Dog-Friendly Villefranche-sur-Mer
My first trip to Europe was in 2011, with my one of my closest childhood friends. At 22 years old, I was trying to see as many places as I could within my budget, so we spent about two days in each location. I would never travel that way now, but I understand why so many people (particularly young Americans) do! One of our stops was Nice, France, where we stayed at a lovely hostel and packed as much into 48 hours as we could. My aunt and uncle had visited Villefranche-sur-Mer several times and insisted we had to go there. I am so glad we followed their advice! Villefranche is only a half-hour bus ride from Nice. It is quaint and colorful, with somewhat sandy beaches (Nice’s beaches are all rock) and many beautiful viewpoints. I am so glad I returned, more than ten years later, for my 2022 Europe trip!
The pictures below are from my first time in Villefranche!
Unfortunately, Alice pulled something in her front leg on the day we were heading to Villefranche. We were at a vineyard in Provénce, and she jumped onto a ledge and landed wrong. Luckily there was a veterinarian a few kilometers away and they took great care of her. I was shocked by how inexpensive this vet visit was! The physical exam, partial anesthesia, X-ray, cast, and pain meds cost about €270. This would have been over $1000 in New York!
We arrived at our hotel much later than planned, physically and emotionally exhausted. Villefranche has a lot of hills and stairs, as the town rises up from the shore. I am so grateful I brought Alice’s K9 Sport Sack - I carried her around in this a lot. On our first morning in Villefranche, we met a woman at the restaurant of our hotel who asked about Alice. She allowed us to borrow her cat’s rolling carrier for the three days we were there! What a life-saver. Because of Alice’s injury, we didn’t do a lot of activities in/around Villefranche, and spent more time relaxing.
Where We Stayed
Hôtel La Regence - Chez Betty is located in the middle of Villefranche, on one of the main roads. The bus stop to get to Nice is only a few minutes walk, and the train station is about a ten minute walk. If Alice wasn’t in a cast, it would have been a very convenient location. The room as small, but nice and updated; very affordable for the French Riviera. There’s a restaurant/bar on the ground floor of the hotel, which is nice for coffee and a croissant in the morning or a glass of wine during the day. The manager was friendly in a French way (if you know you know), but he was not very helpful when it came to Alice’s condition. For instance, I asked him if he could get me a taxi to take me to the train station, and he said it’s too close, taxis will refuse to come for such a short ride. I tried to push more, saying I would pay extra but he was clearly not interested in helping. I had to leave the rolling carrier behind because I had borrowed it, so I had Alice in her airplane carrier in one hand, and my suitcase in the other. I had to take a few breaks along the way, and was very tired and frustrated by the time I got to the platform.
What We Did
There is one small, dog-friendly beach in Villefranche, all the way to the east of the main beach, called Plage de l’Ange Gardien. This beach is pretty rocky, so I recommend some sort of water shoe. Alice couldn’t get her cast wet, so she did some sunbathing while I was in the water.
There are many restaurants along the water with outdoor seating. We ate at a couple of these after spending time on the beach. Neither were overly impressive, and I didn’t even save them on Google Maps, but they were fine! Two restaurants I really enjoyed were La Belle Etoile and Le Serre, located right next to each other. Both are very popular, so make a reservation or expect you may have to wait a while.
I had to drop off my rental car in Nice, so we did spend an afternoon/evening there. Nice has seemingly endless restaurants with outdoor seating. The old town is really cool, but also ridiculously crowded. We sat for a while at a café in Rossetti Square, where an opera singer performed in front of a church. The beach in Nice doesn’t technically allow dogs in the summer, but it was so busy at sunset and we saw several other dogs on the beach. So we enjoyed a beautiful sunset there!
