If this is actually inscribed in 2020 I can already "tick" it off, and that's mainly why it was on my itinerary. An early morning drive to Royan was required to match my schedule. Parking at the port is not free although I think it's free if you park outside of that lot? Anyhow it's also quite an expensive trip if you include the ride + visit, and as pointed out already it's NOT worth taking a boat trip just to see the lighthouse from close-by. The best parts are inside. It is also quite an effort to get there, a bumpy boat ride, then an LCVP to the sandy patches, a not-so-much-fun walk through the wet sand and algae-covered rocks until you finally get to the lighthouse area. It was also very windy and cold in early May.

You get to spend a good hour at the lighthouse, or maybe it was 80 min. The French-speaking crowd got a guided tour of the tower and the rest of us could enter it first and explore with a nice little brochure. There are several floors of interest, and the top layer with the dual-color glass gives you a look of the sea and what lies below - well, not much really.

You may already be thinking why I give it the thumbs down. I just don't find it unique enough. One of the rooms even had a lot of posters of other towers, or at those gone now? Well, perhaps it is the last remaining one of this kind but nevertheless the architecture isn't that unique, and even so I find it of national treasure level if anything. I took many pictures and like the place, but I wouldn't include it on a WHS list. The trip is also quite an "adventure" if not all was fun. You have to wade back to the LCVP, get loaded into it like a GI and take the main boat back to the port. It doesn't take the entire day and I still went to Rochefort in the afternoon. I felt like watching Saving Private Ryan that evening.