France / Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
Villefranche-sur-Mer
Villefranche-sur-Mer is a coastal resort area in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France. Its longest mapped beach (Plage des Marinières) stretches about 638 m and has a sand surface. The sea averages 24.6 °C in August, its warmest month, and 13.3 °C in February; it is 21 °C or warmer in June–September.
Average sea surface temperature by month. Current month outlined.
OpenStreetMap shows no lifeguard station within 1 km. Seasonal lifeguard posts are often unmapped, so check on site.
Services in the resort
- 65Restaurants, cafés & bars
- 11Public toilets
- –Showers
- 5Drinking water
- 26Car parks
- –Lifeguard stations
- 15Hotels & guesthouses
- 9Grocery shops
- 1Water-sports spots
- 145Bus stops (1.5 km)
- 3Pharmacies & clinics
- 1Cash machines
- 2Bike rental
- 8Viewpoints
- 2Historic sites
Food and drink mapped within 1 km: 55 restaurants, 4 cafés and 6 bars. Accommodation: 15 hotels and guesthouses.
Counted within 1 km of the beach (bus stops 1.5 km) from OpenStreetMap features and Overture Maps places, release of 2026-10. Unmapped does not mean absent.
Bathing water quality
The official EU bathing-water site “Marinieres”, 520 m from the beach centre, was rated Good for the 2025 season. It was Excellent in 0 of its 11 classified seasons since 2015.
- 2015Sufficient
- 2016Poor
- 2017Sufficient
- 2018Good
- 2019Good
- 2020Good
- 2021Sufficient
- 2022Sufficient
- 2023Good
- 2024Good
- 2025Good
Source: European Environment Agency, EU Bathing Water Directive assessments · national site profile. Classes are based on four seasons of bacteriological sampling.
Month by month
October at Villefranche-sur-Mer
Beach-day index 4.3/10 · France median 4.9
| Measure | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sea °C | 13.9 °C | 13.3 °C | 13.5 °C | 14.6 °C | 17.5 °C | 21.1 °C | 23.7 °C | 24.6 °C | 22.4 °C | 19.8 °C | 17.4 °C | 15.4 °C |
| High °C | 6° | 7° | 10° | 14° | 18° | 24° | 27° | 27° | 22° | 17° | 11° | 7° |
| Low °C | -1° | -1° | 2° | 5° | 9° | 14° | 16° | 16° | 12° | 8° | 3° | 0° |
| Rain mm | 51 | 51 | 61 | 63 | 63 | 42 | 28 | 30 | 52 | 84 | 120 | 77 |
| Cloud % | 60 | 58 | 53 | 53 | 52 | 39 | 28 | 30 | 41 | 52 | 59 | 57 |
| Wind m/s | 2.8 | 3.0 | 3.1 | 2.9 | 2.6 | 2.4 | 2.5 | 2.4 | 2.4 | 2.6 | 2.7 | 2.8 |
| Daylight h | 9.3 | 10.5 | 11.8 | 13.4 | 14.7 | 15.4 | 15.2 | 14.0 | 12.6 | 11.1 | 9.7 | 9.0 |
| Record high/low | 18°/-8° | 18°/-16° | 21°/-11° | 23°/-2° | 28°/1° | 36°/5° | 33°/9° | 34°/9° | 30°/4° | 27°/-1° | 20°/-5° | 17°/-8° |
| Beach index | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 4.4 | 8.2 | 9.5 | 9.5 | 7.5 | 4.3 | 3.2 | 2.9 |
Long-term monthly averages: air from NASA POWER (2001–2020), sea from NOAA OISST (1991–2020); records are the extremes of 2001–2020. How the index works.
When to go
The beach-day index peaks in July–August; July scores 9.5/10 with highs of 27 °C, sea at 23.7 °C and 28 mm of rain.
In July that is 1.6 points above the median of the 625 beaches in France covered by this atlas.
At its warmest the water here is 2.5 °C warmer than the France median for August (22.1 °C).
Across the year the sea averages 18.1 °C, cooler than 57% of the coastal beaches in the atlas.
November is the wettest month (120 mm) and July the driest (28 mm); the yearly total is about 720 mm.
Daylight runs from 9.0 hours in December to 15.4 hours in June; in mid-July the sun rises at 06:01 and sets at 21:11 local time.
Orientation, sun and shore
The shore faces south-south-east (150°). Open water fills about 19% of the horizon close by, which makes it a sheltered cove or bay.
At no time of year does the sun set over the sea here: sunset bearings run from 238° to 304°, behind the land.
Sunrise is over the sea in November–January.
The opposite shore is only about 1.0 km away to the south-south-east, which keeps the water sheltered from big waves.
About 1 km offshore the sea is roughly 31 m deep. Behind the beach the ground is about 163 m above sea level 500 m inland and 205 m at 1.5 km, so the beach is backed by steep slopes or cliffs.
Within 1 km, the land is 49% built-up land, 46% tree cover and 4% shrubland (satellite land-cover map, 2021): an urban beach. Water makes up 28% of that circle.
- Built 49%
- Tree 46%
- Shrub 4%
Land cover: ESA WorldCover 2021 (10 m). Orientation from OpenStreetMap land polygons sampled in 36 directions; depths and heights from the GEBCO 2020 grid (about 450 m cells), indicative only.
Getting there
| Airport | Code | Distance | Direction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nice-Côte d'Azur Airport Nice, Alpes-Maritimes | NCE | 9.1 km | south-west |
| Cuneo International Airport Levaldigi (CN) | CUF | 97.0 km | north |
| Toulon-Hyères Airport Hyères, Var | TLN | 116 km | south-west |
Straight-line distances from the beach; road distance is usually 20–40% longer.
Local transport: 145 bus stops within 1.5 km, rail station Villefranche-sur-Mer (450 m), rail station Nice Riquier (1.6 km), ferry terminal Gare Maritime (260 m) and 26 mapped car parks within 1 km.
55 towns and villages of 1,000+ people lie within 10 km (about 789.2K residents); within 30 km there are 111 (about 1.5M).
Around the beach
Viewpoints
- Quai de l'Amiral Ponchardier 220 m E
- Chemin du Col de Caire 800 m NE
- Bd de la Corne d'Or 840 m NE
Attractions & museums
- Musée Volti museum 70 m E
- Cirquenriviera attraction 90 m SW
- Galerie Jean Cocteau museum 190 m SE
- Musée Goetz-Boumeester museum 320 m S
Historic sites
- Citadelle Saint-Elme monument 320 m S
- Fort du Mont Alban fort 850 m W
Nature
- Mont Alban peak 880 m SW
- Mont Vinaigrier peak 1.2 km N
Diving & boat hire
- Sup in Villefranche 840 m E
Map
Loading map…
Data on this page
- Air temperature, rain, cloud, wind, humidity: NASA POWER climatology 2001–2020, 0.5° grid.
- Sea temperature: NOAA OISST v2.1 monthly normals 1991–2020, nearest ocean cell 10.2 km away.
- Beach outline, surface, rules and public facilities: OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), feature w159148025; restaurants, cafés, bars and lodging: Overture Maps places (CDLA-Permissive-2.0).
- Towns and time zone: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Airports: OurAirports (public domain). Sunrise and sunset: NOAA solar equations.
- Satellite view: Copernicus Sentinel-2 (ESA), scene S2A_32TLP_20230926_0_L2A.
- Orientation: OpenStreetMap land polygons (ODbL). Depth and terrain: GEBCO 2020 grid.
- Bathing-water quality: European Environment Agency (site FRL0306159M006545).
- Settlements: GeoNames places with 1,000+ inhabitants.
- Land cover: ESA WorldCover 2021, 10 m (CC BY 4.0).
- Search popularity: about 2.4K Google searches a month for the name (KeywordTool, October 2026).
Data compiled 2026-10-13. Something wrong? Report a data error.