Neighbourhood

Les Crottes

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In Marseille’s 15th arrondissement, the Crottes neighbourhood is part of the Euromed II urban regeneration programme. It is home to Marseille’s flea market. It is easily accessible by bus, metro or car.

A neighbourhood in the 15th arrondissement

Neighbouring Cabucelle, Arnavaux, Canet, Saint-Mauront and Arenc, Les Crottes is part of the 15th arrondissement of the city of Marseille. Situated in the north of Marseille, the neighbourhood takes its name from the Provençal word ‘croto’ or the Occitan word ‘cròta’, meaning a cave, a cellar or an underground passage. According to Frédéric Mistral, the Provençal French writer, Les Crottes is said to have been named this way because of the vaulted cellars that once stood in the neighbourhood. The vaulted cloisters that surrounded the Roman villas served as cellars, that is to say, places where provisions were stored.

Euromed II

Euroméditerranée, a public development agency, aims to bring about urban regeneration in Marseille. Launched in 1995 at the instigation of the Mayor of Marseille, Robert Vigouroux, this project receives funding fromthe European Union,the French government, the regional council, the departmental council, the metropolitan authority and the City of Marseille. Among Euromed’s achievements are the conversion of the Docks into offices and a shopping centre, the conversion of the Silo into a performance venue, and the construction of the 136-metre-high La Marseillaise tower.

Les Crottes, a former working-class neighbourhood, lies at the heart of theEuroméditerranée 2 project, notably with the construction of a new neighbourhood of housing and craft workshops to the south of Marseille’s flea market, known as“Les Fabriques”. This eco-neighbourhood incorporates three pillars of sustainable development: social contribution, the circular economy and environmental performance. In addition to the creation of the new Gèze metro station at the heart of the neighbourhood (open to the public since 2019), the Euromed II project also involves the reorganisation and modernisation of the Flea Market.

Places of interest in the Crottes neighbourhood

The Marseille Flea Market

Open from Tuesday to Sunday, the Marseille Flea Market in the Crottes district is home to antique dealers, second-hand traders, fairground stallholders and exhibitors of all kinds. You won’t be able to miss the antiques gallery, a must-visit spot showcasing a variety of art objects and antique trinkets, as well as a professional consignment shop covering 1,300 m² and a bistro. The Marseille Flea Market complex also brings together nearly 300 shops (general groceries, restaurants, a bakery, a butcher’s, a fishmonger’s, a hairdresser’s, an electrical goods shop, and more). It welcomes an average of 100,000 visitors a week.

Get to the Crotte district

By public transport

Bus B2 (Gèze Metro station – Vallon des Tuves)
Bus 25 (Gèze Metro – St Antoine) b
Bus30 (Gèze Metro station – La Savine)
Bus 36 (Bougainville Metro station – La Nerthe)
Bus 36B (Bougainville Metro station – L’Estaque)
Bus 70 (Canebière Bourse – Lycée Saint-Exupéry).
In the evening, night bus routes 526 ( Canebière Bourse – Hôpital Nord) and 535 (Canebière Bourse – Estaque Riaux) will take you to Les Crottes.
The neighbourhood is served by two metro stations on line M2: Bougainville and Gèze (bus station and park-and-ride facility)

By car
Two main east-west thoroughfares link the neighbourhood to the motorway network: Boulevard du Cap-Pinède (from the A7 to the A55) and Boulevard Ferdinand de Lesseps (from the A7 tothe A557).

On foot, you can take the Eugène Gauchet footbridge, which connects the Crottes and Canet neighbourhoods to the east, over the Marseille-Canet freight station. To the west, you can also take another footbridge that crosses the Arenc ferry terminal. This route forms part of the GR 2013 hiking trail.

Work is currently underway on the T3 tram line to serve the Crottes neighbourhood. The line is due to be extended to the Cité de la Castellane, passing by the Lycée Saint-Exupéry.