Royan, on the French Atlantic coast. Info/opinion please
Jan 14th, 2014, 07:35 AM
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 16,423
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Royan, on the French Atlantic coast. Info/opinion please
This year we're staying in a gite on the Ile de Re for 2 weeks in September. This is our first trip to this region - except for a 2 night visit to La Rochelle about 5 years ago.
While planning our day-trips in the area, I was a bit confused by the Michelin Green Guide's description of Royan. The guide gives it 2 stars - which is a high rating. The text in the green guide says that Royan was "know as the Perle de l'Ocean" and Royan was "at the height of its popularity at the Belle Epoque era. Before WWII, Royan was noted for its ornate villas and chalets half-hidden among the palms, it great Victorian hotels, the casinos like Baroque temples or palaces from the Renaissance." This is the type of city that appeals to us. However, the green guide then explains that Royan "was rebuilt after the bombardments flattened it in 1945. Today this modern town has regained the popularity and charm that characterized it at the end of the 19th century".
We have no desire to visit a rebuilt modern town. We were really not enthused when we've visited towns like St Malo & Tours which were heavily bombed in WWII, and then rebuilt in the "old style" (not modern).
Is Royan a modern city or an old city??? There is no description of an "old Town" or "Walking Tours" in the Green Guide, like there is for other cities like Poitiers, Bordeaux, Dijon, Toulouse.
Royan is about a 1 1/2 drive from our Gite on the Ile de Re - so we don't want to drive there and then find out it's something we're not interested in.
Why does the Michelin Green Guide give it a 2 star rating??? There is a 1 star church in Royan - but that's about the only site mentioned other than a garden.
Stu Dudley
While planning our day-trips in the area, I was a bit confused by the Michelin Green Guide's description of Royan. The guide gives it 2 stars - which is a high rating. The text in the green guide says that Royan was "know as the Perle de l'Ocean" and Royan was "at the height of its popularity at the Belle Epoque era. Before WWII, Royan was noted for its ornate villas and chalets half-hidden among the palms, it great Victorian hotels, the casinos like Baroque temples or palaces from the Renaissance." This is the type of city that appeals to us. However, the green guide then explains that Royan "was rebuilt after the bombardments flattened it in 1945. Today this modern town has regained the popularity and charm that characterized it at the end of the 19th century".
We have no desire to visit a rebuilt modern town. We were really not enthused when we've visited towns like St Malo & Tours which were heavily bombed in WWII, and then rebuilt in the "old style" (not modern).
Is Royan a modern city or an old city??? There is no description of an "old Town" or "Walking Tours" in the Green Guide, like there is for other cities like Poitiers, Bordeaux, Dijon, Toulouse.
Royan is about a 1 1/2 drive from our Gite on the Ile de Re - so we don't want to drive there and then find out it's something we're not interested in.
Why does the Michelin Green Guide give it a 2 star rating??? There is a 1 star church in Royan - but that's about the only site mentioned other than a garden.
Stu Dudley
Jan 14th, 2014, 07:51 AM
#2
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 1,690
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Royan is almost entirely new - it was practically razed to the ground in April 1945 and rebuilt, not re-created as per St.Malo. The church of Saint-Pierre was burnt out but the walls were sufficiently strong to allow its rehabilitation - allbeit with an entirely new interior. That'll be the one star church.
Google Image Search Royan - you'll soon get an idea.
Michelin Green Guides are somewhat idiosynchrantic when awarding star ratings - you must have discovered that on numerous occasions before - nuclear power stations regularly get one or even two; but, you know:- <i>"a chacon son gout"</i>
Personally - I think you ought to give Royan a swerve. You'll not be missing much at all.
Dr D
Google Image Search Royan - you'll soon get an idea.
Michelin Green Guides are somewhat idiosynchrantic when awarding star ratings - you must have discovered that on numerous occasions before - nuclear power stations regularly get one or even two; but, you know:- <i>"a chacon son gout"</i>
Personally - I think you ought to give Royan a swerve. You'll not be missing much at all.
Dr D
Jan 14th, 2014, 07:58 AM
#4
Join Date: Mar 2003
Posts: 8,827
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
It's been several years, but we drove through Royan on the way to Bordeaux after leaving La Rochelle. We had planned on taking the ferry across the Gironde, but it was too windy that day, so we drove on, picking up a few cases of wine along the way. There was nothing 'old world' about it that I remember.
www.bernezac.com/royan_uk.htm
www.bernezac.com/royan_uk.htm
Jan 14th, 2014, 08:03 AM
#5
Stu...We stayed at St Palais sur Mer a few years ago, a bit nearer to Royan than you will be. My memory is of lines of very average restaurants selling Soupe de Poissons, Plat du Jours and none of it very good at all. I can't remember anything that otherwise made the place worth a visit.
Maybe there is something that makes it visitable, but I can't recall it.
Maybe there is something that makes it visitable, but I can't recall it.
Jan 14th, 2014, 08:24 AM
#6
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 74,699
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Hi Stu,
Have you taken a virtual walk around town at www.maps.google.com?
To quote Baedeker, "There is little here to detain the casual visitor".
Have you taken a virtual walk around town at www.maps.google.com?
To quote Baedeker, "There is little here to detain the casual visitor".
Jan 14th, 2014, 08:26 AM
#7
The Phare du Cordouan is worth a visit - it's the oldest lighthouse in France, the only one that is still manned and the 10th tallest in the world.
http://www.phare-de-cordouan.fr/node/246
http://www.phare-de-cordouan.fr/node/246
Jan 14th, 2014, 08:32 AM
#8
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 3,403
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
wow... blast from the past.
I spent a summer in Royan - living with a family as an exchange student in the 80's after I graduated from HS. Can't say that I'm a good resource, though, because all I remember is the beach. The beach was a nice one - large expanse. I could probably still walk from the house I stayed at to the specific stairs we took down to the beach.
I do remember a harbor area though - probably the "downtown" piece where we sat outside and watched fireworks over the harbor for Bastille Day.
sorry I'm not much help... but seeing this brought back memories. : )
I spent a summer in Royan - living with a family as an exchange student in the 80's after I graduated from HS. Can't say that I'm a good resource, though, because all I remember is the beach. The beach was a nice one - large expanse. I could probably still walk from the house I stayed at to the specific stairs we took down to the beach.
I do remember a harbor area though - probably the "downtown" piece where we sat outside and watched fireworks over the harbor for Bastille Day.
sorry I'm not much help... but seeing this brought back memories. : )
Jan 14th, 2014, 08:39 AM
#9
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 16,423
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Thank's everyone. We'll pass on Royan.
Dr D.
Michelin has a "thing" for dams, and forests where all you see are tree trunks. They give them high ratings. Also, crappy towns with nice churches get high ratings. Brest, which I believe was an historic city that got flattened in WWII, has a 3 star attraction and many more sites than Royan has - but is awarded only 1 star for the city. That's why I could not figure out why Royan got 2 stars.
Stu Dudley
Dr D.
Michelin has a "thing" for dams, and forests where all you see are tree trunks. They give them high ratings. Also, crappy towns with nice churches get high ratings. Brest, which I believe was an historic city that got flattened in WWII, has a 3 star attraction and many more sites than Royan has - but is awarded only 1 star for the city. That's why I could not figure out why Royan got 2 stars.
Stu Dudley
Jan 14th, 2014, 03:59 PM
#12
Join Date: Apr 2010
Posts: 2,552
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Ditto on the rivers. If you're into megaliths and don't mind driving an hour and a half you can check out the Tumulus de Bougon (2 Michelin stars):
http://www.deux-sevres.com/deux-sevr...sdeBougon.aspx
http://www.deux-sevres.com/deux-sevr...sdeBougon.aspx
