Deauville Audio Guided Walking Tour 2h and 19 audio commentary

Here you are in Place Morny, the ground zero of Deauville. Imagine the scene in 1859: there were still only dunes and marshes. Architect Breney then decided to design an entirely new city. It traces large right avenues that connect the essential places of the future resort: the station for travelers from Paris, the beach and the sea, the racetrack and its horses, the town hall and of course the casino.

In front of you stands the Deauville City Inn. It’s hard to imagine that before this building, the town hall was at the top of Mont Canisy, near the church of Saint-Laurent, before a fire destroyed it in 1840.

You are in front of one of the symbols of Deauville: its Normandy Inn. Imagine the summer of 1912, when this palace opens its doors for the first time. With its H-shaped plan, half-timbered façades and dormer roofs, it seems straight out of a Norman tale, both mansion and cinema setting. In the center, the “Norman courtyard”, planted with apple trees, is a real hidden garden.

Here is the other great symbol of Deauville: its Casino. Have you noticed that in France you can only find Casinos in spas or seaside resorts? It is no coincidence, it is a law of the 19th century, still in force today. That’s why you discover the Casino de Deauville, open since 1864, when there are none in Paris!

Let’s stop for a moment to look at this large building on your left, it’s the International Centre of Deauville. Admit it intrigues... For we can only guess half, as if it had melted into the sand. It’s voluntary: when it was built in the late 80s, we wanted to preserve the view of the waterfront. As a result, more than 150,000 cubic meters of displaced sand, a colossal construction site, and an inauguration in 1992 by Clint Eastwood himself, who came to present “Ruthless”. Perfect symbol, because this place quickly became the “cinema palace” of Deauville.

Here you are on the most famous promenade in Deauville: the famous Planks. Before their creation, there were only old wooden cabins lined up on the sand. But in the early 1920s, the city wanted to offer a setting worthy of the station's reputation. In 1923, she inaugurated her “Bainspompéiens”, an Art Deco, concrete and mosaic bathing establishment with 250 cabins, lounges and even an American bar.

This is the Royal Inn, one of the two legendary palaces in Deauville. Inaugurated in July 1913, it came out of the ground in record time, just ten months after the work began. It is designed by Théo Petit, already architect of Normandy, with the participation of Georges Wybo, future Contributor of the Casino.

You are here on Raspail Street, in the Villas district. Look around you: wood-framed facades, checkerboard bricks, cut roofs, small gardens enclosed by light grids... Everything here breathes vacation.

Here you are in front of a building like no other: the Franciscans. With a name like this, you can imagine that before housing a state-of-the-art museum and cultural center, it was... a convent! Built in 1876, it saw the arrival a few years later of the first Franciscan sisters.

Here we are in front of the church of Saint Augustine. It was built to replace the old parish of Saint-Laurent, perched on the hill, and deemed too remote for a booming seaside resort. Here, in the heart of Deauville, a place of worship was needed at the height of the new city.

Here you are, as close as possible to a place that shaped Deauville’s identity: its racetrack. Go back in time and project yourself to August 1864. Here, there were still only dry marshes, and yet it is already a day of celebration: on 14 and 15 August the first major races of the fledgling resort are held.

Here you are in front of the Morny basin, in the heart of the marina of Deauville. Already in the 19th century, this basin welcomed the sailing boats of the first vacationers who came by train from Paris to enjoy the sea.

Let's stop here for a moment, on Place Gabrielle-Chanel. It was in Deauville that it all began for the designer, long before Paris or world fame. In 1913, Gabrielle Chanel, already nicknamed “Coco”, opened her very first shop under her full name.

On your right, the Pont des Belges. It connects Deauville to Trouville, but its name is especially reminiscent of a landmark episode in the Liberation in August 1944. Belgian and Luxembourg soldiers of the Piron Brigade crossed the Touques right here, under German fire, after the bridge had been destroyed.

Let’s stop for a moment in the Point of Sale Square to discover its architecture and talk a little bit about Norman gastronomy. In 1923, the architect Georges Madeline had two half-timbered halls built there, topped with tiles and inspired by the Norman style. With their traditional house-like appearance, they give the heart of Deauville a picturesque charm, such as an outdoor Covered Point of Sale.

In front of you flows the Touques, the small river that separates Deauville from its neighbor Trouville. On this side, the elegant resort born from scratch in the Second Empire, with its palaces, villas and casino. On the other, the dean: Trouville, much older, and already famous in the 19th century as a fishing port and as “Queen of the beaches”.

In front of you, notice these two towers striped black and white. They were recently built to mark the entrance to the port peninsula. One houses the captaincy, the other serves as a lookout. If you like it, you can climb to the top: 155 steps, or an elevator, and a 360° view of Deauville, Trouville, the sea and even the countryside of the Augeronne.

You contemplate Cryptogram One, a work donated to the city in 2012 by the artist Karl Lagasse. As a child of Deauville, he was named one of the ten most talented sculptors under thirty years of age in 2009. Look at the letters engraved on all its sides: they compose universal words, such as Hope, Wisdom or 7th Art.

Before you stands the statue of the Duke of Morny, half-brother of Napoleon III, and ambitious and visionary businessman. Since the square bears his name and you may not know him, let’s make the introductions with one of the founders of Deauville.