Royan Audio Guided Walking Tour 1h30 and 16 audio reviews

Here is the Church of Our Lady of Royan, jewel of modern architecture of the 20th century. It symbolizes the renaissance of the city after the bombings of January 5, 1945, which destroyed the old neo-Gothic shrine of 1874.

You are here in front of the Protestant Centre of Royan, a discreet but meaningful building. Built between 1953 and 1957, it embodies the reconstruction of the city after the bombings of 1945, but also a much older religious history.

Place Charles de Gaulle carries with it all the tragic and renaissance history of the city. Here once stood the first church of Our Lady of Royan, a 12th century Gothic building.

This boulevard perfectly embodies the revolutionary urban vision of reconstruction: to create a city with two faces. If the seafront represents the "seaside" dedicated to tourists and seaside leisure, this boulevard constitutes the "city side", the beating heart of the daily life of Royanese.

Here you are, in Boulevard Aristide Briand, one of the main roads of the city, designed during the very first phase of post-war reconstruction.

In Royan, you are facing the largest estuary in Western Europe: the Gironde estuary. This immensity stretches over 75 kilometers, born of the meeting between the Garonne and the Dordogne at the beak of Ambès.

Here you are in Place Foch, one of Royan's most moving places because it is a rare witness to the history before the destruction. This square has a secret in its name: it was once called Place des Acacias before being renamed in tribute to Marshal Foch after the Great War.

The boulevard on your left is Boulevard Frédéric-Garnier, one of the most beautiful promenades in Royan. It runs along Grande Conche beach and through the Parc district, an area miraculously spared by the bombings of 1945.

You are in a city that has revolutionized French relations with the ocean. The history of thalassotherapy in Royan begins long before the term was coined in 1865 by Dr. Joseph La Bonnardière, who associated the Greek words thalassa, the sea, and therapeia, treatment.

Here you are in the auditorium square, one of the most emblematic areas of the Royal seafront. On your left, this particular curved shape, which evokes a huge shell, is Marcel Canellas' auditorium, completed in 1961.

Opposite the auditorium are the Botton galleries, one of the most original achievements of the Royal reconstruction. The first Botton galleries, built in 1926 in an Art Nouveau style, were located in Botton Square, north of the waterfront.

Kerveno’s Esplanade Felix Marie, on your left, pays tribute to a hero of the Second World War who fell here, just days before Royan’s liberation.

You are on a site full of history. Where you admire today these flower gardens once stood the casino of Royan of the 1960s, one of the most daring works of architect Claude Ferret.

You will pass along one of the most emblematic ports on the French Atlantic coast. The history of this place dates back to the Middle Ages, when the first sailors discovered this protected natural haven, ideally located on the right bank of the Gironde estuary.

You are on the beach of Foncillon. It was the first in Royan to welcome bathers: as early as 1819, Mayor Labarthe reserved access exclusively for women, while men went to the Grande Conche.

Here you are in front of the Palais des Congrès in Royan, one of the jewels of French modernist architecture. Inaugurated in 1957, this building was one of the first congress palaces built in France.