Gay Guide to Marseille
France decriminalized homosexuality in 1791 and opened marriage to same-sex couples in 2013. Marseille, the country's raucous, sun-soaked port and second city, keeps a gay scene that is scattered and neighborhood-based rather than sealed into one strip.
The informal gay district is Cours Julien and the surrounding La Plaine, the hilltop arts quarter above the Canebiere where bars, galleries, and street art give the area its creative charge. More venues dot the 6th arrondissement, and in summer the scene spills onto the coves and beaches along the Corniche.
The bars here read as local haunts that happen to be gay rather than themed nights out, with a music policy that leans toward house and techno. It is a scene you feel your way into over a few days rather than tick off in one night.
Pride Marseille has marched every year since 1993, filling the streets each July with a procession that stays both militant and festive, drawing crowds from across the south of France.