Deauville and Trouville

Deauville and Trouville-sur-Mer are two neighboring seaside resorts on the Calvados coast, and you can treat them as one stop. Trouville is the older of the pair, a former fishing port with markets and seafood on the quays. Deauville, built from the 1860s, is the newer one, with racecourses, a beach lined with huts and a September film festival. Base yourself here if you want a beach town with good train links to Paris and easy bus access to Honfleur and Caen, and if you don’t mind a drive for the D-Day sites.

What to see in Deauville and Trouville

Deauville beach and the boardwalk

The Deauville beach is the town’s center of gravity. You walk the wooden boardwalk past rows of beach huts and parasols, and the sand stretches out toward the sea. You can come any time of year, but on fine days the seafront gets very busy, so plan a quieter walk early or out of season if crowds bother you. For other stretches of sand along the coast, see beaches in Normandy.

Racing, horses and the film festival

Deauville has two racecourses, La Touques and Clairefontaine, plus an international equestrian center. Horses are part of the town’s identity, and a race meeting is a good way to spend an afternoon if your dates line up.

The Deauville American Film Festival has run every September since 1975. If you visit that month, expect the festival to shape the town’s mood and your choice of dates.

Les Franciscaines

Les Franciscaines is a museum that opened in May 2021. It gives you an indoor option when the weather turns.

Trouville’s fish market and quays

Next door, Trouville feels different. The fish market building on the quays dates from 1925 and is open every day of the year, with seafood restaurants clustered around it. Trouville’s boardwalk dates from 1867 and was the first on the Normandy coast.

The town also has the Villa Montebello museum and a casino on the seafront. Markets run all year on Wednesday and Sunday mornings, and an organic market takes place on Saturday mornings.

A little history

Trouville was one of the first French seaside resorts, and wealthy visitors started arriving in the mid-19th century. Flaubert, Proust, Monet and Boudin are all linked with it. Deauville came next: Dr Joseph Olliffe and the Duke de Morny, half-brother of Napoleon III, promoted a new resort on the marshland from the 1860s, and a new railway line helped bring the crowds.

Where to stay

Choose your side based on the kind of stay you want. Trouville suits you if you like an older town with a fishing-port past, daily seafood at the fish market and the weekly markets on your doorstep. It also has the first boardwalk on the coast and its own casino.

Deauville suits you if you want to be close to the main beach, the boardwalk with its beach huts, the racecourses and Les Franciscaines. Film fans coming for the September festival will want to be on this side.

Either side works as a base for a night or two. The train station, Trouville-Deauville, serves both, so you don’t need to pick based on rail access.

Getting there

From Paris by train

Trains from Paris to Deauville leave from Paris Saint-Lazare and run direct to Trouville-Deauville station. SNCF Connect lists 8 trains a day, operated by TER. The fastest trip takes 2h15 and the average is 2h41, with no changes. For fares, see the From Paris box above. Our guide to getting to Normandy from Paris compares this route with trains to other Normandy towns.

From Paris by coach

Direct coaches also link Paris and Deauville. Check the operator’s site for the timetable.

From other Normandy towns

NOMAD Car line 111 runs between Le Havre, Honfleur, Deauville, Cabourg and Caen. Line 122 links Caen, Deauville and Honfleur. These buses let you reach Honfleur and Caen without a car. If you plan a whole trip on public transport, see Normandy without a car.

By car

The driving times on this page are estimates from route planning without traffic. Honfleur is about 20 minutes away (16 km) and Caen about 46 minutes (54 km).

If you drive from Paris, note that the northern tube of the A13 Saint-Cloud tunnel near Paris is closed in the Paris-to-Normandy direction from November 16, 2026 to the end of August 2027. Signed diversions run via the RD910 and RN118, or via the RN13 and A14, and rejoin the A13 further west. Expect longer journeys at some hours.

Getting around

The two resorts sit side by side, and their beaches, boardwalks, markets and museums are easy to cover on foot once you are there. For trips beyond town, the NOMAD Car buses (lines 111 and 122) connect you with Honfleur, Caen, Cabourg and Le Havre.

You don’t need a car for the resorts themselves or for Honfleur and Caen. A car does make it simpler to reach sites further away. Étretat, for example, takes about 63 minutes by car (63 km). Without one, you would go via Le Havre and then take a NOMAD coach.

Day trips from Deauville and Trouville

Honfleur

Honfleur is the closest day trip, about 20 minutes by car (16 km), and NOMAD Car lines 111 and 122 both stop there. Pair it with a morning at the Trouville fish market.

Caen and the Mémorial de Caen

Caen is about 46 minutes by car (54 km) and also on bus line 111. The Caen Memorial Museum is open year-round, with some winter closure days, and you should set aside about four hours (240 minutes) for it. It makes a good introduction before you head to the beaches covered in D-Day and the Battle of Normandy.

Pegasus Memorial

The Pegasus Memorial is about 42 minutes by car (37 km). It has been closed for renovation since September 1, 2026, stays closed from January to May 2027, and no reopening date is confirmed. Check its status before you plan around it. When open, a visit takes about 90 minutes.

Étretat

The Étretat Cliffs and Gardens are about 63 minutes by car (63 km). You can visit the cliffs year-round. To avoid crowds, skip July and August and fine weekends. See the Étretat town guide for more.

For more ways to fit this coast into a longer trip, see Five Days in Normandy, which spends a night in nearby Honfleur.