We will be staying on an overnight in Bayeaux from Paris(by train) to tour D-Day sights. Are there recommendations for specific small group(mini-van size) tours of D-Day. Due to return train schedule to Paris, we would need to take the a.m. half day tour. In April, the last train out of Bayeax is at 1637!
Thank you.
You can either ask your hotel/B&B for recommendations (because there are MANY tours departing from Bayeux) or just go to www.toursbylocals.com and hire your own guide either with or without provided transportation.
Unless you can afford a private tour, your best bet is probably Overlord Tour as they offer half-day tours. I'd suggest booking well in advance!
I have used Overlord Tours and they are the best,we did a full day but they do have half day tours.
Mike
Just curious as to what day you'll be doing the tour? I picked a random day and when I look on captaintrain.com I see trains from Bayeaux to Paris as late as 19:59 in April.
Thank you all for your input. We plan to go with Overlord tours and I have been in communication with them. Dawn, I was on the RailEurope site where I saw the last Bayeaux train left at 4:37. The date I checked was April 11. I will check the site you mentioned, Captaintrain. We had difficulty with that site putting in our payment for train to Nice the other night. Any suggestions on that issue?
Ah, the infamous RailEurope website! They are notorious for not showing all available times and also jacking up the prices. On Captain Train for April 11 I'm seeing return trains at 17:10, 18:31, and 19:59. The cost for the last two times are only 15 euro right now. It will be nice to have the option to come back later. I'm jealous - we can't wait to take the Overlord tour of the D-Day beaches.
I've never had a problem using Captain Train, and have made many reservations through them using my Visa. Did you call your credit card company to let them know you were making an international purchase? I wonder if that was the problem? Maybe try a different credit card? I'd definitely try again though.
As you have now discovered, RailEurope does not show all trains. And you pay a premium when you buy a ticket from them. We have used Captain Train several times with no problems. One other option is to just wait until you are in France to buy your tickets. Looking at the sncf site they show non-exchangeable fares for any of the trains tomorrow (2/25/16, this post is on 2/24) at 20E. So I don't think there is any big saving on a route like this, as opposed to TGV where savings can be significant with advance purchase.
Another vote for the Overlord tour, it was great! Since it sounds like you are taking the train out to Bayeaux the nite before the tour, be sure to get there in time to have time to visit the Bayeaux Tapestry.
Actually, we punted and forgot to notify our credit card company! We took care of that yesterday and will get back on Captain Train this evening. It is good to know we have the option to return to Paris. However, after reading about the Bayeaux Tapestry and finding an inexpensive hotel, we might continue with our plan for a sleep-over in Bayeaux! Thank you for your helpful information!
cm,
First of all, to put it politely, forget Rail Europe as they're virtually useless in terms of providing a good balance of information. If you want to check schedules just about anywhere in Europe (including France), use the Bahn.de (German Rail) website.
If you want to buy tickets for France, Germany or Italy (and a few other countries), using the Captain Train website is by far the best method. Prices are the same as buying from the actual rail networks, the website is very user friendly and their customer service is excellent.
If you can adjust your Itinerary, I would highly recommend spending at least one night in Bayeux. It's a beautiful smaller town, and as you mentioned there's also the famous Tapestry, and an excellent WW-II Museum.
Ken,
We will add the Bahn site to our resources for checking train schedules for this trip and for a planned visit to Germany next year. Many thanks for the suggestion!
