Les Villas Belle Époque Quarter
Dinard contains more than 400 villas built between 1850 and 1914, making its residential hillsides a living open-air museum of Victorian and Edwardian resort architecture. Turrets, verandas, Moorish arches, neo-Gothic gables and English cottage gardens crowd every street — and almost all are still private homes, which makes the streetscape feel authentic rather than preserved.
Where to Walk
The Avenue George V and the streets radiating from it — particularly Rue des Bains and Avenue Edouard VII — form the densest concentration of grand villas. Look for the Villa Eugénie (named for Empress Eugénie, an early visitor), the turreted Villa des Roches Brunes on the coastal path, and the extravagant Villa Greystones with its Scottish baronial tower.
The tourist office on Boulevard Féart sells a self-guided walking map (€2) that identifies 30 named villas with their original owners and architectural styles — well worth buying before you set off.
The British Connection
Dinard was essentially invented by American painter Fanny Lear and then colonised by the British upper-middle class from the 1870s onward. Streets named after British royals, an Anglican church (St Bartholomew's on Rue Winston Churchill, still active), and a golf club founded in 1887 all testify to this history.
The Villa Reine Hortense on Rue de la Malouine is now a boutique hotel and one of the few grand villas you can actually enter as a non-resident — its Belle Époque salons are open to guests for afternoon tea.
More of Dinard
Discover where to stay, what to do and the best deals for your trip.
Explore Dinard →
