Hotel de La Darse

I have stayed many times, and the hotel and area never disappoints. The 1st floor sea view rooms have had a make over - fresh and clean, great shower. I did miss a little of the old ambiance - the minimalist look is not to my taste, but nevertheless, functional, and the terrace and views are wonderful. Breakfasts are great out on the terrace. My suggestion would be for boiling water for us Brits who like our tea with breakfast! The all singing coffee machine is great but a kettle is needed for a decent cuppa.

We first stayed at the Darse in 1990, when it resembled a badly maintained British World War Two air raid shelter but it was very cheap, with one of the best locations in the entire Cote D’Azur, right beside the water and without the six lanes of traffic that are in front of many hotels in Nice. Since then we have stayed at least 20 times while seeing it improve out of all recognition and it is now a very comfortable small hotel, in my opinion certainly the best value in Villefranche. Two things detracted from this visit. Even though the hotel seemed to be almost empty, I was unable to get one of the top floor rooms that have the best view. Staff I met included two very pleasant young women, one recently arrived from Paris, and two equally pleasant young men, one a post grad at the University of Nice, the other setting up the restaurant (too expensive for me but there are plenty of others not far away) while l waited for about 15 minutes for someone to check me in. The man who finally arrived to do this seemed very annoyed about something, an unsmiling attitude he maintained throughout my stay.

We are returning to this hotel every year due to its fantastic location at the small harbour. Very succesful renovation of the hotel rooms and great with installation of an escalator. The food at the restaurant is really worth the money. Thanks for a fantastic stay.