France Guide
The Côte d'Azur
The Château d'If
Opening time: May to mid-Sept daily 9am–6pm; mid-Sept to March Tues– Sun 9am–5.15pm; April daily 9am–5.30pm
Price: €5
Address: On the tiny island of If
The Château d'If is best known as the penal setting for Alexandre Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo. Having made his watery escape after fourteen years of incarceration as the innocent victim of treachery, the hero of the piece, Edmond Dantès, describes the island thus: "Blacker than the sea, blacker than the sky, rose like a phantom the giant of granite, whose projecting crags seemed like arms extended to seize their prey". The reality, for most prisoners, was worse: they went insane or died (and sometimes both) before reaching the end of their sentences. Only the nobles living in the less fetid upper-storey cells had much chance of survival. The sixteenth-century castle and its cells are horribly well preserved, and the views back towards Marseille are fantastic. Boats for If leave regularly from the quai des Belges in the Vieux Port (every 30–45min in summer; less frequent in winter; €10), with the last boat back timed to coincide with the château's closing time; the journey takes twenty minutes.