Day 3052 (Thursday) 16th October 2025

This is the building below us, which used to be a hotel-restaurant.

They are slowly packing up Villefranche for the winter – they took the jetty away today leaving the port virtually empty – it looks lovely but it’s still sad to see them packing up our lovely little town. 

Huw wasn’t working today so we went to the Happy Whale in La Darse for lunch.

It’s always really busy there, especially at weekends but we were surprised to see it was nearly full on a weekday but we managed to get a table.

After lunch we went for a walk along the sea wall and saw these buoys that they removed from our port this morning, yet another sad sign of the end of summer.

The dry dock was empty, Huw claims he has never seen this before. Years ago I used to work in it.

This is what it used to look like – it’s hardly changed at all.

There were a few people on the beach sunbathing and a few in the sea.

The sea looks lovely and clean.

On the way back to the scooter we saw this gorgeous Renault.

When we got home I found this article…

Berth Description

The PORT OF VILLEFRANCHE is a natural, historic and traditional harbour, well sheltered from all winds, located west side of the famous bay of Villefranche-sur-Mer, south of the citadel. The harbour attracts boaters looking for a picturesque, welcoming and well-protected site. Classified as a historic monument in 1991, the port has preserved the legacy of its commercial, military and Royal history.

The original installations of PORT OF VILLEFRANCHE date from the 18th century. The dry-dock basin of Villefranche-Darse (60 x 11 x 2.50 m) is the only one of the French Riviera, between Toulon and Genoa, which allows the haul-out and facilitates the delicate work carried out on vessels of tradition. Right next door, it has two 50 and 100 T slipway, specialised in the restoration of traditional boats.

Between Monaco and Nice, on the feet of the Alps, the bay of Villefranche has always been an unmissable stop on the maritime routes of the Mediterranean Sea. The bay is surrounded on all sides by cliffs: Cap Ferrat, Cape of Nice, first foothills of the Alps – the spectacle is striking. This amphitheatre of hills protects a vast water plan of two kilometres by one and a half with depths reaching a hundred metres.

Villefranche is located on the edge of an important maritime axis of the Mediterranean, halfway from the major ports of Genoa and Marseille. Today, for yachting enthusiasts, there is nothing more elegant than to drop anchor in the bay of Villefranche.

Nowadays, the PORT OF VILLEFRANCHE is a public port managed by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI), dedicated to fishing and recreational boating. Like all the ports of the CCI, it abides by the CUNCA (Urban Community Nice-Côte d’Azur) port regulations, without leaseholds and little or no leeway in length. It offers 520 moorings up to 45 m long and a landing pontoon for excursionists on cruise ships at anchor.

KEY FEATURES
• Nice-Côte d’Azur International Airport 15 km from the port
• Train: SNCF railway station 1 km from the port
• Spectacular historic site, favoured by boaters
• Protected bay ideal for anchorage, calm water
• Monuments and cultural points of interest
• Surrounded by beaches and beach clubs
• Dry-dock basin and 2 slipways of 50 and 100 T
• Bunkering station for fuel
• Guardienage, cleaning and service of boats
• Public parking
• Dock landing excursionists on cruise ships
• Fishing and boating excursion departures on the French Riviera
• Shops, restaurants, bars, terraces, grocery stores and market
• Luxury real estate

I also found this…

Le Port de la Darse in Villefranche – a different pace of life

Villefranche sur Mer is one of the prettiest towns on the French Riviera, with its picture-perfect, horseshoe-shaped bay – known as La Rade de Villefranche – and a beautiful 16th century, cobbled vieille ville (old town). Known for its generally more understated visitors it is perhaps on the opposite end of the scale to the more ritzy destinations such as St Tropez and Monaco, with a more down-to-earth feel in season. Out of season, much of the smaller coastal towns and villages pretty well close up, but in Villefranche there’s always a selection of good places to eat and drink, and enough life to make winter visitors feel welcome.

But there’s also a lesser known part of Villefanche, one that is no less typical of the region, but far enough away from the quays at the water’s edge in the old town to be missed by many of the day visitors – Le Port de La Darse. Set around the town’s main harbour, the handsome but understated buildings mostly belong to the Observatoire Oceanologique de Villefranche, housing two research/teaching laboratories co-administered by Sorbonne University (SU) (Université Pierre et Marie Curie) and the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique. Founded in 1882 by a Hermann Fol, a marine biologist and friend of Charles Darwin, the observatory still specialises in research on the huge variety of marine life found in the bay of Villefranche, making it one of the leading marine research facilities in the world. Alongside these subtly elegant facades sits a higgldy piggldy set of ship chandlers and ateliers, housed in Napoleonic, vaulted workshops, made strangely famous by the slightly odd 1983 James Bond outing, Never Say Never Again. Peep through the high barn doors to these little workshops, and you’ll see a fascinating glimpse of semi-frescoed intricate brick vaulted ceilings, with their original pillars and sculpted arches – often with a few battered boats being patched up for their next outing.