Arrival: Accommodation in Bandol

Hotel Key Largo is located on the southern tip of Bandol

Overnight stay in Bandol

The first stage of our long-distance hike starts in Bandol, a small town on the Côte d'Azur, and is quite strenuous at 20 km. It is therefore advisable to plan your arrival in such a way that you already spend the night in Bandol on the day of arrival and can start hiking in the morning of the next day.

We stayed at Hotel Key Largo on our tour (Link: Hotel Key Largo), which is located on the southern tip of Bandol. From the hotel's breakfast room you have a great view of the small offshore island Île de Bendor. This belongs to the empire of Paul Ricard, who has made it very prosperous with his pastis brand. The island is now a popular destination (further information: www.lesilespaulricard.com).

The excursion island Île de Bendor in the morning light

Back to the hotel: The 2-star Hotel Key Largo is located right at the starting point of our long-distance hike and, in our opinion, offers very good value for money with new bathrooms and clean rooms. The biggest plus is the lovingly prepared breakfast with many homemade delicacies!

Tip: Those arriving by car can use the free parking lot "Parking Deferrari" directly in front of the hotel and leave their car there for the entire hike (without surveillance).

Panoramic window at the Hotel Key Largo overlooking the Île de Bendor and the free car park

Rather simple but clean rooms in the Hotel Key Largo in Bandol

Hotel Key Largo: Newly renovated bathrooms

Lovingly prepared breakfast at Hotel Key Largo

Stage 1: Accommodation

The boutique hotel Bérard is spread over several buildings - the reception is in the building on the right in the picture

Stay overnight in La Cadière-d'Azur

La Cadière-d'Azur is located a few kilometers from the Mediterranean coast on a hill surrounded by vineyards and agriculture. The center of La Cadière-d'Azur consists essentially of the oblong town hall square and the street running past it. Several restaurants, the post office, a bar, a bakery, a grocery store and a fruit and vegetable store have set up store here. A place that, because of its compactness, could well serve as the setting for a French textbook. Lively, but not overcrowded - that's all you need after a day of hiking!

However, the choice of accommodation here is somewhat limited: Directly in the center next to the post office is the boutique hotel Bérard with attached star restaurant (link: Boutique hotel Bérard). There we stayed on our hike (double room without breakfast usually at least 110€). The view from the balcony was great, the room okay, but quite small. But you are right in the center of town.

The only alternative we know of in La Cadière-d'Azur is the outlying bed & breakfast Les Oliviers La Cadiere (link: Les Olivier's La Cadiere). There, a French couple rents exactly one guest room with private bathroom and breakfast as a "chambre d'hôtes" (guest room) in a villa with pool.

Beautiful view from the room balcony in the boutique hotel Hostellerie Berard & Spa

Bathroom in boutique hotel Bérard

Classic, partly a bit narrow rooms in the only hotel in La Cadièr-d'Azur

Stage 2: accommodation

Overnight in La Ciotat

La Ciotat is primarily an industrial and port city, but it also has a small old town with a pedestrian zone. Exactly there is also La Maison d'Odette (Link: La Maison d'Odette), a recently renovated townhouse where three spacious guest rooms are rented (one mini-apartment per floor).

Very tastefully decorated with elements from the 1930s, as well as WiFi, flat-screen, and Nespresso coffee machine, the B&B is run by Camille and her team, who also own the Café de l'Horologe directly across the street. The café therefore serves as reception and also serves breakfast.

We felt very comfortable in the Maison d'Odette and therefore gladly recommend this lovely Bed&Breakfast in La Ciotat!

Coffee or rather tea? Lovingly made details in "La Maison d'Odette"

The Café de L'Horologe is the reception and breakfast room of "La Maison d'Odette"

Stage 3: accommodation

Green inner courtyard with restaurant in the hotel "Le Clos des Arômes"

Overnight stay in Cassis

The small port town of Cassis is favored with its location in several respects: From Cassis you can enjoy a magnificent view of the cliffs of the Cap Canaille, in addition, there is a large natural harbor in Cassis in addition to the port in the town center. In addition, the town is an ideal starting point for excursions of all kinds to the Parc National des Calanques. And not to forget: the Côte d'Azur, France's most famous and most expensive coastal region, begins in Cassis! Also the fact that Marseille is only 30 km away, does not exactly provide for favorable prices. Cassis lives from tourism and accordingly large is the offer of accommodation, but these are usually rather high priced.

Despite relatively extensive research in advance and directly on site, we therefore have no really hot hotel recommendation for Cassis. There is always a catch: either the rooms are relatively expensive or somewhat cheaper, but very small, further outside, poorly rated or located on a thoroughfare.

Tip: many hotels and guesthouses in Cassis plan with a minimum stay of 2 nights. Therefore, if you take a rest day in this beautiful place in the middle of the long-distance hike, you usually have a bigger and better choice of accommodation.

We ourselves chose Le Clos des Arômes on our tour and thus one of the rather inexpensive hotels (link: Le Clos des Aromas). The hotel is relatively quiet at the upper end of the old town and has a large, leafy courtyard with a well-attended restaurant. We tried two different rooms there: the standard double rooms are plain and okay (about 100€ + breakfast), but in the economy double room (80€ + breakfast) the bathroom is so cramped that it is burdensome to use the toilet.

As an alternative, we still had the comparatively more expensive Hotel Le Golf in mind (Link: Hotel Le Golf). There at least the rooms with sea view seem to be decent.

The Hotel le Golf is located directly on the harbor of Cassis

The standard double room at "Le Clos des Arômes"

One of the bathrooms in the standard double rooms at "Le Clos des Arômes"

Stage 4: accommodation

One of William's guest rooms

Overnight on the edge of the Parc National des Calanques

There are no accommodations in the Parc National des Calanques nature reserve itself, so at the end of stage 4 we have to switch to the southern outskirts of Marseille for the night. There are several alternatives for this:

  1. Overnight stay with William, who offers several guest rooms or apartments in one of the first houses on the edge of the national park (viacalanques.com, alternatively also bookable at Airbnb). William works as a photographer and has designed the rooms with great attention to detail. On request, William also offers breakfast (from 2 people, 7.50€ each). This is recommended, as there is no bakery or supermarket in the immediate vicinity of the accommodation. However, dinner is provided on site:  At the end of the street is the pizzeria "Chez Ze". Especially on weekends, this pizzeria is very busy, so it is indeed advisable to reserve a table there directly while walking past at the end of stage 4. For those who prefer to supply themselves: At a distance of about 1.3 km straight down the main road there is a small fruit and vegetable vendor with local cheese and a few meters after that a bakery (about here). The nearest real supermarket is over 2 km away (here). However, the way there is anything but charming: one first passes a correctional facility and then encounters relatively large-scale apartment blocks that stand in sharp contrast to the nearby nature reserve. Our suggestion therefore: overnight stay at William's with breakfast, dinner at the pizzeria and filling up the water bottles for the next day with water from the tap. Provisions for the next stage is namely not necessarily needed -.  see rest stops on stage 5.
  2. In case William's guest rooms are fully booked, or for those who want a little more comfort, there is an interesting alternative in Hôtel 96 (link: Hotel 96): Although you then have about 2 km longer way (past the prison, see above), but then ends up in a well-kept, park-like complex with a lot of comfort, large rooms and pool.
  3. As a last alternative, there is a bus connection at least every hour with line 22 in the direction of Marseille center with many more hotels (departure approximately at the level of William's house, Information about line 22).

William runs his small pension under the name "Le Garage des Calanques"

The guest room and one of the apartments can also be rented for single nights.