Deauville is a Normandy resort along the English Channel, which is often called the 21st district of Paris. It has the reputation of a luxurious and elegant place, and the local beach has attracted the most important figures of the French political and cultural scene since the 19th century.
Until the mid-nineteenth century, coastal marshes stretched over Deauville. This changed thanks to Prince de Morna, half-brother of Napoleon III. He decided to build a seaside resort here. He ordered drainage of swamps, construction of boarding houses and a hippodrome, where horse riding competitions are held to this day.
At the beginning of the 20th century and in the interwar period, the town attracted the Paris elite. Politics and industrialists, including André Citroën, won and lost fortunes in the casino built in 1904. In 1914 Coco Chanel opened its boutique in the city. In the 1930s, Deauville was hosted by Winston Churchill, Egyptian King Farouk, Iranian Shah or Artur Rubinstein. Today, most of the world's personality format can be found here in September during the American Cinema Festival.
Deauville Beach is sandy and wide. It is known for its colorful umbrellas that look like flowers blooming on sand. It is characterized by very large diurnal tides. Before noon, the ebb leave huge tracts of wet sand, and in the afternoon a high tide can wash away less cautious vacationers.
The resort has a lot of buildings from the second half of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. In addition to the Casino, you can also see the Villa Strasburger in the style of Belle Epoque, the historic hippodrome and Plac de Morny surrounded by stylized buildings.
