Top 10 things to see and do in Deauville
1. Sunshades and Deauville beach
Deauville beach is a fashionable beach. Multicoloured parasols are planted in the sand, and they are the signature of the town. Orange, blue, green, yellow or red, these five colours embody the beach.
2. Strolling along the boards along with the cabins
We have always come to Deauville to see and to be seen. One of the chicest seaside resorts in France, two hours from Paris.
The particularity of Deauville is the numerous bathing cabins that holidaymakers rent for the season. These cabins are each named after an American actor. A name is inscribed on each of the barriers that separate each of the cabins.
The planks are a promenade almost 700 metres long and are lined with 450 bathing cabins. The Art Deco-style complex was built in 1923 and is now listed as a Historic Monument.
The American Film Festival
Every year the American film festival is held in Deauville. It is an opportunity to bring this seaside resort to life out of season and to get the town in the press. It is in the middle of the seventies that this festival makes its appearance. It is spread out over ten days during September, and it honours both American super productions and short films from independent cinema.
For the spectators, it is the occasion to see some international stars or to take a subscription to see the films selected by the Deauville International American Film Festival.
3. Discover the old town of Deauville
When you walk around Deauville, there is a name that comes up often, the name Morny. Cinema Morny, the Duc de Morny chocolate factory, the crêperie la Morny, the Morny Presse tobacco shop, the Morny basin (Deauville harbour) etc.
Deauville is a totally unspoilt area
The Duke of Morny is, in fact, the craftsman who created the seaside resort of Deauville. During a trip in 1858, he discovered Trouville and the Normandy coast. And he literally fell in love with a corner of the Calvados department. Large meadows and marshes where one can see sheep and cows grazing, this is the image he will keep of an idyllic place which is not yet called Deauville. This is how Morny launched into a real estate speculation operation.
The appearance of a town in the middle of the sands
It was therefore from the middle of the 19th century that the Duke of Morny set about creating the seaside resort of Deauville. It was not the time to preserve the coast but rather to conquer it. He joined forces with his doctor, Doctor Oliffe (who already had a villa in Trouville) and a banker, a certain Armand Donon (a stockbroker). The latter was, in fact, the director of a Parisian bank, the Ottoman bank. These three men set up a real estate company which began by buying up 240 hectares on the seafront. A lawsuit won in 1859 led to the creation of a seaside town by Morny and his associates.
In another stroke of luck, also in 1959, the authorities decided to extend the railway line between Pont Lévèque and Trouville. It would now take only five short hours to link Deauville to Paris. The real estate fever spread to the Normandy coast. And the plots of land will be resold and serviced for 20 to 60 times more expensive. Nevertheless, a large number of parcels of land will not find takers, and the business will just be profitable.
And Deauville became a mix between Brighton and Baden-Baden
From 1861 land was sold and houses began to emerge from the sand. The first official season took place in 1964, notably for the inauguration of the racecourse and the casino. The three partners began to build the first villas (Tudor architectural style). Paul Demidov, the Marquis of Salamanca and a few prefects, come to settle and have villas built on the seafront, the famous Deauville terrace. Behind the seafront, there is an octagonal, checkerboard-shaped town plan.
The essential points of Deauville
The Villa Strassburger, Place Yves Saint-Laurent, the peninsula, the seafront or Place Morny are all points of interest in Deauville.
4. The Touques racecourse
This racecourse is one of the two assets of the city. Deauville was indeed built around the casino, hotels and large villas in the seaport. This racecourse has the peculiarity of operating 365 days a year, thanks to installations which prevent the ground from freezing or becoming too hard during the winter.
5. The port of Deauville
Initially, the Duke of Morny wanted to create a commercial port. This was a fiasco, and the port of Deauville would in time become a deep-water marina.
6. The big hotels and the casino
Even if you don’t go to luxury hotels and casinos, you have to admit that they are the ones that make the reputation of the town of Deauville. Even if you are not a gambler, you can still go to one of the casino restaurants to get a feel for the atmosphere and the fever that some of the regulars have.
photo credits: Yann