Le Touquet

Le Touquet-Paris-Plage (French pronunciation: [lə tukɛ paʁi plaʒ] ^ⓘ; Picard: Ech Toutchet-Paris-Plache), commonly referred to as Le Touquet (/lə tʊkeɪ/), is a commune near Étaples, in the Pas-de-Calais department, northern France. It has a permanent population of 4224 (2023) but it welcomes up to 250,000 people during the summer, so the population at any given time during high season in summer swells to about 30,000. Located on the Opal Coast of the English Channel at the estuary of the river Canche, the commune is one of the most renowned seaside resorts in France, with a wide range of sports and leisure activities.

The name "Le Touquet" is attested in the mid-18th century to designate the cape next to which the town was built. Alphonse Daloz, a notary in Paris, bought the land on the cape, planted a forest and built a small palace there, and in 1882 founded the seaside resort as Paris-Plage. John Whitley, an English businessman, saw a lucrative opportunity to build a resort for (mostly) English and French elites, so he became the owner of most of the town's lands. The construction boom that followed his acquisition led to the government recognising Paris-Plage as a separate commune in 1912. Numerous prestigious hotels were built, and at its peak of prosperity in the Roaring Twenties, the resort boasted the biggest casino in France by revenue, ultra-luxury hotels and an upscale clientele. The bustling town had good transport connections thanks to a tram line and a narrow-gauge train line to Étaples, and, since 1936, a dedicated airport. The Great Depression brought some problems to the resort but it still remained popular with the British upper class. World War II, however, brought extensive destruction as the Germans deployed about 100,000 mines and the Allies bombarded the resort in 1944. After World War II, most of the upper class chose vacations on the French Riviera instead, and the property they sold was bought up by well-off locals.

While most of the original buildings were lost due to destruction during World War II, some surviving villas represent the unique architectural style that was popular in the interwar period. 21 buildings in the commune are protected as historical monuments. Le Touquet also has extensive natural heritage protection because of its dunes and the unique nature of the Canche estuary. This, together with its initial inception as an upper-class resort with extensive sports facilities, which it still mostly is, contributes to consistently high positions in quality-of-life rankings. Today, most of its permanent population is retired. President Emmanuel Macron often spends time in Le Touquet and votes there because Brigitte, his wife, has strong ties to the town and inherited a villa in 1985.