Casa Ortega

The staff

The lighting in the room was either too strong or too week

Stylish rooms with great bedding 2 blocks from the rail and bus station and an easy 10-minute walk down to the central waterfront. Charming hostess with superb recommendations and delicious breakfast including homemade yogurt. I enjoyed meeting other guests over tea in the morning. Excellent AC and fast wifi, and surprisingly quiet, given the location.

Marseille has lots of stairs! Rooms in this B&B are not accessible for people with mobility issues. Guest rooms are on 3rd or 4th floor up an elegant but steep staircase. (Caroline and her crew helped with my bags.)

Strategically placed just across the street from the railway station, but astonishingly calm and clean. Access uncomplicated, by access code and key found immediately in an envelope on the desk. Within 12 minutes I could rejoin the marina area on foot, on not too spooky narrow streets, and cowardly returned by subway after nightfall, knowing the "reputation" of Marseille. Room was small but had all it needs, good shower and a very silent AC unit (I saw much worse than that in 4star hotels). It offers a good breakfast downstairs - nice surprise before departure.

Not that I didn't like - because I had no heavy luggage - but the "stairway to heaven" in the house is really sporty: pushing a 25kg bag upstairs would be quite a challenge for any non-ironman.

This was my second time staying here. I like the overall vibe that Caroline has created and she serves a really good breakfast with locally sourced fresh and/ or homemade ingredients. The location (about 100m from the St Charles station) is also good if you're traveling by train.

Unfortunately there was been a lot of night construction in the area