When you travel to southern France and decide to stay in the Provençal harbour town La Ciotat, you might ask yourself: What is a good place to stay in La Citotat? In this town, there are some hotels but actually, there are more B&Bs and private apartments you can stay over. In this article I’ll show you a neat place where to stay in La Ciotat and I hope, you’ll enjoy it there as I did. In this case I’m talking about the “La Maison d’Odette“*. So read on, folks.
What is La Maison d’Odette?
La Maison d’Odette* is a B&B guesthouse with three appartements, whereby each appartement is located on a separate floor. This B&B is located close to the Old Market of La Ciotat in 2 Rue Albert et Georges Arnoux.
Originally it was a haberdashery house from the 1930ies and you feel the nostalgic atmosphere of the past there. If you would like to know more details, just check it out at the profile page of booking.com*, folks.
Besides that, check out some pics of this place here:
Why La Maison d’Odette and why La Ciotat?
1. First of all, I recommend this B&B because I spent a couple of days at this place. And as I had visited a lot of hotels and B&Bs in different countries, I have the experience to differentiate what is good and what is bad. Of course, there is still a bit of subjectiveness, and what is good for me, might not be good for you. But I can say that till now I never had a bad feedback about my recommendations.
What did I like at La Maison d’Odette? I liked the atmosphere, the interior design and the location of this place. Of course, this place is not a luxury hotel, so you have to keep it in mind if you decide to book a room there*.
What I also enjoyed, is the breakfast which you get served not at La Maison d’Odette but in a neat cafe just on the other side of this guesthouse. The name of this cafe is Le Cafè de l’Horloge and you would face it right out from the apartment.
At Cafè d l’Horloge, you can choose between two breakfasts (petit-déjeuner), called “complet” and the “express”. Just check out the menu, folks. It’s fully in French but even as a non-French speaker it’s easy to “decode”. Search for “La carte” on the start page and if you found it you will sie those petits déjeuners.
2. La Maison d’Odette is located close to the touristic places in La Ciotat. Indeed, when you stay here over, you will have short distances to several touristic places and shopping facilities. To the Old Port, there are just 3 minutes to walk, and to the restaurants which are located at the Old Port as well. Besides that, very close to La Maison d’Odette you will also find some grocery stores, fruit and vegetable stores, bakeries and so on.
3. La Ciotat seems to be more favourable. About 20 min farther away, e.g. in Cassis, I saw the same stuff (e.g. in the bakery) which was more expensive than in La Ciotat. So for me, La Ciotat was a perfect “headquarters” to travel around Provence. For example, you can drive from La Ciotat to Marseille in just 40 minutes and visit some points of interest there, like the famous fortress and former prison Château d’If .
Also, you could drive to a place called Saint-Cyr-sur-Mer which is located about 20 min east of La Ciotat. In Sain-Cyr-sur-Mer, you will find a better beach than in La Ciotat.
Why is the beach better there? In La Ciotat, the beach is very close to the main road and when I see that, I ask myself, how much exhaust fumes are reaching to the beach and how much of them I would breathe… In Saint-Cyr-sur-Mer, the main road is pretty far away. Besides that, it is located in a beautiful bay. In case you would like to go to the beach in Saint-Cyr-sur-Mer, enter in your GPS the street name “Boulevard de la Plage“.
Costs of parking at the beach: about 2,- EUR per hour
Pleas note: The parking lots are in demand, so don’t go too late there. Try to arrive before 11:30 a.m. to get a parking place. Otherwise it could happen you would need to park in one of the parallel streets (for free) but you would need to have a bit of luck to snatch a parking lot there.
Where to park in La Ciotat when you choose to stay at La Maison d’Odette?
That’s maybe the only catch. As La Maison d’Odette is located directly in the old part of La Ciotat, you cannot drive there with your car. The only vehicles can enter that area are garbage trucks and other government vehicles. Therefore, you would need to walk a bit to La Maison d’Odette and I will show you the closest parking possibilities.
1. Parking possibility – parking garage “Parking Verdun”
- Address: Avenue Gallieul, Parking Verdun
- To walk to La Maison d’Odette: about 5 – 7 minutes
- Costs of parking: 15,- EUR for 24 hours (stay as long as you want and pay at once when you leave)
- Please note: Parking Verdun is not recommendable for bigger cars like estate vehicles as parking garages in France in general are pretty narrow and tight
2. Parking possibility – Parking space “Parking de la Pétanque”
- Address: Avenue de la Pétanque, Parking de la Pétanque
- To walk to La Maison d’Odette: 8 – 10 minutes
- Costs of parking: free
- Please note: this place is in demand so you need a bit of luck to get a parking lot there. I parked my car first at Parking Verdun on Sunday. On Monday very early (about 7 am) I went to Parking de la Pétanque and there were 3 parking lots available. So, just try it out and see, what happens. If all else fail, you can still go to Parking Verdun, folks.
3. Parking possibility – Parking du centre Indigo
- Address: 14 Boulevard Alphonse de Lamartine, Parking Indigo
- To walk to La Maison d’Odette: 7 – 8 minutes
- Costs of parking: on request, but usually 16,- EUR for 24 hours / 40,- EUR for 72 hours
- Please note: This place is actually for long-term parkers (at least 3 months). But they also accept touristic parkers if you ask them at the welcome desk.
4. Other parking possibilities in La Citotat close to La Maison d’Odette?
Well, at the Old Port there is a plenty of parking lots at the place called “Parking de la Tasse”, but there is a catch. You can park there for free at night. But in the morning (from 9 a.m.) you need to pay. So the problem here would be that you would need to go every day there and buy a new parking ticket. It costs about 18,- EUR for a whole day. Therefore, using Parking Verdun or the other introduced locations seems to be much more comfortable, folks.
But just in case you would like to go there, you will find “Parking de la Tasse” at the Boulevard Anatole France. Check out the map:
Okay, folks. That’s it. If you have some questions, leave a comment in the comment section. I wish you a pleasant stay in La Ciotat and at La Maison d’Odette*.
*Affiliate link: when you click on this link, no additional costs would arise for you and the product or the service will not become more expensive. When you decide to buy the product or use the service, I’ll get a little benefit from the provider which I would reninvest to keep this blog alive.
