Train tickets from Paris CDG airport to Bayeux

Many on this forum will tell you to book direct with the French railway SNCF. I found the third party site raileurope.com to be more user friendly, same price as SNCF except $8 booking fee per order, not per ticket.

Others may know a better route, but my experience is either direct to Bayeux from Paris St Lazare station or a much longer route from CDG to LeMans to Caen to Bayeux. Getting from CDG to St Lazare will require either a taxi or commuter rail and subway connection. Hope others have better advice.

As for when to buy tickets, that depends on timing of your arrival flight. Tickets are cheaper if bought in advance, but are usually not refundable so are worthless if your flight is delayed and you miss the train. I recently rolled the dice and bought tickets for a 9am train based on my 7am scheduled flight arrival time at CDG. We made the train with time to spare, but I was prepared to shell out more money for a later train if our flight was late or passport control lines were long.

Good luck!

If you are not able to use the SNCF connect website/app, the other one that I use is Trainline (used to be CapitaineTrain). It's a 3rd party reseller but will give you all the available trains which sometimes the RailEurope site does not.

Yes, best route is Airport in to Paris' Saint-Lazare train station and then a train from there to Bayeux. As indicated Airport in to Paris can be done either by RER train to Gare du Nord, change stations to Gare Saint-Lazare via taxi or the Metro or going from the airport to Gare Saint-Lazare via taxi. A taxi will cost 53 Euro (fixed rate for a Right Bank destination).

It will be a long day. Is there a way you can juggle your itinerary around so that you can spend the first night or 2 in Paris in case you have any travel or luggage delays?

What time are you arriving? Morning is traffic jam time into Paris.

From the Saint-Lazare train station you take a TER train to Bayeux. That's important to know because it means you should buy your tickets at the station. As https://www.seat61.com/train-travel-in-france.htm#how-to-check-schedules-and-fares says for TER

No reservation is necessary or even possible, the train can never sell out, and the fare is fixed so there's no price advantage in pre-booking. Simply buy a ticket at the station ticket office or from the self-service machines, validate it (composter) in the little yellow machines on the platform, hop on the next train and sit where you like.

Furthermore should you buy ahead of time you'll often get a print-at-home ticket that is good on one train only, the one you select when buying it; a TER ticket at the station is generally valid the entire day.

Since you're arriving in the morning it makes sense to push thru and get to Bayeux. It'll take a few hours altogether but by dinnertime (if not earlier) you'll be in Bayeux and have the full next day available.

Thank you all! We arrive to CDG at 7:30 am on a Monday morning. It sounds like we should take a taxi to Gare St. Lazare and get a TER train to Bayeux? Are some trains faster than others? If so, how do we know how to elect the faster train?

The advice Bill G posted above is valid for just about every TER train in France...except the lines to Normandy!
While trains usually do not sell out, booking IS now mandatory on fast trains to Bayeux, and buying in advance (if only a few days ahead) does bring savings...but adds risk if you miss your train, or an unnecessary wait if you are quick.

"Are some trains faster than others? If so, how do we know how to elect the faster train?"

Before you buy anything, go to https://www.sncf-connect.com/en-en/train-ticket and look around a bit. Put in Bayeux for your destination and your time of day and it will show you the trains and the timings plus the stops. Don't buy right away unless you are going tomorrow, lol!!

Then go to the Trainline site and do the same. https://www.thetrainline.com/

You can compare times and prices. I'd not feel comfortable unless I had at least 4 hours between flight arrival and train departure so if you arrive at 730, I'd be looking at 1130 or later. But, as mentioned above I'm so risk averse I'd spend the night in Paris which most people would not do, lol.

kfk,

This website provides the options for travel from CDG to Gare Saint-Lazare - https://www.rome2rio.com/map/Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle-Airport-CDG/Gare-Saint-Lazare . After arriving in a tired state after an international flight, my preference would be taxi or car service.

According to the Bahn.de website, your best bet for trains to Bayeux is a departure at 10:35, arriving at 13:19 (2H:44M, no changes). There's an earlier direct departure at 08:21 but I doubt whether you'll be able to connect with that one. Both trains are TER, so don't forget to validate your ticket prior to boarding. When you arrive in Bayeux, you'll need a taxi to get from the station to your hotel (it's a bit of a walk as I recall). You may have to pre-book a taxi when leaving Bayeux (your hotel will be able to set that up for you).

I often use Trainline.com to buy advance rail tickets all over Europe (suggested in a previous reply). There may be a small service charge but it's very reasonable. You may find this article helpful - https://www.connexionfrance.com/article/Practical/Your-Questions/Travel-and-Transport/What-are-the-rules-for-validating-train-tickets-in-France .

This past May we also arrived at CDG around 7:30am on a Monday morning, then took a taxi to Gare St. Lazare for the direct train to Bayeux. We purchased tickets in advance from SNCF, these tickets seem to get more expensive the closer the trip. Plan around rush hour in Paris we spent a bunch of time sitting in traffic sweating our departure time.

I always use the official SNCF web site, as they're the ones who actually operate the trains. A slightly cheaper option to get to the right train station is to take the RoissyBus from CDG (leaves right outside of arrivals), to Opera Garnier. It is around €13/pp, and brings you a 7-minute walk away from Gare Saint-Lazare. Plus you are at least seeing the city from above ground, as opposed to the underground trains with connections. But taxis are simpler if more costly. I usually buy tickets ahead of time so I'm ready to roll, and leave myself enough time to get there safely. If I'm a little early, I sit in a café across from the station, and decompress over a cup of coffee.