Royan Plage – La Grande Conche 

La conche du Chay

 La conche du Chay à Royan is one of the fine sandy beaches located in Royan on the beautiful Charente Maritime coast. It's located between Plage du Pigeonnier and Pointe de Chay, near the Palais des Congrès de Foncillon and the Royan ferry to Pointe de Grave. Around 200 meters long, it's a popular family beach, loved by Royan residents and holidaymakers alike.

The site is located in the urban area of Pointe du Chay, close to the former site of the Fort du Chay, which has now disappeared. It's possible to swim here, with lifeguards on duty in July and August. See the signs posted on the site.

 At the beach, you can sit on the terrace of the bar-restaurant. Please note that pets are not allowed. It's easy to get to Royan's waterfront from the beach, or even Pontaillac.

 Near the beach is the Pontaillac district, with its beautiful beach and casinos. Further afield, you can visit the church of Notre Dame de Royan, the Grande Conche beach, or Royan's central market.

Royan plage - Nearby beaches

The beach at Saint Palais sur Mer

The beach at Saint Palais sur Mer is a conch located in Charente Maritime, also called the office beach. The beach is a beautiful sandy beach, well supervised in high season, and has all amenities accessible to the disabled: shower, swimming pool, toilets, as well as a children's playground and a kids' club... However, dogs are not allowed and water sports are prohibited.

It's located in the center of town and stands out as a perfect place for leisure and shopping, as well as for its natural environment of cliffs and rocks, with magnificent houses that are remarkable for their architecture, most of which dates back to the Belle Epoque.

Nauzan beach

 The beach Nauzan in Vaux sur Mer is located on the côte de beauté in Charente Maritime, also known as the Vaux sur Mer beach is located on the border of the communes of Vaux sur Mer and Saint Palais sur Mer. It's a family beach that's very popular during the summer months. It is in fact an uninhabited cove surrounded by rocky cliffs. It is the largest beach in the town of Vaux sur Mer.

 The beach is supervised in season and houses a sailing school. The left-hand side of the beach is reserved for water-based activities. There's also a children's activity in high season. The beach is renowned for its surfing, and there are plenty of surfers when the swell gets too big on the wild coast. 

 Near Nauzan beach is Platin beach: the Devil's Bridge and Concie beach or the vast coast. What better way to spend time with your loved ones than on the sandy beaches of Saint Palais Sur Mer. There's also a promenade where the night market and concerts take place. On the beach, you'll find the famous restaurant and bar "la maison blanche", an upscale party venue.

The Conche is extended by a path that used to be called the "sentier des douaniers".

Suzac beach

The conch from Suzac to Meschers is a long, easily accessible beach in the northern part of Meschers, on the road to Saint Georges de Didonne. It's a long sandy beach, set in a vast cove, surrounded by pine forests and limestone cliffs typical of the Gironde estuary.

 It lies between the beaches of Vergnes and the smaller beach of Arneche and the Suzac cliff in the Suzac forest. It's a family beach where you can nap on the sand, kayak, visit the caves and cliffs or have a drink. Naturism is not permitted.

 You can swim on the shores of Suzac; however, swimming is only supervised during the summer season.

 La conche des Nonnes

 The Nonnes de Meschers conch is one of Meschers' best-known beaches, the town of Meschers sur Gironde. 

 It's an excellent sandy beach for swimming. It lies between the beaches of Les Vergnes and the Cadet conch, which is surrounded by the cliffs that make up Meschers, at the entrance to the estuary that crosses the Gironde.

The atmosphere is relaxed, and you can enjoy a variety of activities, as well as a drink or a bite to eat. Plage des Nonnes can be reached via Avenue des Nonnes or Rue du Fief des Sables.

 The beach is supervised during the day in July and August. In summer, the beach is very busy, and parking is available on the nearby avenues. 

RoyanThe town of St. Tropez, in the south-west of France, is a pretty little town on the Atlantic coast. It lies at the entrance to the Gironde estuary, and is surrounded by seaside resorts.

History of Royan beach

The Grande Conche beach in Royan has a rich history. As early as 1864, horse races were held on the beach. A casino with a monumental neo-rococo façade was built and inaugurated at the end of the 19th century.

On the other side of the beach, on the Pointe de Vallières, there was a hotel overlooking the landscape, which was also destroyed during the Second World War.

Royan Plage - How the town became a seaside resort

"The first boat, impotent, retired to die as a pontoon. It gave way to another, more active liner, fresh from the yard. This one burned coal instead of wood, and took an average of six hours to make the crossing. When the people of Bordeaux saw that only one morning separated them from Royan, they ran there as if for a game of fun. A capitalist from Royan had the idea of building a dozen barracks on the Conche. It passed for an establishment.

Bathing was available in Royan. As some of the houses opened out onto the sea, bathers would emerge from their rooms dressed for the occasion. At the time, they were not very coquettish. They wore straw hats as wide as millstones, green cheesecloth dresses as floaty as dominoes, and selvedge slippers as wide as chanceliers. In this disguise, they would have had the right to compete with the figures that peasants put in the oak groves to scare away the sparrows".

"Royan had nothing to envy from any sea bathing establishment in any country: it even had a marked superiority over most other baths, due to the convenience of life, the peaceful grace of its countryside, the traditional cleanliness of its inhabitants, and above all by the multiplicity of its beaches, which allowed the ladies to have, at the very foot of the establishment, a reserved conch, closed to the indiscretion of passers-by". 

Description of Royan's beaches in 1895

"Royan, population 7,247, a port on the Gironde, is a popular seaside resort, renowned for its "Royan" sardines and its hemicyclic conches or beaches: to the east, the Grande conche, bordered by cottages, rocks and a pine forest, and the Foncillon conche, between which stretches a beautiful quay or terrace lined with hotels and fine homes. Then there's the vast Conche du Chay, 1km to the south-west, separated from the previous one by a fort with a keep and bordered by picturesque rocks; the small Conche du Grand-Robinson, bordered by a wood of holm oaks; and finally the vast Conche de Pontaillac (caves: villas), 1.5km away. Casino with hydrotherapy establishment. Modern Gothic church. Romanesque church of St Pierre. Natural history museum.

Excerpt from Guide du voyageur en France, Editions Hachette, 1895