France’s unofficial capital of the South was positively transformed after its year as Capital of Culture in 2013 becoming a vibrant and multicultural port city with an exuberant cultural scene.
The check in area at Marseille Airport (Photo: Phillip Capper via Flickr / CC BY 2.0)
For those visiting, renting a car remains the best option for getting around. In total, there are 11 hire car companies to be found at Marseille Airport (MRS), all of which are located in the front of terminal 1. Despite having two terminals, Marseille is a small airport – this means that you should be able to reach the desk of your chosen car hire provider quickly after disembarking your flight.
To determine which rental car companies offer the best vehicles across our three categories (Most Affordable, Best for Luxury, Best for Minivans), TravelMag.com carefully researched prices, availability, policies and customer reviews of the car rental companies operating out of MRS. Here are our findings:
Most affordable – Goldcar
For the ‘Most Affordable’ category, we found Goldcar to have the best choice of cheap car rentals. Throughout the summer, they lease out several French classic runarounds like the Peugeot 208 for under €82 per day and the slightly inferior Renault Twingo for €78 per day. Goldcar receives an overall customer rating of 7.4 out of 10 with their fuel and free cancellation policies being particularly popular. Their offices can be found in terminal 1 at Marseille Airport and are open from 8am to 8pm Monday to Saturday throughout the summer, Sunday, 9am to 9pm.
Best for luxury – Sixt
Picking the best rental car agency in the luxurious category depends slightly on your car of preference. Sixt prides itself on offering cars from the most prestigious manufacturers around the world. For renters looking to cruise the Cote d’Azur in style, Sixt rents out at least one top-of-the-range BMW and Renault throughout peak season. For a more conventional drive, they have the BMW 8 series and premium SUVs from Citroen and Renault. With the best choice of cars and impressive reviews, Sixt is our number one choice in the luxury category.
Best for minivans – Hertz
If you’re coming to Marseille with kids in tow, you may well want to hire a minivan. And for this purpose, we suggest you go with Hertz who have the biggest choice of any of the car rental companies with a 7-seater Renault Espace on offer for large families and the Range Rover Velar for smaller ones. According to our research, you can usually hire these vehicles for around €380-450 per day in high season – not cheap, but Hertz’s operations at Marseille Airport receive excellent customer reviews. Their offices are open 7.30am to 11pm from Monday to Friday, Saturday, 7.30am to 11pm and Sunday, 8am to 11pm. These are summer times, so best to check again if you’re flying during the closed season.