageur lounge, which can be accessed by those who will be travelling with Business Premiere tickets, on the TGV InOui services.
It is located on voie (platform / track) A, to the left of the SNCF Boutique / ticket hall.

Marseille is a great base for discovering the best of the south of France by train, railway lines fan out into the north and west for easy access to Provence - and to the east for easy access to the Côte d'Azur.

TER trains are the best option for exploring the areas around Marseille and a plus is that tickets for these trains cost the same price if you book them last minute at the station.

Therefore you can be spontaneous and decide where to go on the next day of your travels.

Though if you want to head to a specific destination that day, look up your journey before heading to St Charles station.

Trains in France don't tend to depart to regular timetables, but a plus of being based in Marseille is that the trains on most of the TER routes depart fairly frequently.

From Marseille to the east by train:

To Toulon:
For travel between Marseille and Toulon target the TER trains, tickets for these will cost the same when purchased at the station as the prices charged online, so there’s no need to book in advance.
Timetables are available here -  look up ligne 01.
It’s worth heading to the upper deck on these TER, from the right (when facing the direction of travel) there are some great views of the coast.

To Hyéres:
Ligne 01 also has the train times for the line branch between Toulon and Hyéres. Many of the trains on the line to Hyéres are direct from/to Marseille.
The journey time by TER train between Toulon and Hyéres is around 20 mins.

From Marseille to the north by train:

To Aix-en-Provence:
It’s an easy trip by train from Marseiles to Aix-en-Provence, but avoid the TGVs, they call at Aix-en-Provence TGV station, which is 15km from the town.
In contrast the Gare d'Aix-en-Provence Ville station is a 5-10 min walk from the old town - and there are more than 30 x trains per day to this station from Marseille St-Charles.
However, avoid turning up at Marseille St Charles station in the expectation of hopping on a train; the timetable is irregular, so there can be gaps of more than an hour between departures.
On Mon-Fri there are no trains between 09:51 and 11:16 and at weekends the interval between trains can be even longer.
Check the train times here , look up ligne 12.

From Marseille to the west by train:

To Avignon:
To travel between Marseille and Avignon by train, the best of several options is to take the faster TER trains from Marseille St-Charles to Avignon Centre.
The journey time by these trains is only around 1hr 10mins but there are only five of these trains per day.
Slightly slower and slightly more frequent are the TER trains via Arles.
The timetable can be looked up from here - select Ligne 08 - the fast trains are marked by the black diamonds.
Looking up the times of these trains between Marseilles St Charles and Avignon Centre, before heading to the station, is highly recommended; this is a route on which there are fewer trains than you might expect.

To Arles:
You can also use the Ligne 08 timetable to check the departure times of the trains between Marseille and Arles.
As will be seen the average journey time by train between Marseilles and Arles is only 50-55mins and in most hours a TER train departs for Arles from Marseille St Charles.

To Martigues:
By far the most spectacular journey by train when travelling west from Marseille by train is the ‘Cote Bleu’ route between Marseille and Mirimas via Martiques and Port De Bou.
The route lives up to its name by following the rocky coastline providing more than 30 minutes of spectacular views.
Though the train initially makes drab progress through the Marseille docks area.
There are departures from Marseille and Mirimas approximately every two hours – click here and then select the Ligne 07 timetable.

There are also trains between Mirimas and both Arles and Avignon Centre, so a highly recommended day trip from Marseilles is:
(1) Take a ‘Cote Bleu’ train from Marseilles St-Charles to Mirimas (via Martiques)
(2) Take a train from Mirimas to Arles
(3) Explore Arles and take a train back to Marseilles on the Ligne 08 route via Mirimas and Vitrolles.

Not only is Marseille a great base for exploring the south of France by train, it's also a fabulous city in which to spend time between trains.

6 Great Attractions to Visit in Marseille (Snoppy Alien)

15 Best Things To Do (The Crazy Tourist)

Five Top Sights Plus Day Trip Suggestions (The Telegraph)

Top Attractions (The Culture Trip)

Unusual Things To Do (Atlas Obscura)

The Top Rated Attractions (Planet Ware)