Free walking tours in Deauville and what to see

Must-sees

Deauville is the elegant resort of the Côte Fleurie, in Normandy, on the English Channel. Its best-known image is Les Planches, the wooden boardwalk running along the beach beside the beach huts. Many of those huts bear the painted names of actors and directors who have attended the American film festival the town holds each year. The beach is very wide, and at low tide the sand stretches far out, with rows of colourful parasols in summer.

Behind the boardwalk are the casino and the grand early 20th-century hotels, with their Norman half-timbered architecture. The streets of the centre have Anglo-Norman villas and a covered market that is lively at weekends. Deauville is also a horse town, with racecourses and thoroughbred sales. Across the bridge over the River Touques is Trouville, a more down-to-earth fishing town with its fish market and its own beach.

Free tours and guided visits

Deauville has no regular free walking tours and the town is easy to explore on your own. Civitatis lists a private sidecar tour leaving from Deauville to explore the coast and the Norman countryside, an original way to see the surroundings. To visit Honfleur or the D-Day beaches, people usually drive.

How long to spend

One day is enough to stroll Les Planches and the centre and cross to Trouville. If you are here to relax on the beach, stay for a weekend or longer. With two or three days you can add Honfleur, about twenty minutes away, and a village or two in the Pays d’Auge, with its apple orchards and cider farms. Deauville is about two hours from Paris by train.

Where to stay

The most convenient place to stay is central Deauville or near the seafront, with the beach, the casino and the restaurants within walking distance. Trouville, across the river, has a livelier atmosphere and a somewhat wider range of accommodation. If you want peace and quiet, the coastal villages to the west offer apartments and houses by the beach.