Dinard is one of the internationally best-known seaside resorts on the French Atlantic coast and is sometimes called Nice of the North or “La Perle de la Côte d'Émeraude” (The Pearl of the Emerald Coast). It became a popular holiday resort in the 19th century, particularly among wealthy English people, and to this day the architecture of numerous hotels and villas is English-influenced. In the 1880s, Dinard was the first seaside resort in France. High nobility, industrial barons, artists and intellectuals met here, and the city's most important industry is still tourism today. There are four beaches: the very wide main beach Plage de l'Écluse in the city center, the Plage de Saint-Enogat, which is lined with magnificent villas, the Plage du Prieuré with a view of the old town of Saint-Malo and finally the Plage du Port -Blanc in the west.
The city's "British" past is linked today not least by the "Festival du film Britannique", which makes Dinard the capital of British film every September. The statue of Alfred Hitchcock on the beach promenade is a reference to the film prize awarded at the festival, the “Prix du Hitchcock d'or”.