Marseille is heaven for seafood fans. As well as the many fresh fish dishes you can choose between various versions of the traditional fish soup, bouillabaisse. Bouillabaisse du Ravi and Bouillabaisse du Pecheur are variations commonly served in the city’s restaurants. Ravi (‘delighted’) features six different fish while the Bouillabaisse du Pecher (‘fisherman’) has three.
‘Moules marinier’, another staple seafood dish of Provence, combines mussels with Provencal herbs and finely diced onion. Eat in the Vieux Port (the old port) looking out over the Mediterranean and you’ll see the bustling harbour at work. Alternatively, go into the quieter streets of the Quai de Rive Neuve. The dry local white wines suit fish and seafood very well but many people choose a rose wine – ‘pink’ somehow seems right in the heat of the Provencal summer.

Many holiday makers combine a visit to Marseille with visits to other towns on the Mediterranean coast. St-Tropez, Cannes, Cassis, Sainte-Maxime, Frejus, Antibes, Nice, Cap Ferrat and Monte Carlo all have distinct characters and charm. With their beaches and glamour they will definitely appeal to the committed hedonist.

Inland, the towns of Aix-en-Provence, Arles and Avignon will appeal to culture vultures. In particular you may want to visit the summer theatre festival in Avignon and the exhibition in Arles of Roman antiquities. The latter is on until mid-September 2010 and features a bust of Caesar and many artefacts excavated from the river bed of the Rhone.

In Marseille, some major sights to see are the 5th century Abbaye de St-Victor, the Old Port, the Romanesque Basilique Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde, the former prison of the Chateau d’If, the famous street known as La Canebiere, the historical ruins in the Jardin des Vestiges, the old town square Estienne d’Orves and the 17th century building La Vieille Charite, now an exhibition centre. Museums not to miss are the Musee d’Histoire de Marseille, Musee de la Marine, Musee des Docks Romains (a Roman warehouse), the art Museum (Musee Grobet-Labadie) and the Musee d’Histoire Naturelle.

High-speed trains (TGVs) run frequently between Paris and Marseille and take just three hours. The local airport, Marignane, serves destinations around Europe and in Africa.
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However, I have since learnt that if you go in spring or autumn, and avoid the snobbish tourist traps, the same coast can be sublimely peaceful. The food will be superb and reasonably-priced and the sea so clean that the fish need sunglasses.
One of these havens is just minutes outside my least-favourite resort in France – St Tropez. The harbour was probably cute in 1960 when it was discovered by the jetset. These days it’s a place where the mega-rich park boats the size of Kosovo and a drink in one of the quayside cafés costs almost as much as the yachts.

I once had lunch at a trendy St Tropez restaurant and the waitress spent all her time fawning over a bunch of people decorated with more gold than the chateau at Versailles. That’s fine in theory, but when she’s cooing at their family photos while holding your meal in her hands, you’re entitled to get impatient.
If you dare ask if she would like to ease the strain on her biceps by delivering the rapidly cooling food, she will look at you as if you’ve just ordered a chip buttie. You don’t belong. Which is obvious anyway, because all of your party still possess their original noses.

However, just 15km south of here is a resort that can make you forget that ‘Saint Trop’ even exists. Visit outside July and August and Gigaro is one of the most peaceful hideaways on this stretch of coast. At first sight, it might not seem particularly promising. A narrow strip of sandy beach flanked by villas and nondescript hotels, it’s not particularly pretty. But the sea looks so pure that you’d love to drink it.
And in one corner of the bay is the start of a coastal path that winds for 10km through fragrant pine forests. If you don’t fancy a long hike, you can stop at one of the rocky coves that might just turn out to be your private beach. I love to snorkel here and regularly stalk octopuses and squid among the islets offshore. Underwater, there’s not a sound. St Trop’s jet skis are an ocean away.

Best of all, the hotels and restaurants are as lovely as the scenery. At the end of Gigaro beach is a little sign for a chambre d’hôte called Le Refuge (00 33 4 9454 2897). You bump up a worn-out driveway to an anonymous modern villa. Inside, the rooms look almost monkishly basic and I once saw a young couple turn their noses up and leave because ‘the bathtub was too small’. But put me on one of Le Refuge’s balconies overlooking tree-tops and the Med and I could stay there sipping rosé for a month. Doubles with breakfast cost from €70.

The two beachside restaurants in Gigaro specialise in welcoming strangers rather than scaring them away. Unlike in St Tropez, where you eat out to show off your bling and your plastic surgery, here people chat and relish the fresh seafood.