Tête Ronde

Hike around the Tête Ronde, with superb views of Marseille.

Details

2013514
Creation:
Last update:
Last review:
  • Walking
    Activity: Walking
  • ↔
    Distance: 3.71 km
  • ◔
    Average duration: 1h 40 
  • ▲
    Difficulty: Moderate

  • ⚐
    Back to start: Yes
  • ↗
    Ascent: + 207 m
  • ↘
    Descent: - 209 m

  • ▲
    Highest point: 467 m
  • ▼
    Lowest point: 258 m

Photos

Description of the walk

Park in the car park at the end of the tarmac road.

(S/E) Go around the gate and take the path marked in yellow. Follow the yellow trail to a long open space facing Tête Ronde. Cross this space and walk about 20 metres to reach the junction with the path that will be the return route.

(1) Ignore this path and continue straight ahead; the trail is still marked in yellow. At the next fork, keep to the right. Further on, at a long open space, leave the path and turn right to reach a magnificent viewpoint over Marseille.

(2) Return to the marked path until the next fork.

(3) Turn right onto a vehicle track. At the end of the track, what I had taken to be a path (marked with dots on the map) is in fact an old collapsed wall. So it's not very practical for walking but quite useful for finding your way around.

Follow this collapsed wall southwards, then walk into a small valley where you should see the path below. Join this path.

(4) Turn right. After several hairpin bends, take a short detour to the right to the old bauxite mine (aluminium ore). Then return to the path and rejoin the fork you passed at the start.

(1) Turn left and retrace your steps to the car park (S/E).

Waypoints

  1. S/E : km 0 - alt. 260 m - Car park
  2. 1 : km 0.64 - alt. 328 m - Crossroads of the circular
  3. 2 : km 1.48 - alt. 427 m - Viewpoint over Marseille
  4. 3 : km 1.84 - alt. 466 m - Fork to the right
  5. 4 : km 2.22 - alt. 391 m - Junction with path, on the right
  6. S/E : km 3.71 - alt. 258 m - Car park

Notes

There is a section off the trail, so I recommend wearing trousers.

The hike is easy except for a 600m stretch after (3) which is off-trail but the density of the vegetation makes it possible. I recommend using the GPS track. If you don't want to go off-trail, you can turn back at point (3) and descend.

Worth a visit

Old bauxite mine.

Reviews and comments

4.1 / 5
Based on 14 reviews

Reliability of the description
4.2 / 5
Ease of following the route
3.9 / 5
Route interest
4.4 / 5
Maurice Padovani
Maurice Padovani

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Jan 05, 2026
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

The route is a little difficult to follow towards the end, but that adds to the pleasure of knowing that few people have probably taken it!

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ucsy
ucsy

Overall rating : 4 / 5

Date of your route : Nov 08, 2025
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★☆☆ Average
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

Thank you for the description and for this hiking suggestion.
The junction at stage 3 is difficult to find.
We descended near point 2 and walked along "tête ronde" to get back down to the return path.
The car park is quite small.
This walk is well worth it: the view is superb!

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Thierry 34
Thierry 34

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : May 13, 2024
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No


Route
with beautiful views and very accurate GPS.

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Louise.
Louise.

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Oct 16, 2023
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

A very beautiful hike!
We had to park before the end of the tarmac road because parking was prohibited below the gate.
We followed the GPS the whole way and had no problems with the route, everything was very precise! Without GPS, we might have had a little more trouble!
There were two of us, we walked at a leisurely pace and completed the hike in 1½ hours! Lots of incredible views of Marseille!

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thyminejennie
thyminejennie

Overall rating : 4 / 5

Date of your route : Mar 20, 2022
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★☆☆ Average
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

Hiking in a magnificent setting. It was the first day of spring and the spring flowers were in bloom.
The only problem was that we never found the collapsed wall we needed to follow to get back down. We went much further than we intended, so our circular took four hours instead of one hour and forty minutes.
Fortunately, we are good walkers...

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l2vla
l2vla

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Feb 23, 2021
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

A pleasant hike with beautiful panoramic views. Vehicle access to the car park (not very large) is via a narrow road, so don't hesitate to stop before you get there. At points 3 and 4: at point 3, turn right towards the south until you reach two clearly visible metal posts. Look to your right along the rocky path; you will see the collapsed wall. You can follow it by keeping it on your left as you descend. A makeshift path winds through the heath instead of climbing over it.

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jertraining
jertraining

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Oct 10, 2020
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : Yes

Depart from the car park on Chemin des Bellons towards Tête Ronde, a quiet path (with a few hunters in the vicinity) that climbs slightly.
When you reach the Bauxite mine junction, turn around and enjoy the view of the Pestiférés caves and Tête Rouge (you can take a path that leads to the Grosibou cave via Taoumé).
Go around Tête Ronde and climb to the top for a magnificent 360° view and a view of Marseille.
To descend, follow the small path along the broken wall (if you follow the GPS exactly, there is almost no difficulty).
You will then arrive at the return path.
Short stop at the bauxite mine.

A perfect route, with a slight climb, and accurate GPS coordinates (tracked on the smartphone app and GPX on the watch).

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Netra
Netra ★

Hello Faustine, and thank you for your comments.

I'm sorry to hear that this hike didn't meet your expectations, especially with a child in tow. I've just changed the rating from Easy to Moderate, following your comments.

Perhaps the author of the hike can tell us more.

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Faustine1108
Faustine1108

Overall rating : 2 / 5

Date of your route : Jan 01, 2020
Reliability of the description : ★★☆☆☆ Disappointing
Ease of following the route : ★★☆☆☆ Disappointing
Route interest : ★★☆☆☆ Disappointing

This route is definitely not 'easy'.
After trudging up a seemingly endless climb, which only levels out once you reach the ridge, we were forced to ask for directions.
The famous "collapsed wall" is not visible from the path and is not marked.
Once we found the wall after searching around and asking other walkers for advice, we were forced to turn back because the pile of stones was completely unstable and therefore not suitable for our 6-year-old child. (We had brought him along because the route was marked as "easy").
This is completely irresponsible and dangerous for walkers.

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Nadine13140
Nadine13140
• Edited:

Overall rating : 4 / 5

Date of your route : Nov 09, 2019
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good

Roadside parking at Les Bellons – pleasant hike
The return journey through the heath, following a collapsed wall, is a little difficult
It seems that it is better to continue to the wolf pass and then take a small path that leads back to a wider trail

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ceclem
ceclem

Overall rating : 3 / 5

Date of your route : Oct 07, 2019
Reliability of the description : ★★★☆☆ Average
Ease of following the route : ★☆☆☆☆ Very disappointing
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good

Hello, I used the Tête Ronde trail, but be careful, I couldn't find the shortcut, even though I was equipped with Mytrial, which has local IGN topographical maps built in.

The GPX route led us to a cliff, and we couldn't find any trace of the road or the collapsed wall.

Other than that, the walk was very good.

Thank you for your work.

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Elo79
Elo79

Overall rating : 4 / 5

Date of your route : Jun 22, 2019
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good

We got completely lost between points 3 and 4 because we didn't have a GPS. At first, we couldn't find the wall, but we ventured into the vegetation anyway, which ended up becoming increasingly dense, but we still managed to find point 4. In fact, the wall was about a hundred metres from where we passed.
Despite this rather difficult and leg-stinging passage, this hike is very pleasant and offers beautiful views.

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cocotte54
cocotte54

Overall rating : 4 / 5

Date of your route : Jun 10, 2019
Reliability of the description : Not used / Not applicable
Ease of following the route : Not used / Not applicable
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good

We only did the first part (it was too hot), but the view of Marseille is truly impressive. I hope to do the whole thing... but as we only have our legs and a paper map, it seems difficult... Thank you anyway for this beautiful panoramic view.

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lolop16
lolop16
• Edited:

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : May 26, 2019
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good

A beautiful hike with stunning views all along the way. The section between points 3 and 4 is tricky, and we had trouble finding the stone wall. Fortunately, the route marked on the map using the phone's GPS was very reliable, which helped us find it.
Perfect timing: with short photo breaks and a leisurely pace, it took exactly 1 hour and 35 minutes!

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