Deauville, France

With Deauville's fabled history filled with movie stars and royalty and its reputation as a playground for France's elite, I was expecting the snooty factor to be off the charts. Instead, I found Deauville to be welcoming and a lot of fun.  Deauville came off as an almost impossibly chic seaside town brimming with pride. From the manicured gardens to the beautifully kept historic buildings and clean streets, the town of Deauville takes obvious care to ensure that its past glories continue into the future.


Deauville is located in Normandy on France's northern coastline about an hour and a half drive east of the D-Day beaches.  From Paris, you can get to Deauville via train in about two hours.

Everything was so pristine and perfect looking that it almost feels unreal,  as if you are on a movie set or at Disney World.   But real it was.  And you know what else is real in Deauville?  The shopping.  For a town of 4,000 people, the lineup was quite impressive and included Louis Vuitton, Hermes, Longchamp, Ralph Lauren and Printemps, the Parisian department store.

This plaque commemorates the location of Coco Chanel's second boutique opened in 1913.  The first was on the Rue Cambon in Paris, three years earlier.

Deauville's famous beach promenade.  The gates outside the cabanas bear the names of famous people who have come to Deauville for the annual American Film Festival.  In addition to its beach and promenade, Deauville is known for its casino and two horse racing tracks.

My favorite part of Deauville was the architecture.  It was like a Pinterest board of half-timbered buildings come to life!

We were in Normandy for five days, and of all the towns we visited, Deauville was my favorite.  Although Deauville can easily be seen in a single day, we returned daily for an afternoon walk or a bistro dinner.  Deauville really was pretty as a picture.  Maybe prettier.