Plage de Deauville

Plage de Deauville is the long, wide sand beach of Deauville, the Calvados resort on the Normandy coast about 200 km west of Paris. It runs beside Les Planches, the wooden boardwalk lined with beach cabins named after film stars, and suits weekend visitors from Paris, families and anyone who wants a classic seaside promenade with hotels, a casino and racecourses close by.

Charles Adda's boardwalk and Pompeian Baths

Les Planches is the heart of the beach. The architect Charles Adda designed both the boardwalk and the Art Deco Pompeian Baths behind it, built in 1923 and opened in 1924, with 250 cabins set around atriums, colonnades and mosaic pools. According to Normandy's tourist board, the boardwalk first measured 444 metres and now runs for 643 metres. The original planks have been replaced, but the new ones are still azobé, a hard grey tropical wood.

Since 1975 the Deauville American Film Festival has been held each September, and visiting actors unveil their names, painted in black letters on the cabin partitions along the boardwalk. Walking Les Planches and reading the names is part of any visit.

Deauville parasols, cool water and big tides

In summer the beach fills with rows of colourful parasols bearing the Deauville knot, which can be rented along with cabins in season. The beach itself is free. The Channel stays cool even in July and August, and the tide moves the water line a long way, so low tide gives the widest sand for walking. Swim in the marked zone in season.

The Duc de Morny's resort of the 1860s

The Duc de Morny, half-brother of Napoleon III, decided around 1860 to turn the village beside Trouville into a fashionable resort. Before his death in 1865 his investments had brought a railway from Paris, a racecourse and a first casino. The second great phase came between 1911 and 1913, when the Normandy and Royal hotels opened alongside the new casino. Those buildings still define the seafront.