Villefranche-sur-mer: Postcards from a perfect visit

When visiting Nice for a 4 day break with one of my best friends, we decided to hop on the train along the coast to visit the picture perfect Villefranche-sur-mer, a small but beautiful village along the French Riviera.

It was of course, like the rest of our visit, raining. But that meant we had Villefranche largely to ourselves and wow was it beautiful!

How to get to Villefrance-sur-mer from Nice

Getting to Villefranche is easy from Nice, as it’s just a 7 minute direct train ride from Nice’s main station, Nice Ville.

You’ll need to get to the station early though because buying tickets isn’t simple. You can purchase them from the blue machines in the terminal (there are no people selling tickets), but the queues get quite big so if possible, purchase them the night before. Even when we’d bought tickets the ticket didn’t let us through the barrier and there were no staff on duty to help – so we had to jump the barriers!

Things to do in Villefranche-sur-mer

Villefranche is the kind of place you go to just ‘be’ – to wander the postcard-perfect hamlet full of vibrant shades of yellows and pinks paving the narrow streets – is a true treat. It’s full of French Riviera glamour, and well worth at least half a day of your time.

The Beach

The train stops right by the beach, so the first stop of the day is enjoying the beautiful clear waters of the bay. Given it was 9 degrees on our visit, we didn’t go swimming, but it was still absolutely beautiful.

The Promenade

Strolling from the beach to the Old Town takes you along the promenade lined with shops and restaurants. It’s the perfect place to grab a coffee and watch the boats/yachts go by on one side and people watch on the other.

Restaurants along the main section of the Promenade (L), Promenade views out to sea (R)

The Old Town

Without a doubt the star of the show in Villefranche is its stunning Old Town. It’s a maze of narrow streets in beautiful colours and gorgeous walkways. Even better there’s a wine bar around every corner so we paused twice to sample the local (absolutely amazing) wine.

Have a little longer?

If you have longer than half a day to a day to spend in Villefranche then there are other options to add on to your trip. You could choose to visit:

• Eze – the beautiful hilltop medieval village just a couple of train stops away (we did this, spending the morning in Villefranche and the afternoon in Eze).
• Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild – the picturesque villa of the banking family set in lovely gardens
• Nice – hop on the train out to Nice for a wander round the famous beach side city
• Monaco – the glamourous tiny country just 15 minutes along the coast from Villefranche by train

And that’s a wrap on beautiful little Villefranche-sur-mer. What did you think? We had such a lovely morning exploring and would recommend it to anyone visiting the French Riviera. Stay safe and happy travelling!