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Commune of Le Touquet-Paris-Plage
Location
Coordinates	50.518611 1.595000
Administration
Country	France
Region	Nord-Pas-de-Calais
Department	Pas-de-Calais
Arrondissement	Montreuil
Canton	Montreuil
Intercommunality	Communauté de Communes Mer et Terres d'Opale
Mayor	Léonce Deprez (2001-2008)
Statistics
Elevation	0 m–42 m (avg. 5 m)
Land area¹	15.31 km²
Population² (1999)	5,640
- Density	347/km² (1999)
Miscellaneous
INSEE/Postal code	62826/ 62520
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
2 Population sans doubles comptes: single count of residents of multiple communes (e.g. students and military personnel).

Le Touquet Paris-Plage Golf

Le Touquet-Paris-Plage, commonly referred to as Le Touquet, is a coastal town and commune of the Pas-de-Calais département, in northern France. Population (2005): 8,500.

Le Touquet has a reputation as the most elegant holiday resort of northern France - the playground of rich Parisians, with many luxury hotels.

Ever since the mid-1990s Le Touquet's villas have become extremely fashionable amongst architecture lovers throughout Europe, rediscovering the "folie" of seaside architecture of both the Roaring Twenties and the Thirties. The most famous local architect is Louis Quetelart, whose style was named after him Louis Quetelart Style.

The resort was created in 1876 by the owner of the Paris newspaper, Le Figaro. Then this was an area of wild sand dunes and forest - part of a hunting estate. It became known as "Paris by the sea", and strict building regulations encouraged the most talented architects to create imaginative and innovative developments.

In 1903, a British Gentleman bought the land, and set out to sell properties to the rich from across the English Channel. In the 1920s Noel Coward and the 'smart set' from England spent weekends here, and commissioned more outstanding villa designs echoing traditional and ultra-modern domestic styles. Today the town tourist office offers organised trails to see outstanding examples of 19th and 20th century domestic architecture, which are now preserved and protected.

Inland from the beach, hotels, casino and horse racing course, expensive villas are spaced out amid acres of woodland, offering every sport imaginable, particularly golf.

Every year in February, a spectacular motorbike & quad race called 'Enduro' brings hundreds of thousands of spectators to watch crowds of bikers race along the beach and through the dunes.

Le Touquet was the birthplace of Christian Ferras (1933-1982), violinist.

Le Touquet participates in international town twinning; its current partners are:

• Winterberg, Germany (since September 1966), winter sports town
• Rixensart, Belgique, green suburbs of Brussels
• Witney, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom
• Sidi Bou Said, Tunisia, upscale seaside town in the suburbs of Tunis
• Cary, North Carolina, United States
• Eckbolsheim, France, 5 km from Strasbourg

Le Touquet Celebration	Le Touquet Aqualud	Christmas band outside one of the Le Touquet's casino	Le Touquet sports centre
Christmas carol service in Le Touquet

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Le Touquet-Paris-Plage

• Le Touquet town council website
• Le Touquet golf club information
• Le Touquet Swimming Pool 'Aqualud'

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