Please sign in to post.

New Traveler

Hi ladies and gentlemen. I am planning my first trip to Europe and I have to admit I am a little nervous and suffering from information overload. I have read Rick's travel books and have been following this forum for a few weeks. My husband and I are traveling to France in late July. We are in our later years of life so travel abroad is a little unnerving to me. We land at CDG at 1pm in the afternoon and would like to catch a train straight to Bayeux. After spending the night in Bayeux, we would like to visit the beaches of Normandy and all the sites that go along with the WWII memorial. After spending a second night in Bayeux, we would like to visit Mont Saint Michel and then to return to Paris later that day. My hope is to book a tour for both Normandy and Mont St. Michel as we do not want to rent a car. With the exception of the travel with a tour, can we do this by train? Can we get a train from the airport direct to Bayeux and another train direct to Paris?

EDIT:
Or is there an easier way to do this? Bus service? Car service? I am open to suggestions.

Posted by
4525 posts

As new travelers, I like to provide tools for learning. I will admit I only did that area by car with a friend who lives in Normandy, so no first hand knowledge, but to look at options, I recommend Rome2rio dot com website for first layer logistical planning. Know that it doesn't capture seasonal pricing and availability of train or bus, but it shows who provides the service for the routes.
Also, seat61 dot com is an excellent website for learning about train systems globally; but particularly for Europe and the countries within. Read up on trains in France.It should also help you learn which routes may benefit from early purchases for savings....or if there are any reduced pricings for 'later years of life' persons.

Posted by
3217 posts

Especially since this is your first trip to Europe, I would strongly suggest spending your first night in Paris. The overnight flight from the States can be exhausting. Just stay at a hotel close to the Gare St. Lazare in Paris and be on your way in the morning. I find loco2.com to be a very user-friendly website for buying train tickets.

https://loco2.com/

Overlord Tours offers a great number of DDay tours, and one to Mont St. Michel.

https://www.overlordtour.com/

Posted by
32171 posts

nb,

It's great that you've read the guidebooks and trying to prepare well for the trip. A few thoughts.....

Your arrival at CDG will probably be a bit confusing as it's a large airport with several terminals. Once you deplane you'll go through Passport control to get the required Schengen stamp in your Passports. Once you're retrieved your checked luggage, you can head for the "ground transportation" area. You may find this helpful - https://www.parisaeroport.fr/en/passengers/access/paris-charles-de-gaulle/terminals-map .

There is no train direct form CDG to Bayeux. You'll have to make your way to Gare St. Lazare, which is where the trains to Normandy depart from. As someone else mentioned, I'd suggest taking a Taxi from the airport to St. Lazare as it will be the easiest and least stressful method. Don't underestimate the effects of jet lag. It would be a good idea to have some Euro cash on hand for that (€100?). You should be able to obtain that from your local bank (it may have to be ordered).

When you arrive at St. Lazare, buy your ticket to Bayeux. There are some direct trains and some with one change, often in Caen. I'd suggest a direct train if possible. The station in Bayeux is a short distance from the town so a Taxi would also be a good idea in this case. Hopefully there will be one waiting at the station. Which hotel are you staying in?

You shouldn't have any trouble finding a tour of the D-Day sites. Overlord Tour is very popular with many here and has a good reputation. However I would highly recommend that you book the tour in advance as July will be a busy time there. Check their website for details on all their tours - https://www.overlordtour.com/ .

Getting to Mont St. Michel may be a bit more challenging. I haven't checked in awhile so not sure whether there are any tours from Bayeux. This is probably your best option, although it doesn't allow a lot of time there - http://www.hotel-churchill.fr/en/shuttle-bayeux.html .

To answer your last question, you can indeed do most of this by train and this is usually the best method.

Posted by
5697 posts

As to traveling in the "later years of life", you will find that a large number of posters here are in the AARP/Medicare age range -- we may travel slower than we would have in our twenties, but we "savor" what we can do. It's not a competition :-)

Posted by
11052 posts

Do not go straight to Bayeux when you land jet lagged! Stay in Paris a few days before heading to Normandy. If you don’t wait, Normandy will be a useless blur.
I hope you stay in Bayeux long enough to view the famous Bayeux Tapestry,c.1066, telling the story of William the Conqueror.
It is a must see along with the beaches. We went to Canadian and British beaches in addition to the US beaches and historical sites. I highlyg recommend doing that.

Posted by
915 posts

I’m jumping on the “please stay in Paris at least one night when your first arrive” bandwagon. The beauty of arriving at 1pm is that by the time you get into the city, you should be able to check in to your room. What a blessing! Europe for the first time means a new experience on unfamiliar turf, and it’s more disorienting at first than you might think. Even those of us who’ve been to France and speak a little French have to mentally recalibrate a bit!
I’m not saying any of it’s super-complicated, but I say don’t jump on a train jet lagged if you don’t have to.

Have a great trip!

Posted by
7 posts

I appreciate everyones comments. We would love to stay in Paris for at least one night but we must be back in Paris by the evening of August 1st. That is why we feel the need to go straight to Normandy. I have a strong personal reason for visiting Normandy and would like to have more than just a day trip. To be honest, I should have booked our flight to come in a day or two earlier but I'm a novice at this and didn't allow enough time at the front end of our trip. I tried changing the flights but the change fees are astronomical. Lesson learned!

Posted by
5697 posts

For your next trip planning, if you are within ~100 miles of Atlanta there seems to be a monthly travel group meeting there. Highly recommend dropping in (we drive 90 miles to Sacramento almost every month, in addition to the monthly San Francisco Bay Area group.)

Posted by
15560 posts

It's not often that someone calls me a lady, so I feel I have to try to help :-)

I often feel a little disoriented after a flight. I think it has to do with getting into a box in one place and after a few hours being in a faraway place without any sense of having traveled that distance. Maybe it's the altitude? Anyway, whether you experience this or not, you will be on a red-eye flight and even if you are lucky enough to sleep through much of it, you won't have a full night's sleep, and you will probably have jetlag too. Do not underestimate the effect of sleeplessness and the time difference, or the confusion of being in a foreign country. Signs are different, even when they're in English as well as French. The money is different, finding out which platform you need for a train, or which seat is yours, or where to put your luggage can be stressful. From what others have written, it's complicated to get from CDG to Bayeux in general. Add to this your "handicaps" and it's not a happy picture. It would be all too easy to end up getting on the wrong train or missing a train.

If Normandy and/or Mont St. Michel are high priority sights for you, then look for at least a private transfer from CDG to Bayeux, and preferably a private guide/driver for the 2 days. Take into consideration that on the second day on the ground, you may still be in a jetlagged haze and not fully take in what you are visiting that day, go to the more important of the 2 sights on your third day - or even consider dropping one of the two.

The best website for train schedules is bahn.de. On July 29, which appears to be your landing date, here's the schedule of trains from St Lazare from 3 pm. It actually doesn't look as bad as others have described, so maybe it's doable after all. There are several direct trains that take just over 2 hours. It's not realistic to expect to take the 15.05 train. Even if there are no long lines at passport control, it still takes time to get through the airport (more if you have to wait for checked luggage) and get a taxi, then drive to the train station. Google maps estimates anywhere from 30 minutes to over an hour for the trip. When you get to St. Lazare you will have to wait in line to buy tickets. There's little point to buying them in advance since you will have no idea when you'll get to the train station. You might think that with 5 hours till the 6pm flight, you have lots of leeway, but if your plane is late or there are long lines at the airport or a long wait for your luggage, the taxi ride may be longer because of rush hour traffic, and you could miss the train.

Take comfort that the lessons you learn on this trip will make the next one so much easier.

Posted by
4728 posts

Chani said "...look for at least a private transfer from CDG to Bayeux..."

Agree whole heartedly. We arrived at CDG, took a taxi to the train station, and got a direct train to the Normandy area. Even though we both lived had in Europe and one of us spoke French, we were still travelling in a bit of a daze. The cost of a car service will be higher, but if I were inexperienced the extra cost would be money well spent

Posted by
591 posts

Wow, you're going to have a great trip. If you find there is much more to see in Normandy than you expect, now you have a reason to return!

You've probably picked this up from your guidebooks, but I just want to stress the importance of packing light. Large suitcases will make your life miserable getting them on and off trains, dragging to the taxi stand, up the stairs at the metro, etc. Since you'll be traveling with jet lag the fewer items you have to keep track of and the lighter they are the easier they will be to manage. And you'll avoid waiting around for checked luggage to come off the plane, saving time at the airport.

There's a whole forum section on how to travel with less stuff.

https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/packing-light
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/packing

Basically you take the same number of outfits for a trip of one week as for a trip of three weeks. It all goes into a carry-on sized suitcase and one personal item (I use a day-sized backpack instead of a purse. It must squash down enough to go under the seat in front of you).

Hope this helps,
Marty

Posted by
120 posts

If you are considering traveling carry-on only (which i do), remember to check your airline as to what size they consider carry-on. They can differ and always remember to measure including wheels and handles. I try to lay out my packing a week ahead and go in each day to remove at least one thing. We don’t really need everything we think we do.

Have a great time!

Posted by
120 posts

Also get a luggage scale (available at walmart) and make sure you are within the weight limit for your airline. I find i can squeeze a lot more in those little suitcases than the weight allows.