The Palais du Gouverneur is the most visible reminder that Bingerville was once the seat of power in French Côte d'Ivoire. The handsome two-storey building, with its broad shaded balconies and red roof, sits on the high point of town and looks out across the Ébrié Lagoon toward Abidjan.
You cannot tour the interior — it is still in active use as an orphanage and school — but the exterior and the surrounding grounds are worth a slow circuit. The building is a fine example of the airy, verandaed colonial architecture that the French built across coastal West Africa.