Things to do in Deauville
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Deauville
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Best months: long days in June, and September with the film festival and thinning crowds.
May is quiet and lovely, late August is peak racing, polo and sales if booked and budgeted.
Worst months: grey, windy and quiet, with many restaurants closed or on reduced hours.
Blossom in spring and cider harvest in autumn are the inland Cider Route seasons.
What's on
- Deauville American Film Festival Early September each year, about ten days
Premieres, tributes and new names on the Planches cabins. Book everything early.
- August Meeting at Deauville-La Touques August
Group races through the month, the sporting peak of the Deauville season.
- Coupe d'Or polo August
The Deauville International Polo Club flagship tournament at La Touques.
- Arqana yearling sales August, also December
Thoroughbred sales that fill the town's restaurants and bars with the racing world.
Best things to do in Deauville
Les Planches de Deauville
The 1923 boardwalk past Art Deco cabins named for film festival stars, best early or at sunset.
Plage de Deauville
Two kilometres of wide sand and coloured parasols, huge at low tide and calmest on weekdays.
Hippodrome de Deauville-La Touques
Deauville's great racecourse, racing across the year with the August Meeting as its peak.
Casino Barrière Deauville
The grand 1912 Belle Epoque casino between the two palace hotels, worth an evening for the building.
Les Franciscaines
A former convent turned mediatheque and museum, the town's cultural living room and best quiet morning.
Villa Strassburger
The archetypal Deauville grand villa, a guided visit into the resort's golden age near the racecourse.
Marché de Deauville
The Place Morny market for Norman cheese, cider, oysters and the makings of a beach picnic.
Port Deauville
The marina and Presqu'île loop, the quietest sunset walk in town with views back to Trouville.
Where to stay in Deauville
Seafront and Place Morny
first trips, couples, festival and racing weeks
The grand hotels, boardwalk, market square and casino within a few flat minutes.
Centre and République
value in the centre
Still central and pleasant, with the independent mid tier and chain hotels a short walk from the beach.
Golf heights, Saint-Arnoult and Tourgéville
golfers, drivers and longer stays
Green, spacious and resort style, a few minutes drive from the beach.
Trouville-sur-Mer
thalasso and better value
A livelier local feel across the Touques bridge, ten minutes walk from Deauville beach.
Think twice about
- Saint-Arnoult budget strip
Not unsafe, but car dependent and outside the town's life. Use it only knowingly for the cheaper room.
Best restaurants in Deauville
L'Essentiel
Deauville's modern starred table, precise and delicate, with a set lunch as the value move.
Restaurant Maximin Hellio
The other starred room, seafood leaning modern French cooking in an intimate dining room.
Ciro's Deauville
The grand boardwalk seafood restaurant since 1959, for sole meuniere and a sunset terrace.
Le Drakkar
The racing world's brasserie, oysters and generous classics with a bar that runs late in season.
La Péniche
A restaurant on a moored marina barge, calm and local feeling with water on all sides.
Brasserie La Cantine de Deauville
The reliable centre brasserie visitors return to twice in one stay because everything works.
Les Vapeurs
Trouville's famous harbourside brasserie for seafood platters and moules facing the fishing port.
Yacht Deauville
A market square creperie brasserie for galettes, crepes, salads and moules frites all day.
Outdoor things to do in Deauville
Golf Barrière Deauville
Twenty seven holes on the Mont Canisy heights above town, rolling parkland with sea views.
Hippodrome de Clairefontaine
The friendly family racecourse for flat, hurdles and trotting, with picnic space and theme days.
La Mangeoire - Club Hippique de Deauville
Guided horseback rides on the vast low tide sand, plus lessons and pony walks for children.
Deauville International Polo Club
World class polo in the centre of La Touques racecourse, peaking with the August Coupe d'Or.
Honfleur
The old harbour day trip, tall slate fronted houses and cobbled lanes 25 minutes from Deauville.
Falaises d'Étretat
White chalk arches and cliff paths on both sides of Etretat, a proper walk with big views.
Route du Cidre
The signposted cider route around Cambremer, farm tastings of cider, pommeau and Calvados.
Trouville-sur-Mer
Walk over the bridge for the fishing port, boardwalk and fish market oyster counters.
Best hotels in Deauville
Hôtel Barrière Le Normandy Deauville
The half timbered palace hotel from 1912, a minute from the beach with spa and indoor pool.
Hôtel Barrière Le Royal Deauville
The grand sea facing sister hotel, calmer than the Normandy and built for the view.
Villa Augeval Boutique Hôtel & Spa
Two Norman manor houses between the Planches and the racecourse, with a small spa and pool.
Almoria Hôtel & SPA
A design led three star in the centre with a small spa and the best independent value nearby.
ibis Deauville Centre
A clean, efficient marina facing chain hotel with family rooms and a good breakfast terrace.
ibis budget Deauville
The genuine cheap sleep on the edge of town, basic and car based but priced like a budget hotel.
Hôtel Barrière L'Hôtel du Golf Deauville
A resort hotel beside the 27 hole golf on the heights, all big windows, spa and quiet.
Les Manoirs de Tourgéville
Half timbered manoirs in a seven hectare park with a large indoor pool, made for families.
Is Deauville expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | €70 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | €220 a person |
| Splurge | €550 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Villa Strassburger: a few days ahead
- Centre International de Deauville: weeks ahead
- Thalasso Deauville by Algotherm: a few days ahead
- Golf Barrière Deauville: weeks ahead
- La Mangeoire - Club Hippique de Deauville: a few days ahead
- Deauville International Polo Club: a few days ahead
- Hôtel Barrière Le Normandy Deauville: weeks ahead
- Hôtel Barrière Le Royal Deauville: weeks ahead
- August and film festival week sell out: book hotels, starred restaurants, thalasso and golf weeks ahead.
- Book Paris trains ahead in summer, race day tables, and Le Ciro's weekend lunches.
- Villa Strassburger visits are seasonal and tour led, so check days and language before going.
Is Deauville safe?
- Watch belongings on the crowded summer beach and during festival crowds.
- Respect the fast tide and supervised swimming flags, and carry a rain layer for Atlantic weather.
- Take care on the Etretat cliff paths, where drops are unfenced.
- Bring passport or national ID for the casino gaming rooms.
Deauville travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Beachfront restaurants with laminated multilingual menus trade on the view.
- Do not pay cabin and parasol prices for a single grey day: check tide and weather first.
- Luxury shopping in Deauville is Paris priced with a sea view.
- If a Deauville restaurant disappoints on value, walk ten minutes to Trouville.
Getting around Deauville: public transport and more
- Walk in town: beach, racecourse and station are all within about twenty minutes on foot.
- Trains from Paris Saint-Lazare serve Trouville-Deauville station in roughly two to two and three quarter hours.
- A car helps for Honfleur, Etretat, the Cider Route and the D-Day beaches, and hinders in August.
- Cyclists can follow the Velomaritime coastal route through town.
Who Deauville suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Good |
| Couples | Great |
| Bachelor parties | OK |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | OK |
Make Deauville your trip
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