Fancy a romantic weekend in Normandy for Valentine’s Day 2023? Deauville, Trouville, Honfleur, Cabourg… The famous cities of the Côte Fleurie are ideal for celebrating complicity!
It has inspired Monet and Chanel, Flaubert and Lelouch, Proust and Sagan… Normandy has long been a land where cities, most of which emerged in the middle of the 19th century, distill an art of living of their own. It is there that the loves take a very different turn. Then the time of a weekend, we go to the most romantic hotels of Normandy.
Weekend In Love Normandy : Hotels And Palaces In Normandy
Here are some ideas for a romantic weekend for two, to be planned in the posh seaside resort. Or the perfect weekend to project yourself, like in a Claude Lelouch movie… In Deauville!
It is the chic city of pleasures. We have fun at the marvelous Casino de Deauville, and at the hippodrome – a giant podium of Parisian social life. We discover the “most beautiful hotel in the world”, the Normandy; and Les Cures Marines, in Trouville.
A stay at the heart of the Cures Marines is a high dose of well-being and a beauty miracle based on the regenerating power of seawater! A perfect holiday, an unusual place with iconic charm… Their private treatment suite, scrub bar, volcanic stone, orange blossom modelling, music therapy and floral elixirs, all provide absolute bliss.
Private treatment suites, a scrub bar, modelling with volcanic stones or orange blossom, floral elixirs, music therapy… This is what the Cures Marines offer, an elixir of youth that we owe to this seaside legend built by Cornuché.
Another great temple of the Norman way of life – The Royal Barrière, which stands majestically in Deauville. The Royal Barrière is a 5-star hotel like the pinnacle of measured splendour. For a night or a few days, you can discover the charm of its rooms which have inspired many an artist…
The Royal Barrière Second legendary palace of the Norman art of living, the Hôtel Barrière Le Normandy alone captures the history and soul of Deauville – a haven of peace and sophistication that watches over the Deauvillais art of living. In 1913, it became a myth when the young Gabrielle Chanel decided to make it the setting for her first boutique in Deauville.
Those who prefer the calm and stunning charm of Honfleur will be able to enjoy an inspiring and timeless stay at La Ferme Saint Siméon. This Norman farmhouse was the cradle of Impressionism, before becoming this wonderful five-star hotel overlooking the beauty of the Côte Fleurie…
In this 17th century Norman building, it was indeed Claude Monet and Jongkind who were the first to follow Eugène Boudin. It is 1862 when they discover the divine light of this place located across the Seine Estuary. The place has a stunning charm and, very quickly, the leading figures of what will soon be called the Impressionist revolution will parade there. Gustave Courbet, Jean-Baptiste Corot, Frédéric Bazille to name a few.
Claude Monet, one day in Saint-Siméon, wrote to Frédéric Bazille: “Every day, I discover even more beautiful things, it is driving me crazy! I want to do so many things… My head is going crazy! I am very happy with my stay here, although my studies are far from what I would like… We are admirably well at Saint-Siméon!”
The splendid residence is thus designed around 34 rooms, including 3 suites which resonate with the history of the place. Facing the Seine Estuary, room 22 was Claude Monet’s favourite room – it still offers a view of the grand Norman sky.
In the heart of the seaside resort that is Cabourg, luxury is lived around aesthetic experiences, as on the entire Normandy coast. Especially at the Grand Hotel de Cabourg. A luxury hotel, which notably inspired Marcel Proust, one of its most famous clients…
What better way to spend a romantic weekend than in one of these beautiful palaces? You can write your own love story, following in the footsteps of the most beautiful stories in literature!
Weekend in Love Normandy: Must-See Restaurants
The Normandy coast is full of restaurants where you can enjoy seafood and local specialities. Like the restaurant Les Voiles d’Or, on the cliff of Le Pollet, in Dieppe. Crowned with a star in the Michelin Guide, the cuisine of chef Tristan Arhan is recognised for “the product put forward with sobriety and delicacy: you have an excellent time. As for the decor, sober and refined, it is in phase with the chef’s work. Courteous service provided by the chef’s wife.
The second starred restaurant on the coast, the Maximin Hellio restaurant, in the heart of the resort of Deauville. You can enjoy a cuisine of a rare finesse, where “sea and Norman products, around careful and creative preparations with frank and precise flavours. Interesting food and wine pairings proposed on the table” as described by the Michelin Guide.
The Royal Barrière is also the place to be for a gastronomic tasting for two. Entrusted to the famous Chef Éric Provost, the cuisine of the Côté Royal restaurant is based on simplicity. But there is no question of ease here. Chef Éric Provost’s cuisine is somewhere between brasserie and haute gastronomy, with a refined and refined vision.
The ‘brasserinomique’ spirit invented by the Chef himself consists in sublimating local products. On the plate? Foie gras au naturel, Calvados jelly and its balsamic cream with green apple… The variations of the Isigny creamery accompany oysters and poultry with delight. The senses are overwhelmed by the platter of mature Normandy cheeses.
Of course, the gastronomy at Ferme Saint Siméon could not but revere its iconic heritage. Called Les Impressionnistes, its gastronomic table is, since 2019, under the leadership of Chef Matthieu Pouleur.
And his cooking is a true ode to the Normandy region, and the very soul of the Ferme Saint Siméon. Here, the aim is to achieve in the plate, as well as in the taste, what we are looking for in the savoir-recevoir – tradition, sincerity and a know-how based on excellence and authenticity. For this, Chef Matthieu Pouleur rightly relies on the region’s producers.
“The products are excellent, and we know where they come from. We are surrounded by nature, it’s a really inspiring environment. Not to mention the fact that the region is so rich, both in terms of gastronomic history and products… I try to combine my past experiences with my origins in the North and the Normandy soil”, he explains.
Some breweries have an unblemished reputation – the Vapeurs in Trouville is one of them. It’s because the institution has an aura that charms the locals and the great icons of American cinema. For a long time now.
And its very name tells a part of the history of Trouville. In 1927, as the Tancarville bridge did not yet exist, it was the steamers that made the connection with Le Havre… Disembarking, just in front of this bistro, were the socialites and other elegant ladies on holiday.
As early as the 1930s, all the actors, comedians… all the aesthetic souls who made the golden age of cinema and art, both French and international, were already enjoying it.
Granville whelk fricassee. Hot shrimp. Gargantuan and sunny mussels or seafood platters. A small fry-up in trouvillaise. Hollow oysters from the bay of Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue… Which we like to sprinkle with the typical Calvados of the region – before punctuating these gastronomic delights with a Normandy tart or a sorbet, again with Calvados.
Weekend in Love Normandy: Not To Be Missed Experiences
Inaugurated at the dawn of the Belle Epoque, the Deauville-La Touques racecourse is a place of excellence and elegance, where the cream of the crop gathers, and has been since its opening.
The Rothschild Prize, Maurice de Gheest, Jacques Le Marois, Morny, Jean Romanet, and the now mythical Grand Prix de Deauville… So many social and cultural events that make Deauville the epicentre of elegant and sporting life.
An experience in the image of a city that has constantly expanded its influence to reach the status of an equestrian icon. Because, if you look closely, many of the stories linking the elite riders and the international clientele, be it luxury or fashion, have been written at this racecourse.
Also not to be missed are the major equestrian events of 2023.
The Casino Barrière Deauville, a casino of the Lucien Barrière Group, founded in 1912, is still one of the iconic places of the French art of living! A theatre of social life, a stone’s throw from the mythical Le Normandy Deauville hotel, and a stone’s throw from Trouville, in Calvados. A tour of the Deauville art of living…
As soon as it was built in 1912, the Casino Barrière Deauville became the epicentre of a glamorous, audacious and exciting life. The theatre is an extension of Parisian life a few hundred kilometres from the capital!
So many Norman experiences that will delight hearts for Valentine’s Day 2023.