The best walks and hikes around Royan

Built from 1955 and consecrated in 1958, the Notre-Dame de Royan church symbolizes the city standing tall and proud again. The reinforced concrete monument thus fits into the general trend of renewal in sacred art after the sad events the world experienced in the 1940s. It is considered today as a feat and a masterpiece of modern architecture. "Upon entering this concrete cathedral, be silent. Here, everything is momentum, rigor, roughness, austere beauty. The twilight sings the elusive, the divine, variable and constant like the sea." ANDRÉ MALRAUX Minister of Cultural Affairs (1958-1969)

📍 Introducing the Gilet Cove The Gilet Cove is a small, natural beach on the oceanfront, located on Boulevard de la Conche de Gilet / Boulevard de la Falaise, in the town of Vaux-sur-Mer, just before Royan. 🌿 It's a sheltered, rocky cove, appreciated for its tranquility and more intimate setting compared to the larger urban beaches nearby. 🏖️ At high tide, the sea can completely cover this small beach, making the space very limited; at low tide, you can enjoy a patch of sand and rocks for relaxing or swimming. 🧭 Features & Tips 📍 Type of place: small, unsupervised beach, nestled among the rocks with sand and cliffs. 🏖️ Tides: access is best at low tide — at high tide the beach can disappear underwater. 🐶 Animals: prohibited from April 1st to September 30th (subject to municipal regulations). 👣 Access: via stairs from the boulevard above, surrounded by villas with sea views. 🚫 Lifeguard services: no lifeguard station or marked services. 📍 Location La Conche de Gilet is often considered the last small beach in Vaux-sur-Mer before reaching Royan/Pontaillac when following the coastline from Saint-Palais-sur-Mer.

🏖️ General Overview Chay Beach is a family-friendly, fine sandy beach located in Royan (Charente-Maritime), on the Côte d’Argent promenade between Pigeonnier Beach and Pointe du Chay. It stretches for approximately 200 meters and boasts a pleasant natural setting, with a cove bordered by rocks typical of the Charente coastline. 🏝️ Features • 🌊 Beach type: fine sand, sheltered cove. • 🏄‍♂️ Atmosphere: relatively calm and family-friendly, ideal for children and vacationers seeking relaxation away from the large urban beaches. • 🐾 Pets: prohibited from April 1st to September 30th. • 🫧 Water quality: excellent (Blue Flag label awarded for 2025). 🧭 Lifeguard and Safety • Swimming is supervised during the season (June to early September), with areas marked by red and yellow flags. • The area is classified as a Category 3 "Supervised Beach" and lifeguards are present during the indicated hours. 🪑 Amenities On-site, you can find: • 🏖️ Sun loungers, parasols, and mattresses for rent. • 🚿 Foot rinse and public restrooms. • 📶 Wi-Fi access, first aid station, and an area accessible to people with reduced mobility (assistance may be required depending on the slope). • 🍴 Beachfront restaurant ("Le Chay" bar-restaurant with sea views). 🚶‍♂️ Atmosphere and Activities • 🎈 Ideal for families and leisurely strolls. • 🌞 People come here for swimming, playing on the sand, flying kites, or simply relaxing by the ocean. • 🅿️ Parking is available nearby, and the beach is easily accessible on foot or by bike from Royan town center in just a few minutes. 🧭 Practical Tips • 📆 Best time to visit: summer for supervised swimming and full services, but also during the off-season for a more peaceful atmosphere. • ☀️ Arriving early in the morning makes parking easier during peak season. • 🐶 Dogs are not allowed during the summer season; check the signs on site during the off-season.

Located in the town center and close to the port, La Grande Conche stretches over 2,600 meters of fine sand. The supervised area, marked by colored flags, and totems to facilitate navigation, its amenities, and its calm waters make it an ideal beach for families. Nearby, the always lively seafront with its restaurants, ice cream parlors, cafes, and shops. Municipal decree 22-1388, prohibiting access to the town's beaches to animals, even on leashes, applies from April 1st to September 30th. Special signage is posted at each site indicating the mandatory health measures. Nudist activities are prohibited. From the structures in place to cleanliness (daily cleaning) and the quality of bathing water (regular sampling), Royan beaches receive great attention from municipal technical services and the Urban Community. Due to its urban setting and reasonable size, it's relatively easy to find your way around using the lifeguard station or a building as a landmark. Similarly, during the season, they set up information huts on both sides of the beach, tents (canvas beach huts) to provide tourists with some shade, totems to make it easier to find their way around, deckchairs/sun loungers, and a specially designed path (rigid plastic slabs that clip together). Rankings & Labels: Blue Flag Location Details: Footpath nearby. - Sandy beach - Cycle path/route within 500 m - Coastline - Public transport stop within 500 m On-site activities: Water sports - Beach / Swimming area -

Newspaper vendors, carriages traversing the rocky paths, the ringing of the bell as the tram passes, absinthe drinkers on terraces... These photographs reflect the spirit and breath of a peaceful and carefree era before the First World War. Royan experienced the fruits of this "Belle Époque" when the seaside resort trend, which had come from across the Channel, gradually elevated this small fishing and farming village to the status of a seaside resort. The Bordeaux elite, and later the whole of Paris, took to the train to travel to the seaside resort. The town was connected to the national railway network in 1875. It has been served locally by a tramway since 1890. Royan then developed an infrastructure and leisure offering in line with this new tourist economy. The town was covered in casinos. Of the five establishments that were established there between 1843 and 1960, only one remains today. The former Sporting, on Pontaillac beach, was built at the dawn of the 1930s, with its back to the sea. The new location was built in a concrete setting in the Art Deco style. After the war, it saw the cream of French showbiz (Bécaud, Montand, Aznavour, Brel, Ferré, and Brassens, among others). The final bombings of 1945 reduced the architecture of the Belle Époque and the Roaring Twenties to dust. Only the former Jules Ferry school (1907), the Émile Zola college (1904), and the former Hôtel du Golf in Pontaillac remain. Approximately 250 of the 4,000 seaside villas recorded before the war also escaped destruction. These villas, characteristic of a triple stylistic influence (chalet, mansion, or cottage), line Boulevard Frédéric-Garnier, along the banks of the Grande Conche. Today, more than 200 residences are survivors of a bygone era. Some of them are associated with great names in culture who came here to seek inspiration. Émile Zola was invited by his publisher, who was having a large house built in the Parc (the future "Paradou," demolished in 1978). Forty years later, the playwright Sacha Guitry fell in love with the Charente resort, where he spent several summers. He regularly met up with his neighbor at number 100, the photographer Jacques-Henri Lartigue, who was staying for two seasons at the famous Villa Aigue-Marine. From 1926, he settled in the Villa Rose Rouge, built six years earlier (at number 38). The Spanish painter Pablo Picasso found refuge in the seaside resort on the eve of the declaration of war on September 2, 1939. He moved into the Hôtel du Tigre, then to the Villa Gerbier de Jonc, and ended up renting a studio on the third floor of the Villa Les Voiliers from 1940. The latter is located a stone's throw from the Café des Bains, which he immortalized in a famous painting five years before its destruction. Also worth seeing in the same area is the astonishing Villa Kosiki (1885). The storefront, adorned with an oriental-style terrace depicting a Japanese pagoda, is one of Royan's great heritage attractions. Guided tours of Royan allow visitors to learn more about this prosperous period for the town and discover its remarkable villas.

The Botton Gallery appears to us at the Rond-Point de la Poste, on the left facing the Post Office. It is a shopping mall with sinuous lines. It was delivered in 1956. It took over the function of the pre-war Botton Gallery, named after the engineer Botton who in 1847 had worked on the development of the seaside resort of the time.

Frédéric Garnier is a famous man from Royan, who gave his name to the boulevard that runs along the Grande Conche beach. Frédéric Garnier became mayor at the beginning of the Third Republic and remained so from 1871 to 1905. The development of Royan at that time was his work. It was Frédéric Garnier who decided to build a promenade along the beach. The Municipal Casino, built on the Grande Conche and inaugurated in 1895, was then the largest in France. The name of Frédéric Garnier was given to the boulevard that runs along the beach from Royan to Saint-Georges-de-Didonne. This part of Royan, east of the city center, was spared from the bombings of 1945. A pedestrian promenade and a cycle path were built between the roadway and the beach. This pleasant walk gives us a glimpse of what Royan was like during the Belle Epoque with the villas and castles built between 1890 and 1930 and which escaped the bombings. Along the walk, we are surprised by the presence of a cubist-inspired villa, built after the war, next to a Belle Epoque villa, a symbolic image of the mixture of seaside architectural styles in Royan. The villas and castles of varied styles and often original inspiration generally have in common the presence of a bell tower which overhangs the roofs. The name of Emile Zola given to the avenue which leads from the boulevard Frédéric Garnier towards the inner part of the Parc district reminds us of the stays of Emile Zola from September 1886. He lived in villas, now disappeared, located on the current boulevard Frédéric Garnier.

On August 22, 1962, Robert Boisseau was awarded the contract to build an organ in the new church. On a very high gallery, Robert Boisseau built an organ with four separate bodies without ornaments with varnished mahogany bases. The back positive has a façade of 27 tin pipes arranged in a V. The large body has a façade of 23 tin pipes arranged in a miter and above the chamades. The pedal is arranged in two separate bodies. 6 engraved windchests. Window console. On May 24, 1964, Guy Morançon inaugurated an unfinished organ (24 stops on 2 keyboards). On June 20, 1969, Jacques Dussouil gave a recital on an organ equipped with the third recital keyboard (8 stops). Other games were added between 1972 and 1984. In January 2014, this large organ was completely dismantled to be restored in a specialized workshop located in Béthines in the Vienne department. It took several weeks to dismantle the 3600 pipes, the 47 games, the 3 keyboards and the pedal board. After having completely restored it in their workshop, the Poitevin organ builders reassembled the instrument piece by piece in the church. The organ, like the church, is also listed as a Historic Monument.