Luxury Hotels Atlas / Places / France / Villefranche-sur-Mer / Welcome Hôtel
Welcome Hôtel
Villefranche-sur-Mer, France · Independent · Near Luxury
Jean Cocteau came to the Welcome after Raymond Radiguet died in 1923, and later wrote that the hotel was haunted only because he and his friends had haunted it. He kept what is now room 22, painted the Chapelle Saint-Pierre next door in 1956, and in 1957 left a line for his very dear Welcome, where he spent the best part of his life. The house went up in 1710, opened as the Hôtel de l'Univers in 1787, and became the Welcome around 1920. Thirty-five rooms with balconies look over the harbor at Villefranche-sur-Mer.
- 35 rooms
- Opened 1787
- Neighborhood: Port
- Rooms from 237 sq ft (22 m²)
About Welcome Hôtel
- In 1943 Platon Sylvestre bought the hotel. Two weeks later the German army detonated seven mines around it. The walls held, and the family needed two years to repair what had been looted. Charles Galbois, the fourth generation, took the desk in 2016.
- In La Difficulté d'être, Cocteau remembered Ripolin paint in the rooms and a yellow coat over the Italian trompe-l'œil on the facade. He carried the Latin text of Oedipus Rex up to Stravinsky, who was living on Mont Boron.
- The oldest vault on the ground floor may date to the thirteenth century, of a piece with the rue Obscure beside the hotel. A fourth floor went on around 1890, and in 1956 two more floors and a lift.
- Entry-level rooms start at 237 sq ft (22 m²).
History
The Welcome stands on the quay at Villefranche-sur-Mer. The oldest vaulted bit of the ground floor may go back to the thirteenth century, like the rue Obscure beside it. A letter of 1956 dates the four-storey building to 1710. In 1787 it officially became a hotel under the name Hôtel, bar, café de l'Univers. A fourth floor went on around 1890. Around 1920, with an English clientele on the coast, it became the Hôtel Welcome.
Jean Cocteau started coming after Raymond Radiguet died on 12 December 1923. The Vigouroux brothers, who owned it then, put him up. In La Difficulté d'être he called it a haunted hotel and said the haunting was his own circle: rooms in Ripolin, a yellow coat of paint over the Italian trompe-l'œil, sailors in the gulf, and the Latin text of Oedipus Rex carried up to Stravinsky on Mont Boron. He used the room that is now 22. In 1956 he painted the Chapelle Saint-Pierre next door. In 1957 he left Guy Galbois a drawing, now a mosaic at the entrance, and the line about spending the best part of his life here.
Platon Sylvestre, father of Reine Galbois, bought the hotel in 1943. Two weeks later the German army detonated seven mines around it. The walls held. Guy and Reine Galbois restored it. Their son Gérard ran it for nearly fifty years after Guy's death in 1971, earned a fourth star in 2010, and in 2016 handed it to his son Charles, the fourth generation. There are 35 rooms, each with a balcony over the port. The door says Welcome, and the Galbois family still runs it.
The setting
3 Quai de l'Amiral Courbet, 06230 Villefranche-sur-Mer, on the harbor, with the Chapelle Saint-Pierre beside the door. Nice is to one side and Cap-Ferrat to the other. The town is Villefranche-sur-Mer.
Restaurants and bars
- Veranda — Restaurant
- Wine Pier Bar — Bar
- Mayssa Beach — Poolside
- Le Cosmo — Restaurant
- Le Saint Pierre — Restaurant · gourmet
- Le Carpe Diem — Restaurant · bistro
Amenities
- Buffet breakfast 7.15 a.m. to 10.15 a.m
- Terrace for 50 people and 35 indoors
Open Welcome Hôtel in the atlas for live weekend rates, photos, and the full folio.