Marseille Metro: M1, M2 and How to Ride

Marseille’s M1 and M2 metro lines link Saint-Charles railway station with the Old Port, Longchamp, Joliette and the Prado area. Choose your line and direction before going through the gate. The metro can save a cross-city trip, while evening works affect the return journey.

When to take the metro

Criterion	Walking	Metro	Bus
Useful for	Old Port and nearby streets	Cross-city trips and luggage from Saint-Charles	Places beyond metro stations
Bear in mind	Hills beyond the waterfront	No direct hill or airport stop	Route and stop depend on destination

Walk around the Old Port if your stops are close together, but take the metro when you need to cross the city or leave Saint-Charles with luggage. Marseille Provence Airport has no metro station. Airport shuttle A1 goes to Saint-Charles, where you can change to M1 or M2 beneath the railway station.

Notre-Dame de la Garde is on a hill without a direct metro station. M1 Vieux-Port – Hôtel de Ville is the suggested metro approach, but you still need a bus or an uphill journey from there. For a day linking the harbour, waterfront and hill, the one-day Marseille harbour and hill itinerary puts those onward stretches into context.

M1 and M2: stations and directions

Station	Line	Direction from Saint-Charles	Serves
Cinq Avenues–Longchamp	M1	Towards La Rose	Palais Longchamp
Vieux-Port – Hôtel de Ville	M1	Towards La Fourragère	Old Port
Castellane	M1 / M2	La Fourragère / Sainte-Marguerite Dromel	Castellane area
Joliette	M2	Towards Gèze	Joliette waterfront
Noailles	M2	Towards Sainte-Marguerite Dromel	Noailles area
Rond-Point du Prado	M2	Towards Sainte-Marguerite Dromel	Prado area

Saint-Charles is where M1 and M2 cross at the railway station. Castellane is the other interchange: if your next stop is on the other line, change there rather than travelling back to Saint-Charles. Platform signs show the terminal destination, so use the direction column to choose a platform, then look for your station on its stop list.

On M1, Cinq Avenues–Longchamp puts you near Palais Longchamp, and the ride to Saint-Charles is about 6 minutes. From Saint-Charles, Vieux-Port – Hôtel de Ville is about 5 minutes on M1, and staying on the same line from Vieux-Port to Castellane is about 6 minutes. These are station-to-station journeys: allow separately for waiting and the walk after the exit.

M2 runs through Joliette, Saint-Charles, Noailles, Castellane and Rond-Point du Prado. Joliette to Saint-Charles takes about 5 minutes; Saint-Charles to Noailles about 3 minutes, then Noailles to Castellane about 5 minutes and Castellane to Rond-Point du Prado about 4 minutes. Joliette is an approach to the waterfront, not an exit at Mucem. Rond-Point du Prado serves the Prado area, not the beach itself.

Evening closures and night travel

A late return needs a different route. Free replacement buses run during prolonged works closures. Noctambus N1 and N2 are separate night routes, not substitutes that follow M1 or M2. Both leave Vieux-Port at 01:30, 02:30, 03:30 and 04:30 on Thursday-to-Friday, Friday-to-Saturday and Saturday-to-Sunday nights. N1 goes to Luminy PN des Calanques; N2 to Einstein Parking Relais. Both serve their own stops, with alighting on request.

Weekday timetables differ between school term, school holidays and summer, and Saturdays have a different summer pattern. Sundays and public holidays follow the Sunday timetable year-round. For a late journey, find the stop on the night-bus route rather than assuming it passes your metro station.

Single fares and short-stay passes

Product	Fare	Validity
1 Voyage solo	€1.70	One metro entry
Rechargeable card, standard trip	€1.40	One trip
Pass 24h	€6.70	24 hours from first validation
Pass 72h	€14	72 hours from first validation

For a single metro ride, the solo ticket is the straightforward choice. A standard trip on a rechargeable card costs less per journey, but if you plan repeated local journeys by different modes, consider the time-based passes instead. The pass clock starts when you first validate, not at midnight, so you can use its full period across days.

If you expect to leave the paid area between sights, count those as separate outings when choosing between single rides and a pass.

Paying at the gate and changing lines

Follow the gate pictograms for your ticket or payment method. A machine-bought ticket must pass through the station validator before you cross the fare-control line. Riding without a valid ticket can bring a fine.

A transfer within the ticket’s one-hour validity period does not incur another fare. At Saint-Charles or Castellane, follow the signs for your connecting line and its platform destination.

At the gate and on transfers

Do

• Buy a ticket at a station vending machine, or tap a contactless bank card or device at the dedicated metro gate terminal.
• Validate as you enter and again when changing lines or modes.
• Use the same card or device for contactless transfers and present it to an inspector.

Don’t

• Go past the fare-control line without validation.
• Switch from your bank card to your phone on a transfer, even if they draw on the same account.
• Assume a solo single ticket permits another metro entry after you leave the paid area.

Sources & fact-checking

Checks against the sources below cover: services, key figures, fares and charges, and closures.

• Points De Vente RTM
• Carte 1 voyage
• Conseils pour voyager en règle sur le réseau RTM Marseille
• FAQ RTM | Toutes nos réponses à vos questions
• Marseille Tourism Office — key figures
• La Métropole Mobilité — service
• 2026-March RTM fare schedule
• Pass 24h
• Réseau soir et nuit
• RTM — closures
• NEOMMA, travaux préalables à l’automatisation du Métro : fermeture du métro en soirée, du lundi au mercredi