During our stay at Mas des Pascaux in Provence we were recommended to take a boat trip along Les Calanques. Les Calanques are huge cliffs on a long stretch on the French Riviera.
There are tons of boat trips leaving every day for the area, but we didn’t want to go on a large boat. We wished a more intimate experience including swimming in the bays.

We were more than happy when Pascale from Mas des Pascaux recommended us a tour in a small speedboat from the company L’Eden Boat. She booked for us and we just had to show up in the neighbouring town La Ciotat the next day.

The company organizing the tours is a family with their own boats. It’s the kids (brother and sister) who do the tours and the mother does the bookings. We were on the boat of the son.

We were six adults and four children on the boat, which was really nice with space for everyone and a great atmosphere among us all. Our captain provided water and other cold beverages during the whole trip and was generally super helpful and nice to everyone (especially the kids on board).

Off we go…

During the entire trip (four hours) we had four stops to jump off the boat and bathe. At some places we stopped near a beach, at others near rocks to be climbed and jumped from and the last stop was near a little hidden cave, where we would swim in through a little opening and come into a wonderful cave (no pics – sorry! I’ll have to buy a GoPro for occasions like these).

After four hours of sailing, bathing and chilling to Bob Marley tunes, we sailed back to the port of La Ciotat with full speed.

Nice to know about L’Eden boat tours

+ Book in advance as the tours are popular (we were lucky to get to tickets just one day in advance)

+ It’s quite expensive (around 65 euro per person), but totally worth it, as this experience is so much different from what you get on the large boats

+ If you are more friends going together they also offer private tours for groups

+ The brother and sister sailing the boats may seem young (and they are), but they are super professional and really know their boats and how to read the waves. We could lay back and enjoy the ride even when we went by full speed chasing waves from other large boats.

+ Bring lots of sun protection as the sun is burning on on the sea

Visit their website here