Les Planches (The Boardwalk)

Les Planches is the wooden boardwalk that runs along the beach at Deauville, and it is the best-known promenade on the Normandy coast. It is about 640 metres long and was built in the 1920s, at a time when Deauville was one of the most fashionable resorts in Europe, to allow the elegant visitors to walk by the sea without getting sand on their shoes. The planks have been replaced over the years, but the design has hardly changed, and the walk along it, with the sea on one side and the grand hotels and villas on the other, is a traditional ritual for visitors.

Deauville itself was a young town. It was created in the 1860s on marshland at the mouth of the river Touques, by the Duke of Morny, half-brother of Napoleon III, and the doctor Joseph Olliffe, who saw the potential of the coast as a fashionable bathing place for Parisians. The architect Desle-François Breney drew the plans, and a casino, a racecourse and hotels followed quickly. The resort became the summer meeting place for society, and the designer Coco Chanel opened a shop here in 1913, as the fashion for seaside clothes began. The boardwalk reflects a later phase, that of the interwar period, when the resort was at its most glamorous.

Along the boardwalk, rows of beach cabins stand on the sand, each carrying the name of a film star or director who has visited the town. The Deauville American Film Festival, held each September since 1975, adds to the film connections, and the town was the setting of the 1966 film A Man and a Woman, which helped to make it a symbol of romance. The Art Deco bathing establishment, the Bains Pompéiens, with its columns and decorated rooms, was built in the 1920s, and it is a handsome example of the style. Parasols in bright colours dot the beach in the summer, and the sight of the long line of them against the grey Channel sky is one of the pictures of the town. The beach is free and open to everyone, and the boardwalk is open at all hours.

The promenade is a pleasure at any time of day. Early morning is peaceful, with dog walkers and joggers and a soft light on the sand. At sunset the colours on the water are best, and in the evening the lights of the hotels and the casino come on. In winter the walk is bracing and the beach almost empty. The planks make for easy walking regardless of the tide.

Behind the boardwalk lie the town's main sights. The Casino Barrière de Deauville, the Église Notre-Dame, the Hippodrome de Deauville, where racing is held in summer and the great yearling sales take place in August, and the Parc du Thuit are all in the area. Shops and restaurants line the streets near the seafront. The boardwalk suits families, couples and anyone who enjoys a seaside walk with a touch of old glamour.