Aix has approximately 140,000 inhabitants, though it is also surrounded by many little towns and it is sometimes hard to tell where the urban area ends and the countryside begins. Aix is home to a university and about a quarter of the town's population attends. This makes for some high-rate nightlife, and there is an especially strong ragga/reggae scene. Marijuana is generally available, though as always in France one should watch out for the gendarmes.

Natives of the region are very friendly and due to the high number of university students the town is not, as are some in the south of France, hostile to foreigners or those of Arab extraction. Aix is famous for its callisons, a sweet soft cake/lolly, and its fountains (thanks Routes de France!).

It takes about 30 minutes to get to Marseille on the train, and hence one can get from Aix to Paris in about four hours thanks to the TGV.