From Normandy to Cochem

It is doable by train but will take most of a day. There is no longer a railway station in Honfleur, so you'll have to use bus or taxi to the station in Le Havre. You can get a train from there to Paris St Lazare, from where you can get the RER Line E one stop to Magenta station, which is adjacent to the Gare de l'Est in Paris. From Est you can get a train to Saarbruecken and change there to a local train to Cochem. Bahn.de suggests a travel time of just over seven hours.

It is not possible to buy a single train ticket all the way from Le Havre to Cochem. Buy the Le Havre to Paris trip at www.capitainetrain.com and Paris to Cochem at www.bahn.de. Make sure you leave at least an hour to cross between the two stations in Paris.

Unfortunately there are no truly big airports in Normandy and they only really serve either the UK or Mediterranean holiday destinations. You could try going to Charles de Gaulle and flying to Frankfurt or Luxembourg, but I don't think it would save much time or hassle over the train journey.

Normandy is a pretty rural part of the country, and the D-Day beaches (if you are at all interested in them) are several km from Bayeux and the beaches extend for over 80 km long. If you can hook up with a good tour company they will show you what you want to see. Dale Booth is well respected, as are several others with an excellent comprehensive knowledge. If you don't want an organised tour you will find trying to use public transport challenging in that area.

I would have thought that the best way to link Honfleur to Cochem is by train. Because France is so Paris centric your route will be via Paris. Both the start and end of that leg are off the beaten path it takes a long time at each end.

Honfleur is not served by the rail network (except freight) so how were you going to get there and get around during your 4 nights?

For the rail trip I suggest getting across the river to Le Havre which is on the train.

7 hours and 16 minutes from Le Havre to Cochem, a few trains, every two to four hours during the day.

A couple of hours to Paris St Lazare on a local train, cross Paris to Gare de l'Est (easiest is RER-E one stop to Magenta and a short walk, or a bus or a taxi, you have about an hour to achieve it), then an ICE or TGV (both require reservations if you are using a railpass and for the TGV they are scarce) to Saarbrucken which takes about 1:50), then 22 minutes to catch the Regional train from the same platform to Cochem (about 2 hours).

Flying doesn't work.

I usually don't advocate cars (although I use mine, but it is mine) if the train works as well. In this case a car will give you so much more.

A reasonable drive might be a little over or under 6 hours all in, you avoid Paris, and a car would be so nice around the Rhine and Mosel, and a lifesaver in Normandy.

Returning a French car in Germany can be expensive so a good way out is to finish in Lille, France, and take the Eurostar from there to London in less than 2 hours.

Philip and I were writing simultaneously - snap.

Thank you both so much for your answers. I am thinking now that we might leave Normandy for another holiday and have another week in Germany instead! The only other area in Germany we have visited in the past is the Munich area. I know this not the Germany forum, but have you any suggestions for a base in another part of Germany where we can use public transport? Again, thank you so much for your recommendations.

This will sound like a complete weasel answer, but pretty much anywhere in Germany has excellent and well connected trains and/or busses.

A really neat benefit is if you stay in a smaller town in the Black Forest you can have free regional transport on local trains and buses when you get your Kurkarte which will be associated with KONUS.

One beautiful small town with excellent transport into many parts of the Black Forest, including all the tourist towns and lots of small villages, that I like is Gengenbach.