Pet-Friendly Restaurants in Villefranche-sur-Mer

Founded in 1938 and still run by the same family, La Mère Germaine is the historic seafood institution of Villefranche, with its waterfront terrace lined up directly on the Port de la Santé quay and views straight across the deep harbour to Cap Ferrat. Leashed dogs are welcome at the outdoor tables and the staff routinely bring water bowls. The menu is built around bouillabaisse, daily catch off the local boats, plateaux de fruits de mer and grilled Mediterranean fish, with a Provençal wine list dominated by Bellet and Côtes-de-Provence.

Set on the small Place Amélie Pollonnais directly in front of the Chapelle Saint-Pierre, Cosmo is the busy all-day bistrot of central Villefranche, equally suited to morning coffee, a long Niçois lunch or a sunset apéro before dinner. The wide terrace under canvas awnings looks across the square to the chapel and the harbour. Leashed dogs are welcome throughout the terrace and the staff are used to handling well-mannered animals during peak service.

A tiny family-run bistrot in the Vieille Ville, a single stepped lane behind the Port de la Santé. La Belle Étoile cooks proper Niçois home cooking (petits farcis, daube, ratatouille, tarte aux blettes) at prices well below the harbour terraces, served on a handful of tables squeezed under a vaulted arch. Leashed dogs are welcome on the small outdoor section and the owner-cook usually comes out to greet them. No reservations for fewer than four people in summer.

The sister beach restaurant of central Cosmo, set directly on the sand at the eastern end of the 1 km Plage des Marinières (the longest beach on the Côte d'Azur). The shaded restaurant terrace looks across the deep harbour to the Vieille Ville and Cap Ferrat. Leashed dogs are welcome at the restaurant tables in the back rows away from the loungers; the lounger section itself does not admit dogs. The menu is light Mediterranean (salads, plancha-grilled fish, pasta, plenty of rosé).

A small neo-bistrot tucked at the entrance of the 13th-century Rue Obscure, the covered medieval passage that runs under the houses of the Vieille Ville. L'Aparté does a short, daily-changing market menu of Mediterranean small plates with strong vegetarian options. The few outdoor tables on the rue stepped lane welcome leashed dogs and the indoor stone-vaulted room admits well-mannered small dogs at the host's discretion. A favourite of returning visitors who want the harbour quality without the harbour scale.