Pornichet town Panels that tell you all you need to know...
Learn about Pornichet’s heritage at your own pace and in your own way thanks to two trails guiding you through the town’s iconic villas and buildings: one trail in the town centre, and the other in Sainte-Marguerite.
To encourage younger visitors to understand and appreciate our history, there are puzzles on the bottom of each panel.
To complete the town circuit, you can follow the panels in order as shown on the map or simply explore in your own way and read the panels as you come across them.
This project was financed with the help of the Pays de la Loire Region and the Département de Loire-Atlantique
From one panel to the next
The Town-Centre Circuit
This walking trail takes around 2½ hours, beginning in the Square du Calvaire at the Château des Tourelles, which once belonged to a rich ship merchant from Nantes and is where Pornichet’s Thalasso spas began. The trail leads past Villa Sigurd – built by an opera singer – the astonishing Villa Ker Souveraine with its sculpted mermaids and then the intriguing Villa L'Orientale with its architecture inspired by foreign lands.
There are 20 villas and iconic buildings to discover as you follow the trail.
The Circuit in Sainte-Marguerite
There is a new circuit that takes around 1½ hours and starts at Sainte Marguerite beach in front of Ker Juliette, an imposing villa that was built by Pornichet’s first mayor, Charles Mercier. You can also discover Ker Arvor, the villa of French physicist Jean Becquerel and once home to a Russian Baroness, and of course the chapel of Sainte-Marguerite, where you’ll also find summer exhibitions.
There are 10 villas and iconic buildings to discover as you follow the trail.