Best way to get from Lucerne, Switzerland to Bayeux, FR

For trains, go here.
https://www.sbb.ch/en
Fastest is 8 1/2 hours and you have to change stations in Paris from Gare de Lyon to Gare St Lazare by Metro. Suggest using the No 14 line.
The sooner you buy nonrefundable train specific tickets, the lower the price.
By air, (Zurich to Paris CDG) probably about the same time or a little less, with more tortured logistics.

You could check flights out of Zurich that get you close to Bayeux. Use Skyscanner.com

As far as using trains, this is how it would go:

Lucerne to Zurich, about 75 min.
Zurich to Paris TGV fast train, about 3.5 hrs. This one you MUST reserve in advance. See www.seat61.com

That should bring you to Paris Gare de Lyon, then make your way across town to Paris Gare St. Lazare where you can buy tickets to Bayeux, which is about a 2 hr ride. This last one you could buy in advance but would need to know how long it takes to cross town via metro or taxi. I'd say at LEAST an hour. We just bought it the day of rather than trying to fit into a tight schedule. The Lucerne to Zurich ticket could be bought on that day you leave, that's a common route that should have plenty of seats available. But if you get stressed about that, get them in advance via www.sbb.ch/en Debit cards tend to get accepted better than credit cards for that, in my experience.

The train would be around 8 1/2 hours, requiring changes in Basel and Paris (station change in Paris). If you buy them on the day in Lucerne, you'll pay the full fare price. If you buy them well in advance online you can save a significant amount of money, but these saver fares are only good on the specific train leaving at the specific date and time. Don't miss it.

Flying wouldn't save any time and is more complicated . You'd have to train to Basel or Zurich and fly to Paris. The train to Bayeux.

Who is Dr. David?

,,,,, and why is that the title of the post?

jillian,

There are no easy or cheap flights from Lucerne to Bayeux. As I recall, the nearest airport is Carpiquet, which is close to Caen. Travel by train will be the most realistic option, but it's going to be a long travel day.

If I were making that trip, I'd probably use the departure from Lucerne at 06:54, arriving Bayeux at 15:19 (time 8H:25M, 2 changes at Basel SBB and Paris Gare de Lyon). You'd have to get from Gare de Lyon to Paris St. Lazare via Taxi or Bus (I'd use a Taxi).

For tickets on that route, I'd buy the ticket from Lucerne to Basel SBB while in Lucerne, either from a Kiosk or staffed ticket office. For the trip from Basel SBB to Paris and then to Bayeux (2 tickets), I'd probably buy both of those using www.trainline.eu, which sells tickets at the same price as the rail networks. You may be able to get a good discount on the TGV ticket. Note that TGV trains have compulsory seat reservations so you must use the train that's listed on your ticket. Hopefully all the rail strikes will be over by then.

The station in Bayeux is not right in town, so you'll probably want to use a Taxi from the station to your hotel.

You might want to edit the title of your thread to more closely reflect the questions you're asking.

I think these people have posted and run. Perhaps never came back for the answer.

Nigel,
Or he is a medical resident, working those long resident hours and saving lives :) and has not had time to check back yet.

Sorry about the confusing title. This is the first time I have participated in an online forum (can you tell?). I didn't realize that title meant topic. I have edited my title to better express my question. "Thank you" to those of you who suggested I edit my title because I didn't know that I could do that. I appreciate all of you who took the time to read my post in spite of the title and to offer your suggestions. When I get some time to review and research all of the recommended options I will be back. It looks like taking the train (several) from Lucerne to Bayeux will be the best option and it will be a long day.

David,

I think the train is the most realistic option on that particular route, despite the long travel time. I've used longer train journeys on occasion, depending on the route and circumstances. The suggestion I posted above only has two changes, so that will be a bit easier (although it means an early morning departure).

If you decide to take the trains that I posted above, you might want to head to the station in Lucerne a bit early and buy sandwiches or whatever for breakfast on the trip from Lucerne to Basel SBB. As I recall, there were some great food choices one floor down from track level in the Lucerne station. The TGV from Basel to Paris will most likely have a dining car, so you could use that also.