Local answers
Restaurants, beaches, activities, markets, transport and practical information for the Pyrénées-Orientales.
How a developer based in Argelès-sur-Mer built a digital tourist guide that answers everyone in their own language.
My name is Marius and I live in Argelès-sur-Mer, in the Pyrénées-Orientales. My French is limited, and finding local information was not easy: I had to translate and scroll through one website after another, cross-checking.
I built Loca-Guide because I wanted one place where I could find all the information in a language I understand. It became a digital tourist guide for the Pyrénées-Orientales that answers travellers in their own language, using local information.
A local guide, easy to open, that speaks the visitor's language.
The visitor scans a QR code or opens a link. No app to install, no account to create. They ask as they would ask a local: where to eat tonight, which beach suits young children, what to do when it rains, how to reach Collioure without a car.
Loca-Guide replies in the visitor's language, including languages beyond the interface ones (French, English, Spanish, German, Dutch). It relies first on a local database, then completes with a web search when the information is not there. It avoids inventing places or opening hours and reminds visitors to check official sources.
Restaurants, beaches, activities, markets, transport and practical information for the Pyrénées-Orientales.
One-day plans and family ideas, built from the local database.
Map buttons and links to official sources for going further.
Share the day's plan with your group in one tap.
If the visitor agrees, location improves the answers. It is not stored.
Dark mode, careful accessibility, anonymous sessions, hosting in the European Union.
Loca-Guide's database is continuously growing and currently holds more than 13,000 places, built from open sources: DATAtourisme, OpenStreetMap, Rando66 / Geotrek, transport data, IGN BD TOPO and the Mérimée heritage database. The aim is a guide built on identifiable sources that can be checked.
Each town also has its own online guide with a history page: explore the town guides, and the 2027 agenda.
A clear answer in their own language, with no app or account, at the right moment: on the beach, at the table, in the rain.
A guide to offer guests that answers frequent questions in place of the front desk, evenings included.
A QR code at reception or in the mobile homes, for guests of many nationalities.
A living welcome booklet, fuller than a paper sheet, with ideas suited to the season.
A digital complement available at any hour, that points to official sources.
Visibility with visitors who are looking for exactly what you offer, close to you.
Loca-Guide is made for the Pyrénées-Orientales only. A well-informed visitor stays longer, discovers more places, and is more likely to step into a small shop, a winery or a village restaurant, not just the best-known addresses.
In a guide made for the territory, local businesses and organisations can be featured naturally, while the information stays practical. The goal is for visitors to gain, and for the local economy to gain with them.
Where does Loca-Guide stand today? The project is in a testing phase and has no clients yet. I am looking for the first partners in the Pyrénées-Orientales: hotels, campsites, rentals, tourist offices and local professionals, to build and adjust the guide with them. If you would like to try it, write to me: [email protected].