With help from this forum I have booked a train from Paris to Saint Malo in early May, and the Eurostar from Paris to London.
The last train I need is from Caen to Paris on May 13. I have been looking for several weeks (on oui.SNCF and on Rail Europe) and Saturdays before and after May 13 have loaded, but I don't see the "high speed" direct trains for May 13.
Any suggestions or thoughts as to why this is? I need to get to Gare du Nord for the 7:00 Eurostar that Saturday and I am not sure what to do!
Well, I'm checking SNCF Connect now, and I see one at 9.59 AM, then none later, and a message saying that more trains will become available. Sounds like engineering works on the line. I would wait a bit, and if nothing comes through, settle for the 9.59 AM. It leaves you with too much time in Paris but is that a bad thing?
Thank you balso. I'll be with a bike tour in Cabourg and it will be difficult to get to the Caen station that early - but if that's all there is that's what I'll do! Is there a risk of waiting too long, will the 9:59 sell out?
do you mean Eurostar at 07:00 (am) or 19:00 (7pm)?
Thank you Nigel - I meant 19:03 (7:03 PM). I was hoping for a 2 pm TGV from Caen.
There are no TGV trains to or from Caen. Just the Intercités and local trains.
Thanks PharmerPhil. Is Train Nomad an Intercité? I guess my real question is why the train choices available the Saturdays in April and on May 20 aren't available May 6 or 13, and I imagine it is engineering work as balso mentioned.
Ok, I went back to have a look, and I have the confirmation that there are no trains after 12PM on that Saturday on the Paris-Caen line. I had a look at the engineering works calendar here, French only: https://www.ter.sncf.com/normandie/se-deplacer/info-trafic/calendriers-travaux
So, that 9.59 train from Caen OR a 9.54 from Deauville are your only options I'm afraid.
Thank you all. I booked the 9:59 AM Train Nomad from Caen. And I'll switch my 7pm Eurostar reservation to an earlier train but per Balso's advice on a different post I'll leave 3 hours between arrival at St Lazare and Eurostar departure at Gare du Nord.