Royan

Royan is a port city and seaside resort in Charente-Maritime, southwestern France. It's along with La Baule, Arcachon and Biarritz one of the most famous resorts on the French Atlantic coast.

Understand


Regarded as the capital city of the Côte de Beauté, Royan is at the Arvert peninsula at the mouth of the Gironde river estuary, the largest estuary in western Europe (and the largest in Europe left in its natural state). Royan has been a popular destination since the 19th century. Although the town was bombed several times during WWII it was quickly rebuilt in the 1950s in modernist style with tropical influences, and for this it received the status of Ville d'Art et d'Histoire (Town of Art and History) in 2010. Some notable buildings include the massive conctrete Notre Dame Cathedral and shell-shaped central market. Due to its architecture it's also nicknamed France's most 1950's town, though it still has some traces from the time from before the war.

The town has around 18000 inhabitants, and is at the heart of an important conurbation with a population of almost 50000 inhabitants. That conurbation also includes the resorts of Vaux-sur-Mer, Saint-Palais-sur-Mer, Saint-Georges-de-Didonne, Meschers-sur-Gironde and La Palmyre with its famous zoo, as well as the spa town of Saujon.

Royan is about more than just the town, it features five beaches with fine sand. Royan directly faces the wine region of Médoc and is in the middle of the Cognac region so it's also a destination for wine and cognac enthusiasts. Three green "lungs" surround the town – the State forest of Coubre and the forests of Combots d’Ansoine and Suzac – these pine forests are a continuation of the Landes de Gascogne opposite the river. The coastline of Coubre is known as the "wild coast" because of its great swell and waves and is popular with surfers. The Seudre estuary to the northwest of Royan is known for its oyster farms, whereas the southeast of town is agricultural famous for melons and wine.

Climate
Royan's climate is a mix of oceanic and Mediterranean, and this can be seen in the vegetation too - you can encounter pines and oaks as well as eucalyptus and olive trees.

There are around 2250 hours of sunshine every year, comparable to Perpignan much further south. It rains relatively little, with yearly precipitation rarely exceeding 800 mm, but some years it rains considerably less (especially in summer) leading to droughts. The wind usually comes in from west with warm breezes in the summer, and stronger winds during autumn and winter. The average sea temperature ranges from around +10°C in February to around +20°C in August.

History
The region has been inhabited since the Neolithic period at least, but the town started developing during the Middle Ages. Aquitaine became part of the English realm through the marriage of Eleanor of Aquitaine and King Henry II in 1154. The region profited from the trade with the British Isles (especially wine and salt was exported) and from the fee charged from ships going to and from Bordeaux known as the Royan customs. In 1242 during the Saintonge War with France, Henry III landed at Royan with his troops. He was defeated at the Battle of Taillebourg but the region remained in English hands until the end of the Hundred Years War. What was left standing of Royan became controlled by the French in 1451.



Under French rule, the town was quickly rebuilt. Warfare took place in the region again during the French Wars of Religion in the latter half of the 16th century. The heavily fortified Royan became dominated by Protestants, rebelled soon again against the national authorities, and in 1622 king Louis XIII personally laid siege to Royan. The town was eventually taken, the rebels were killed and Royan was again razed to the ground to prevent it becoming a bastion for rebels in the future.

This time it wasn't rebuilt but turned into a sleeping fishing settlement and would remain so for almost two centuries. After the Napoleonic Wars, beach holidays had become a thing in France, first among veterans from the Grande Armée and later among the bourgeois of Bordeaux. Royan got paved roads as early as 1816, and beaches were laid out in 1819. Much thanks to the railway, Royan turned into a full-fledged beach resort during the Second Empire (1852-70) with villas, cafés and casinos being built and numbers of tourists increasing quickly, indeed in 1895 the biggest casino in France was opened here. Royan became the resort of choice for the upper class of Paris, as well as artists and foreign heads of state. The French actor Sacha Guity, painter Pablo Picasso and Soviet refugee Leon Trotsky were some people who spent time in the town.

The Germans invaded the city in 1940 and Royan would become a German stronghold for much of the Second World War. On 5 January 1945 the RAF bombed Royan with 354 planes in two raids. In April 1945 when the area was liberated, the Americans bombed the city from the air and the sea for five days - this was the first time when napalm was used in Europe on a large scale.

After the war, with Royan reduced to ashes once more, architect Claude Ferret was assigned the task of designing a new city. Royan was rebuilt in a modern style with "tropical" influences inspired by the works of Oscar Niemeyer (the architect behind Brasilia). During the 1950s, Royan as it looks like today was built, including some large concrete monuments like the Notre-Dame church. With around 300,000 visitors from all over Europe it's again one of the most popular resorts on the French Atlantic coast. In addition, more than 4000 students, many of them from abroad, study different languages at the Centre d’étude des langues (Carel) and keep the city lively year-round.

By car
The main roads in are the N150 and the D733. The former is considerable busier, coming in from Saintes which is next to the A10 motorway between Paris and Bordeaux. D733 connects to Rochefort and La Rochelle along the coast.

By train


Royan is served by a couple of regional express (TER) trains from Angoulême and Niort every day, and intercity trains in the high season.



By plane
In nearby Médis there's an airfield for general aviation. The closest airports with passenger services are La Rochelle-Île de Ré (70 km away, about 1 hour 15 minutes by car) and Bordeaux-Mérignac (100 km, about 1 hour 45 minutes by car).

By boat
TransGironde ferries sail across Gironde from Le Verdon-sur-Mer. The crossing takes about 20 minutes.

By bus
Local buses connect from La Rochelle, Rochefort and Saintes. The latter has train connections from for instance Bordeaux and Nantes.

By bike
The city is on the long-distance biking route EuroVelo 1 between Norway and Portugal. The route comes in from north and goes to the pier and continues by ferry across the river (see by boat above).

By foot
Long distance hiking route (grande randonnée) GR4 connects Royan with Grasse near Cannes.

By foot
Many points of interest are around the marina or a few hundred metres away from it and as such walking between them wouldn't take long.

By bus
Carabus operates local buses with dozens of lines going to the surrounding countryside and a couple in the city. The website has a route map.

Bus tickets (single tickets, valid for one hour from validation €1.40) can be bought in-app, on the bus, and from the vending machine on the railway station. As per the bus operator's website there are also day, 10-trip, 2-week, month and year passes with discounts for minors and seniors, some of which can be bought at sales points around town (in supermarkets and the like), some at the railway station, in-app or on the bus.

By bike
In the 21st century the city has built a biking route network and has been promoting this form of transport. So biking is also a feasible way for getting around.

By car
Getting around by car is generally hassle-free but traffic jams are certainly possible in central Royan, around the beaches and in the Pontaillac district from mid-June to mid-September when there's a lot more traffic. There's a bypass, numbered D25 taking you around central Royan.

On the market place and along adjacent streets you need to pay to park, elsewhere you can park for free. There are many large parking lots in the city, for example outside the Notre-Dame and the railway station.

Secular buildings




Churches




Nature




Water sports
Like elsewhere on the French Atlantic coast, surfing is popular among people of all ages. The main spot for surfers are in Pontaillac. For some more challenging surfing, head to the beaches of Grande-Côte about 10 km to the north. Still another 10 km northwest is the "wild coast" directly exposed to the ocean where the most experienced surfers go to surf on the biggest waves. There are also many calmer water sports to enjoy; SUP boarding, kayaking, kitesurfing, windsurfing and the like.





Casino




Cinemas
There are two cinemas in central Royan below the arcades facing the sea. More cinemas can be found in the communes of Saint-Georges-de-Didonne, Saint-Palais-sur-Mer, Les Mathes and La Tremblade.



Buy
The four main shopping streets are Avenue Gambetta, Boulevard de la République, Boulevard Briand (where the central market is) and Cours de l'Europe. Each of this features many small shops. The same goes for Place Charles-de-Gaulle (also known as Place Rouge, ie. the red square), the seafront and the marina (with the Voûtes du Port shopping arcades). In addition you can find many shops in the Parc and Pontaillac districts. In addition, the commercial zones Royan II, Belmont and Val-Lumière feature big box stores.

Cuisine


Local meat specialties include Saintongeaise rabbit, Saintongeaise beef stew, grillons (rillettes of meat cooked in its own fat), gigourit (offal and blood stew), cagouilles (snails cooked with breadcrumbs, garlic and white wine), and also snail eggs (caviar de cagouilles). Like in much of southwestern France, foie gras prepared with with Pineau des Charentes and different confits are also common on menus.

There are also local fish and seafood dishes: mouclade (mussels with cream), éclade (mussels grilled on pine needles, a specialty of île d'Oléron), chaudrée (fish soup, a local variant of the bouillabaisse), and velouté trembladais (another fish soup). Specialties from towns near Royan are the oysters of Marennes-Oléron at the Atlantic coast and the pibales (juvenile eel) of Mortagne-sur-Gironde upstream.

On the dessert side, the region is famous for its beignets (fritters) and chichis (beignets in the form of churros) and millas (a kind of cheese cake)

Local strong drinks are cognac and Pineau des Charentes, and wine is also produced in the region. Across the estuary is the Médoc wine region, part of the world-famous Bordeaux wine region.

Budget


In addition global fastfood chains are also present in Royan.

Mid-range




Drink
Most discos in the region are in neighbouring communes (Saint-Palais-sur-Mer, Breuillet et Saint-Georges-de-Didonne). There are three in Royan but outside of downtown to minimize nighttime noise.



Radio stations
Local radio stations include France 3 Royan, Demoiselle FM (102.2 Fm), Vogue Radio (103.1 Fm), and Sud-Ouest.

Telecommunications
There's 4G coverage by the operators Bouyges Telecom, Orange, SFR and Free Mobile.

Further away

 * Saintes
 * Bordeaux
 * Cognac
 * Angoulême
 * La Rochelle