Cycling out of Marseille Airport

[biciclista]

Has anybody experienced cycling out of Marseille airport, or is it better to transport the boxed up bikes to a hotel before unpacking them. Any suggestions for accommodation with bike storage within 10 - 20 kilometers of the airport. We plan to cycle in the direction of Avignon.

[iandennis]

Did this last year using Garmin City Navigator. The roads around the immediate airport are pretty nasty and busy. However an apron road skirts south then west around the airport before heading north to the sea and the Etang De Berre. Here you can cycle the barage between it and the Etang de Bolmen. Then go under the motorway and head west into Martigues hugging the coast using the minor roads. We then took minor roads NW through St Remy to Avignon. In all we took 5 hrs. It's not a bad ride. The access roads at the airport have pavements you can use to wheel your bike. As soon as you get out onto the airport apron road things get better. If you get onto one of the dual carriageways in error get off immediately.

One other thing. We used Easyjet and had to go in search of our bikes on arrival as they did not show. It took one hour and they were pretty unhelpful, it's a bit of a pit... Have a great ride.

One last thing we unboxed our bikes in the arrivals hall and just left it all there, a cleaner just loaded the cardboard onto a trolley and walked off without a backward glance.

[biciclista]

Thanks for your help but I think we will try to book a taxi to transport us and the bikes out of the airport. We are three ladies in our mid sixties who have done a fair bit of long distance cycling but have always managed to avoid major roads and are not as confident these days. Have you any suggestions of where to stay within about a 15-20 minute taxi ride from the airport?

[jacobean]

There is no problem taking your bikes on the shuttle bus to Marseille - Gare St Charles (which is in Marseille city centre)

[earlgrey]

I think that it is a wise decision, we did not enjoy negotiating this airport. Afraid I cannot help on the accommodation front. Try Logis de France or accorhotels.com.

[davbud]

As an alternative to iandennis' route to the SE, on our tour of Provence this July we found a good way out to the NW.

If you keep as north as possible heading out of the terminal buildings without heading to the freight area, then there is a wide gravel track (ok on our loaded hybrids) parallel to the service road which you can hop onto over a low cable barrier. This then runs NW with the Etang de Berre on the left and some wetlands to the right, and is surprisingly scenic. After this you can take minor roads to Rognac and then the D55 onwards.

On the way back in we just took the D113/D20 which was far less pleasant, but we survived nonetheless.

[BikerTim845]

Did this last year using Garmin City Navigator. The roads around the immediate airport are pretty nasty and busy. However an apron road skirts south then west around the airport before heading north to the sea and the Etang De Berre. Here you can cycle the barage between it and the Etang de Bolmen. Then go under the motorway and head west into Martigues hugging the coast using the minor roads. We then took minor roads NW through St Remy to Avignon. In all we took 5 hrs. It's not a bad ride. The access roads at the airport have pavements you can use to wheel your bike. As soon as you get out onto the airport apron road things get better. If you get onto one of the dual carriageways in error get off immediately.

Has anyone cycled out of Marseille Airport recently using the apron road referred to in the above post from 2011? Looking at Google Earth it looks like a new car park (at location 43.428397, 5.231315) has been placed over some of the apron road by the airport. I want to cycle from the airport through Martigues westwards; cycling on the busy road from the airport is non-preferred.

Thanks,

Tim