Celebrity Travel
Why Deauville Has Been Old Money's Favourite Norman Seaside Town Since the 1860s
Built as a planned resort by Napoleon III's half-brother in the 1860s, Deauville has drawn French aristocracy, Coco Chanel and, since 1975, Hollywood's film-festival crowd to its boardwalk, casino and racecourses.
Sep 24, 2026 · BigTravel.in
Deauville was not a fishing village that happened to become fashionable; it was built to be fashionable from the outset. The Duc de Morny, half-brother of Napoleon III, developed the marshland opposite the older resort of Trouville into a planned seaside town in the 1860s, complete with a racecourse, a casino and grand villas, aimed squarely at Second Empire high society. That founding logic, a resort engineered for the well-connected, has held for more than 150 years.
Where Chanel got her start
In 1913, a young Gabrielle Chanel opened her first boutique on what is now rue Lucien Barrière, in Deauville's so-called golden triangle between the casino and the Normandy Hotel, financed by her then-partner Arthur "Boy" Capel. The shop sold practical sportswear for women rather than formal fashion, aimed at the same racing-and-bathing set that had built the town, and it is widely credited as the starting point of what became the Chanel house.
Les Planches and the film festival crowd
Deauville's wooden boardwalk, Les Planches, dates to 1923 and runs the length of the main beach, lined with roughly 450 Art Deco beach cabins. Since the Deauville American Film Festival was founded in 1975, many of those cabins have been named for the actors and directors who have attended over the decades, a Norman answer to Hollywood Boulevard's walk of fame that has hosted figures from Clint Eastwood to George Clooney.
Racing, polo and the yearling sales
Deauville's two racecourses and its late-summer thoroughbred yearling sales remain a fixture for European racing and breeding circles, running alongside the film festival each August into a season that has anchored the town's social calendar since the 19th century.
Traveller tips
- Deauville sits under a three-hour drive from Paris, and also has a direct rail connection from Paris Saint-Lazare, making it a realistic day or weekend trip.
- August is the town's busiest and most expensive month, overlapping the film festival and the racing and yearling-sales calendar.
- Trouville-sur-Mer, Deauville's older and less formal twin across the Touques estuary, is a five-minute walk over the bridge and worth the detour for a quieter, more local feel.
- Les Planches is public and free to walk at any time of year, well outside the busy summer season.
Where this is
Deauville, France