Marseille

If you haven’t been lost in Marseille then you can’t have been there. As Alexandre Dumas wrote, this is a place that is ‘always getting younger as it grows older’.

But while you’ll certainly be lost at some point, you won’t be stuck and you won’t be bored. You can meander through the 16 contrasting neighbourhoods, or cross the town easily via metro, bus, bike, tram or even ‘Le petit train de Marseille’ — the Marseille fun train. Head straight to the Old Port (600 bc) where Foster and Partners’ mirrored canopy (2013 ad) gleams in the hot sun, then up the hill to the lovely, listed Intercontinental Hotel Dieu which has great views, a Michelin-starred restaurant and a Clarins spa, but which from 1188 until 1993 served as the city’s main hospital.

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Ross Clark

Britain is living beyond its means

For those on a tighter budget, there is Mama Shelter (designed by Philippe Starck) in the St Julien, the city’s ‘arty’ sixth arrondissement.