Livingston in Marseille's 6e off the Cours Julien is the orange-wine bistro and vinyl bar with a tight natural-wine list, small-plate counter and a turntable that runs jazz, soul and tropicalia through the room from 19:15.
Tip: Glasses €5-9, tapas €9-16; the counter takes walk-ins, the dining bench is reservation only.
Address: 5 Rue Crudère, 13006 Marseille
Vice Versa in Marseille's 6e Cours Julien is the late-opening cocktail bar and basement club on Rue des Trois Rois, with a Caribou-trained mixology team upstairs and a secret-door dancefloor that runs house and deep house from 23:00.
Tip: Classics €8, signatures €12; the basement is the draw after 23:00 Thursday to Sunday. Metro Notre-Dame du Mont is two blocks away.
Au Petit Nice on Place Jean Jaurès in Marseille's 1er La Plaine is the institution-of-the-square dive run by former European boxing champion Richard Caramanolis, with a constantly packed terrace, wooden interior and pints under €5.
Tip: Pastis €2.50, pints €4.50; the terrace is the move from 18:00 onwards. Cash preferred for small rounds.
Bar de la Marine on the Quai de Rive Neuve in Marseille's 7e is the 1929 Vieux Port institution that doubled as Marcel Pagnol's Marius bar, with a 1930s interior of Marseille frescoes and model ships, open from breakfast to 02:00.
Tip: Order a mauresque on the terrace at sunset; the back room with the Pagnol fresco is the rainy-night option.
Bar des 13 Coins in Marseille's 2e Le Panier is the old quarter dive on Rue Sainte-Françoise with a pavement terrace under the pastel facades, cheap pastis and rolling-shutter regulars who carry the room past midnight.
Tip: Pastis €3, plat-du-jour at lunch under €15; the pavement tables are the move on warm nights, cash preferred.
Cabaret Aléatoire in Marseille's 3e is the SMAC-labelled concert hall and club nested inside La Friche Belle de Mai, a 45,000m2 former tobacco factory turned cultural complex, and the city's industrial-techno benchmark.
Tip: Tickets on Shotgun or the venue site, €15-25 most club nights; entry via the Friche through Rue Jobin or Rue François Simon.
Le Trolleybus on the Vieux Port in Marseille's 7e is the 900-capacity vaulted-stone club inside a 17th-century galley arsenal, with three rooms: La Dame Noire for pop-rock, Le Whisky Bar for house, La Marquise upstairs.
Tip: Doors midnight Thu-Sat, busiest from 01:30. Cash or card accepted; the La Marquise room is the easier seating room of the three.
Vice Versa in Marseille's 6e Cours Julien is the late-opening cocktail bar and basement club on Rue des Trois Rois, with a Caribou-trained mixology team upstairs and a secret-door dancefloor that runs house and deep house from 23:00.
Tip: Classics €8, signatures €12; the basement is the draw after 23:00 Thursday to Sunday. Metro Notre-Dame du Mont is two blocks away.