Marseille only French city to make World’s Greatest Places 2022 list

The French city of Marseille has made a list of the world’s greatest places, in a new global ranking by the US weekly TIME magazine.

The magazine considered the city’s cultural locations, and the quality and innovation of its food scene as some of the major reasons for its choice as well as the recent opening of the Cosquer Méditerranée cave centre.

Read more: 3D replica of 33,000-year-old cave art to go on display in Marseille

It listed the Bouches-du-Rhône city using the somewhat old-fashioned spelling of its name, with an S at the end.

The listing called the city a “Mediterranean darling”, and suggested that visitors should take in the “decidedly contemporary” Cosquer, Europe’s first solar-powered restaurant Le Présage, the Moroccan courtyard restaurant La Famille Marseille, and the Grandes Halles du Vieux-Port food stalls in July.

Maxime Tissot, director of the Marseille tourist office, said: “The image of the media towards Marseille has completely changed. They have seen that Marseille is a cultural town and there are a huge number of things going on.”

Ilan Dray, director of city centre rooftop restaurant Ciel Rooftop, said: “Marseille is booming. We have companies coming here, good restaurants, and Michelin-starred chefs that are here.”

Marseille is the only place in France to appear in the top 50.

Other European destinations that made the cut include: Devon, England, Valencia in Spain; the Alentejo region and Madeira, Portugal; Calabria, Italy; Copenhagen, Denmark; Thessaloniki, Greece; Kaunas, Lithuania; and Portree, Scotland.

Worldwide destinations include: the Galápagos Islands; Seoul in South Korea; the Great Barrier Reef, Australia; São Paulo in Brazil; the Trans Bhutan Trail; Franschhoek, South Africa; Toronto, Canada; Boracay, Philippines; Salta, Argentina; Kigali in Rwanda; Fremantle, Australia; and Ilulissat, Greenland.

See the full list and read more about each destination on the TIME website here.

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