Château d'If — Attraction in Marseille

The ferry boarded and sailed to the island of Ife Citadel, which is the smallest island among the Freole Islands group. The only building on the island is the citadel, built in 1524 by King Francis I and towering three stories high. The king recognized the strategic importance of the island in the Gulf of Marseille and so decided to build the fort on it. However, the fort never had to deal with occupation. For years, the fort served as a notorious prison, where many political and religious prisoners were imprisoned, including hundreds of 19th century French Protestants. At the end of the 19th century, they stopped using the fortress as a prison and it opened for public visits. If you were wondering where the Efe Citadel was from, you might have read Alexander Dumas' Count of Monte Cristo, whose main character was imprisoned in Ife's prison. When you visit, it is also advisable to go up to the top of the castle of Efe and enjoy a 360-degree view of the surroundings.

Admission is reasonable.

Ferries depart regularly from the old port to Ife Fort. The duration of the cruise is about 20 minutes.

Opening hours: from January to April and October to December on Tuesdays to Sundays from 10am to 5pm, from April to September from 10am to 6pm.

How long should you visit? About two hours...

I love this place! Went here with my brother and his gf by ourselves last summer on our Europe cruise trip. This Marseille sightseeing trip was not offered on our cruise but it's very easy to go here by yourself! You can get here by taking a boat ride from the Old Port (Le Vieux Port). Just checked the schedule on when they usually depart. It was a very good trip because there were not a lot of tourists. I think there were only 5-7 people when we got there and they were also about to leave the island so the place was really deserted. It felt like we got the whole island for ourselves! Haha!

It was an awesome experience to see in person the setting of Alexandre Dumas' "The Count of Monte Cristo"! We were able to get a lot of good photos of the place! The view from the top was really beautiful! There is a souvenir shop by the entrance of this place. There is also a small coffee shop on the island.

This island was one of my favorite places on...

This was a fun site to visit. The ferry line was a bit onerous, but we didn't suffer the worst of it. I recommend getting in line at 8am to buy tickets for the first boat (leaving at 930). When we returned on the first boat back (arriving at vieux port at 1130ish) the departing line was very long. There isn't much to do on the island but climb a bunch of stairs and admire carvings in the plaster and stone. However, the views are phenomenal! Do climb to the top! Warning: the stair cases are spiral and narrow.

The ferry ride back (except for a noon boat and a 6pm boat) first go to the second port of Frioul. Wish we could have gone swimming there, but we had a train ride out. If you do want to visit the Frioul archipelago make sure you buy the more expensive ticket.

All said, this was definitely...