Welcome to Place Morny, the very heart of Deauville. Picture the scene back in 1859: this spot was nothing but dunes and marshland. Then came the architect Breney, who set out to design an entirely new town. He laid out broad, straight avenues linking all the key places that would define the resort— the train station bringing visitors from Paris, the beach and the sea, the racecourse with its horses, the town hall, and of course, the casino. At the crossroads of these lines, he imagined a star-shaped square, a little like the grand Haussmann boulevards in Paris, where eight main streets meet. It was the compass of a brand-new Deauville, and naturally, it quickly became the center of daily life. Over the years the square has kept evolving, at different times it’s been home to a garden, a marketplace, a fountain, and later on modern water jets. Each change mirrored the style and habits of its era. Take a moment to look around: that grid-like layout gives Deauville its unique character among seaside towns, with a sense of order and elegance. This is the perfect place to start exploring, everything here comes together, and everything here begins.