MuCEM

Rudy Ricciotti wrapped the J4 building in a perforated concrete lattice that filters the sun and the sea into moving shadow, and made twenty-first-century Marseille a piece of architecture rather than a slogan. Inside, the collections work through Mediterranean anthropology and history.

The most rewarding hour on a port call costs nothing: the outdoor areas, gardens and the high footbridges linking the museum to Fort Saint-Jean are free, and they give you the mouth of the Vieux-Port and the ships coming in. Ticketed exhibitions are the indoor half of the visit.