France
Deauville is the French Riviera transplanted to Normandy's coast—an elegant seaside resort town on the English Channel that has served as Paris's summer playground since the Duc de Morny created it in the 1860s. The gamble paid spectacularly: within a decade, Deauville's grand hotels, racecourse, and casino had established it as one of Europe's most fashionable resorts. Coco Chanel opened her first boutique here in 1913, launching both a brand and a revolution in women's fashion. The town's Belle Époque and Art Deco architecture creates a visual environment that feels like stepping into a Monet painting reimagined by a couturier.
Les Planches, Deauville's boardwalk promenade, is the town's iconic feature—a wooden walkway along the beach flanked by individual changing cabins, each bearing the name of a Hollywood director in tribute to the Deauville American Film Festival held each September. The Casino Barrière, a magnificent Belle Époque structure, has been the social epicenter since 1912. The hippodromes host racing meets throughout the summer, including prestigious sales—one of Europe's most important thoroughbred auctions. Across the Touques River, the twin town of Trouville offers a more relaxed alternative with an excellent fish market and unpretentious seafood restaurants.
Norman cuisine celebrates the region's legendary dairy and maritime heritage. The Pays d'Auge produces some of France's finest cheeses—Camembert, Pont-l'Évêque, and Livarot—alongside cidre, calvados, and pommeau. Seafood dominates: moules marinières, sole meunière, plateau de fruits de mer, and the celebrated crevettes grises. Cream, butter, and apples infiltrate virtually every dish—poulet vallée d'Auge is the quintessential preparation, and tarte Tatin is the region's most famous dessert.
The D-Day beaches—Omaha, Utah, Gold, Juno, and Sword—lie just to the west, and the American Cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer constitutes one of the most emotionally powerful historical experiences available anywhere. The Bayeux Tapestry, a thousand-year-old embroidered chronicle of the Norman Conquest, remains one of the most remarkable artifacts of the medieval world. Honfleur, the picture-perfect fishing port, has been painted by every major Impressionist.
Tauck features Deauville on its Normandy itineraries. The summer season (June–September) brings the warmest weather and the Film Festival in September. Spring and autumn offer pleasant conditions—the apple orchards are beautiful in blossom (April–May) and at harvest (September–October). Deauville is France at its most polished—a town that has been perfecting the art of leisure for over 150 years.