Something for the weekend

Friday lunchtime in Deauville, and the terrace restaurants along the beach are packed to the awnings with expensively dressed holidaymakers eating plates of seafood.

We had managed to get a table at the Bar de la Mer, one of the Normandy resort's most popular spots. From here, we could see people strolling the boardwalk, against a backdrop of golden sand studded with coloured parasols.

It could hardly have been more soothing, and all the more satisfying for the fact that breakfast — elevenses almost — had been in London.

This instant getaway was all possible thanks to a new CityJet flight from London City Airport to Deauville-Saint-Gatien, which will run four days a week (Monday, Thursday, Friday, Sunday) until 27 September. The mid-morning departure is civilised, cutting out rush-hour travel on public transport and check-in queues; the flight is barely 50 minutes; and, as it's the only scheduled service into Deauville, there are no hold-ups there, either. The only downside is the lack of public transport on arrival; for now, a taxi to town, pre-booked if possible, is the only option.

Town, in this case, actually means two towns, separated by the narrow River Touques. On the east bank is Trouville-sur-Mer, originally a fishing village. After it was "discovered" in the 1820s by artists and writers, cultured Parisians followed to bathe in the sea, build holiday villas and turn it into the "Queen of Beaches".

Even now, it's popular with Parisian "bo-bos" — short for bourgeois bohemians — who love its quirky shops and cafés.

It was from one of Trouville's villas that Napoleon III's half-brother, the Duc de Morny, gazed at the dunes and marshlands across the Touques and decided to create a new and glitzier resort there. Between 1860 and 1864, Deauville's racecourse, casino and first mansions appeared, followed in time by a golf course, beach huts, smart boutiques such as Chanel's first venture into clothing, and grand hotels such as the half-timbered Normandy, which would look at home in Disneyland.

As Deauville marks its 150th birthday with events such as betting lessons at the racecourse and a golf tournament through the streets (the full programme is at deauville-2010.fr), something lingers of that Belle Epoque glamour. It's still a magnet for the super-rich — oligarchs, horse-mad emirs and Hollywood stars — who help to keep property prices up and a slew of high-end boutiques, cafés and restaurants in business.

Yes, the "best" hotels looked in need of a makeover, unlike the newly revamped Les Manoirs de Tourgeville a short drive away, but I wasn't
complaining. I'd been whisked from office to beach in record time — what could be more glamorous than that?