Savoring an aperitif at sunset because the fiery solar sinks into the massive blue has been a sacrosanct ritual in seafaring Marseille since time immemorial.
However the bar scene has advanced far past sailors chugging again bottles of low cost wine portside or Marcel Pagnol movie characters chinking Pastis glasses within the Thirties on the Vieux Port’s Bar de la Marine. As southern France’s grittiest, giddiest metropolis has morphed from Mediterranean black sheep to metropolitan trendsetter with cool issue extrême, so the consuming scene is reaching heady new heights – on its rooftops.
Iconic roof decks like MAMO with its occasional artwork expos atop Le Corbusier’s La Cité Radieuse or MuCEM’s sensational lattice-shaded terrace have misplaced none of their pioneering edge. However they continue to be, at first, a spot of pilgrimage for artwork and design lovers. Social butterflies, night time owls and cocktail connoisseurs in search of expertly combined tunes, drinks and dancing: these are Marseille’s 10 rooftop scorching spots.
Tuba – the perfect new opening on the town
When the roof you’re consuming on safeguards a mosaic by French street-art king Invader, you recognize you’re in the appropriate place. Fashionable, eco-conscious Tuba struts its achingly cool stuff in a Nineteen Sixties diving membership, within the fishing hamlet of Les Goudes in Marseille’s 8e arrondissement. With tables on rocks by the water, sassy cocktails and shared plates (uncooked fish!) served with brilliantly artistic sauces, Tuba is the town’s summer time HQ for connoisseur A-listers. Its new rooftop bar opens in July 2022. Anticipate extra sea views to die for (celestial sunsets!), unique tapas served in pizza packing containers and signature cocktails mixing artisan spirits with thyme, rosemary, ginger and different gloriously eclectic and tangy, selfmade syrups.
La Caravelle – a non-rooftop bar with unimaginable views
As soon as upon a time, a long time earlier than Marseille joined the ‘cool metropolis’ ranks, the closest factor to a rooftop bar within the Provencal capital was La Caravelle – the town’s unique “bar with million-dollar views”. On the portside fringe of Le Panier, the Twenties restaurant-bar affords a romantic window on the Vieux Port from its second-floor balcony perch inside Hôtel Bellevue. The retro nautical décor, jazz live shows and classic appeal are eternally enchanting and the port-facing bijou balcony stays one of the vital hotly contested seats on the town for watching sundown skies blaze pink behind Basilique Notre Dame de la Garde. However it isn’t strictly un rooftop.
Ciel – greatest for sky-high eating
Downtown Marseille is hardly a skyscraper metropolis – which made Ciel (which means ‘sky’ in French) all of the extra thrilling when it popped up on the seventh flooring of one of many metropolis heart’s highest buildings in the summertime of 2021. Strung with canvas sails to shade and garlands of twinkling fairy lights after darkish, the designer rooftop restaurant cooks up mesmerizing metropolis views and top-notch pizza and pasta by an Italian chef. Aperitivo highlights embody deep-fried artichokes, fragrant San Daniele ham cured for 16 months and parmesan tempura. The perfect seat in the home? The Instagram-loved, picket swing on the terrace. Sure, it swings.
R2 – dance late into the summer time nights
Retired transport containers upcycled as ethnic street-food stands, cocktails with perspective and scorching sea-and-port views contribute to the charisma of this wildly widespread, open-air bar and dance membership. Wednesday to Sunday, DJs from the worldwide circuit spin numerous units (electro, disco, rock) to a party-loving crowd – as much as 1500 night time owls pack the dance flooring to bursting on the perfect nights. Discover R2 (additionally recognized regionally as ‘Aire de Marseille’) on the rooftop of Les Terrasses du Port, a recent buying heart within the revitalized Nineteenth-century docks of La Joliette.
Les Réformés – escape the bustle of La Canebière
When the relentless throng of customers and strollers on La Canebière will get an excessive amount of, rise above the main-street hubbub at Les Réformés. Tucked away on the rooftop of the Arteplex multi-screen cinema on La Canebière, the restaurant-bar is called after its next-door-neighbor muse – twin-spired, Nineteenth-century Église St Vincent de Paul or “Les Réformés” which you’ll be able to admire from each angle atop the rooftop terrace. Seasonal French delicacies is the spine of the menu and the kitchen cooks up small plates to share over drinks and weekly stay jazz or DJs.
Bar Julis – drinks in a backyard above the town
This alfresco cocktail bar in Jardin de la Colline Puget is one other non-rooftop decide, however the soul-soaring snapshots of Lego-like Marseille laid out at your toes places it up there with the easiest of Marseillais sky bars. The backyard is a steep five-minute climb on foot from portside Quai de Rive Neuve – don’t miss Invader’s dazzling gold-tile Oh Bonne Mère! mosaic, depicting the town’s conventional protector, on the nook of Rue des Lices and Rue Chaix. As soon as perched on a bar stool, hobnob with a neighborhood after-work crowd over signature cocktails (the Ginger Julep is fabulously feisty) and Mediterranean tapas (clam salad, caramelized leeks with oysters and haddock, chargrilled octopus and chorizo) cooked up by chef Paul Langlère from adjoining neo-bistro Sépia.
La Friche La Belle de Mai – world music, motion pictures and out of doors tunes
To social gathering with an nearly solely Marseillais crowd, make a beeline for the town’s most experimental rooftop bar – the crowning glory of a revitalized tobacco manufacturing facility within the La Belle de Mai neighborhood. The cultural heart’s sweeping, 8000-sq-m (86,111-sq-ft) toit terrasse (roof terrace) is accessible year-round, however it’s between Might and October when it actually comes into its personal: assume free ‘Belle & Toile’ film screenings beneath the celebrities on Sundays in July and August, electrical African and different world-music gigs, DJ units, dance events and a large number of uber-cool “Soirées On Air”.
Rooftop Hôtel Hermès – unimaginable views of the Vieux Port
Appearances could be misleading as this straightforward, two-star indie resort on the Vieux Port illustrates so fantastically. Trip the elevator to the highest flooring to uncover its clandestine rooftop bar – a intently guarded secret amongst savvy locals, open to non-hotel company from 6.30pm till late. The kitsch marigold-yellow seating and pretend pea-green garden won’t be to everybody’s style. However the cocktails, combined cheese and charcuterie platters, and birds’ eye views of boats bobbing within the Vieux Port under are all spectacular. Order a Pina Colada glacée (with coconut ice cream) and a plate of panisses (mini chickpea-flour pancakes with fiery chili sauce), eye-ball Notre Dame de la Garde throughout the water and enter heaven à la Marseillaise.
Rowing Membership – refined Mediterranean delicacies and bottomless Sunday brunch
Its title is not any misnomer. Lounging by the town’s well-established rowing membership within the Jardin du Pharo space, this rooftop restaurant and bar ticks all of the packing containers for households and {couples} in search of good meals and ravishing sea views away from the noisy downtown crowd. The refined Mediterranean menu may embody seasonal dishes like octopus with ardour fruit and kumquat marmalade, deep-fried squid with garlicky rouille or elaborate tapas crafted from the catch of the day. Reservations at Rowing Club are important on Sunday when a copious, bottomless buffet brunch is laid out.
Dantès Skylounge – five-star luxurious by the port
The proper pairing with the neighboring Rowing Membership for anybody on a rooftop crawl, Dantès Skylounge squats on the seventh flooring of luxurious Hôtel Sofitel Marseille Vieux Port. An impressive panorama of the whole Vieux Port, guarded by the twinset forts of St-Jean and St-Nicolas, unfolds from the delicate roof bar – open to non-hotel company too till the wee hours. Sink into a comfortable armchair and admire the town from above over a Provence-inspired cocktail, pastis or pink gin distilled by Mistral Gin from thyme, mint, fennel and different aromatic botanicals typical to the garrigue (Mediterranean scrub) in Marseille’s neighboring Massif des Calanques. Santé!
