The Touquet Villas

Le Touquet is a bit like an open-air museum, only with a chic seaside twist. Here, architecture is a playground, a unique blend of styles from England, Belgium, and northern France. As you stroll around, keep your eyes wide open: every villa has a story to tell. Some look like Norman manors, with dark timber frames and steeply pitched roofs; others could have stepped straight out of an English storybook, with bow windows, turrets, and red brickwork. Locals call them “touquettoises,” a fitting name for this style so unique to the resort. Elegant, charming, sometimes a touch eccentric, most of these houses date back to the Belle Époque or the Roaring Twenties, when Le Touquet was the go-to destination for Parisian and British high society. And part of the fun is in their names, because here, villas don’t have numbers, they have witty or whimsical names proudly displayed on enamel plaques: “Sans Gêne” (No Shame), “Ma P’tite Folie” (My Little Madness), “Les Marronniers” (The Chestnut Trees), “Pas de ça chez nous” (None of That Here), “Ici l’Ombre” (Here in the Shade), “Pourquoi pas ?” (Why Not?). Little nods to the free-spirited, playful nature of their first owners. The town has taken care to preserve this heritage: over a hundred villas are now protected. So take your time, wander from one lane to the next… you’ll see, here elegance hides in the smallest details, a sculpted balcony, a wrought-iron canopy, an Art Deco stained glass window. In Le Touquet, architecture itself is a walking tour.