What to see in Hyeres, itinerary including the main monuments and places of interest in the old town of Provence, including the Templar Tower.
Tourist information
For a visit to the historic center of the town, the place to start is the tourist office located on Avenue de Belgique.
The Massilon gate, from the thirteenth century, invites you to stroll through the old town, starting from the Rue des Porches, dating from the eighteenth century, to reach the Place du Portalet and the seventeenth-century Porta Fenouillet.
The ascent to the upper city begins from rue de Limans, rue des Savonniers and rue Rabaton, where the home of the illustrious Jean Baptiste Massillon, bishop of Clermont, was born in Hyeres in 1663.
From this road you reach Place Massilon, near the grandiose Torre dei Templari, home to numerous exhibitions.
Passing from rue Ste Catherine, you reach Place St. Paul, opposite the Renaissance House, built on the St. Paul gate.
A large staircase leads inside the Collegiate St Paul, famous for the largest collection of Provençal ex votos.
What see
The whole of the upper city preserves many remains of houses dating back to medieval times, with round arched door and carved facades.
Following the Rue St Paul and the Rue Ste Claire, after passing the Porte des Princes, you will find the Park and the Ste Claire Castle, built in 1849, on the site of a convent, by Olivier Voutier, a well-known marian and archaeologist to whom he is attributed the discovery of Venus de Milo.
Continuing to walk, at the bottom of the rue du Puits St Pierre, we find the Lastre a Cupule, which is the oldest monument in the city.
In the St Bernard park, full of exotic and Mediterranean plants, there is the grandiose Villa of Noailles, designed by the architect Mallet Stevens, built in the third decade of the twentieth century.
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From the ruins of the Old Castle it is possible to admire a wonderful panorama of the city, including the bay and the three islands.
In the descent from the Castle, along the rue St Bernard, from Four Cauvin and from the Traverse Paradis, it is possible to admire examples of Romanesque houses.
Continuing through the Porta Barruc, you arrive at the thirteenth century Church of St Louis, built in Romanesque and Gothic style, in whose interior there are valuable organs dating back to 1878, a bas-relief of the sixteenth century and a seventeenth century crucifix.
