Welcome Hotel, Villefranche-sur-Mer - France

The Welcome Hotel in Villefranche-sur-Mer is appropriately named given that this delightful small port has had a reputation for welcoming travellers for over two thousand years.

A port since Greek and Roman times – when it was called Oliva Portus – Villefrance has an enclosed bay and projecting headland particularly inviting for weary sailors. A thousand or so years later, in 1295, Charles II encouraged settlers with a protective fort whilst enticing prospective residents with a tax free status, hence ‘Villa Franca’, which later became Villefranche.

The oldest part of the Welcome Hotel dates from the 13th century, although the four storey building ‘only’ dates back to 1710 and has been a popular hotel for British guests since Victorian times. The famous artist, Jean Cocteau, first visited in 1924, and said of the location: “Villefranche is my island” later becoming a resident for many years. Cocteau said that his time at the Welcome Hotel were ‘the happiest days of my life’, and he regularly quoted it in his books and articles. Artwork and mementos from this period are still on display in the hotel today.

Now with the 5th generation of the Galbois family, the Welcome Hotel lives up to its name, with its inviting façade in a delightful shade of typically Provencal pinky-orange and contrasting grey-blue shutters. With interiors that are relatively unrestored and pleasant, comfortable and well-sized bedrooms plus a straightforward bar and dining area adorned with black and white photographs, its attraction for its loyal guests lies not with luxurious accommodation, but with its enviable and unbeatable location.

As a small boutique hotel, all 35 rooms have a balcony with stunning views over the harbour, and some are inspired by past residents and painters such as Matisse and Dufy. English artist Graham Sutherland once stayed in room 34 leaving a painting as payment for his stay. Cocteau’s own corner room features a mural of fluffy clouds, star-shaped lights and an armchair with a Cocteau face. The rooms vary considerably in size, generally smaller going upwards to the loft rooms.

The location is well summarised by this quote by Jean Cocteau letter from 1925: “Mama, darling, Villefranche is a marvel with its ships, its cannons, its hymns and its jazz. This excessive life overwhelms me and I watch it wisely from my bedroom as if from an opera box”.

There are little in the way of hotel extra facilities – no pool, health spa, gym or restaurant for example – but there is a bar with a stunning waterside terrace, a setting perfectly made for early evening cocktails, dolphin-spotting and appreciating sunsets. On its wall are black and white photographs of past guests such as Dean Martin, Jeanne Moreau, Henry Ford and Jack Warner. It’s also a location Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton once retreated to in order to escape the paparazzi!

For snacking the bar can stretch to (very simple) cheese or meat platters which are best accompanied by one of the superb Provencal wines. There’s no restaurant but the quayside is lined with options, including the famous La Mère Germaine, the address for seafood since 1938, its seats perched on the quayside reminiscent of a Greek harbour. The Welcome is also able to order in from a local restaurant and let you dine on your balcony with same option extending to breakfast with which coffee is served in a cup adorned with a Cocteau face.

The Welcome Hotel commands the seafront in the village’s heart, just yards from the quay fittingly right opposite Cocteau’s magnificently frescoed Fishermen’s Chapel. It is separated from the Mediterranean by a few feet of tarmac belonging to a sleepy dead end road. Jean Cocteau was enchanted by the light, the Italianate façade and the fishermen repairing their nets on the harbour. 

This is a scene that can hardly have changed in hundreds of years – a fishing village that could have been dreamt up by Hollywood. One can also watch the yachts bobbing on the harbour but hopefully without movies filming nearby – once Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner (during the filming of The Jewel of the Nile) delivered champagne to guests to apologise for the noise of stuntmen blowing up boats in the bay!

Although the port is the beating heart of Villefranche, there is more to explore. A delightful (and easy) coastal walk leads to the exclusive Cap Ferrat. Winding up from the harbour are some charming alleyways lined with bistros bars and boutiques, whilst to the south edge of the town, the remarkable 16th century fortress is well worth a visit.

The attractions of Cannes, Nice, Monaco and Menton also lie just a short drive away – or a few stops on the scenic coastal railway – away. However, we mention these almost as an afterthought, as despite the convenience of the Welcome Hotel’s location for accessing other highlights of the Cote d’Azur, Villefranche is such a special location that you will find it hard to leave.

‘Right here in Villefranche, every evening, I sit alone on the harbour. The routine is gentle. A star lights up on the right, another is about to light up above Saint-Jean. I know the order in which the stars light up; between the first and the second an old man passes by with a goat on a leash. The boats clash, the lighthouse carries its megaphone over the sea.’

Jean Cocteau, 1926

CELOPHANELAND* was a guest of the Welcome Hotel.

The Welcome Hotel is at 3 Quai de l’Amiral Courbet, 06230 Vilefranche-sur-mer, France

Reservations: www.welcomehotel.com