Need Help with travel from Amsterdam to Bayeux

Lynn, I've never traveled that particular route, but I suspect the easiest, quickest and cheapest method will be via train through Paris. The shortest Amsterdam-Bayeux rail connection I could find was 6H:58M, with 2 changes. One important point to mention. If you're planning to buy a P-P ticket with a credit card at Amsterdam Centraal, the ticket office there ONLY accepts "Chip & PIN" credit cards. When I was there a few months ago, I witnessed several travellers from the U.S. waiting in the long queue (be sure to "take a number") and when they finally got to the ticket counter being told they would have to use cash. That meant making a visit to an ATM and then standing in the queue again! There were large signs on each ticket window stating that, but I guess most people didn't bother to read them. For the trip from Bayeux to Edinburgh, the method I'd use is train from Bayeux to Paris / CDG (about 3.5H) and then a budget flight to Edinburgh. For example, EasyJet has flights currently listed for about €36.99 (Flight time 1H:45M). I believe EasyJet uses Terminal 2B. Upon arrival in Edinburgh, there's an airport Bus (double-decker as I recall) that takes passengers to Waverly Bridge. It's an easy trip. Happy travels!

Take a Thalys high-speed train from Amsterdam Centraal to Gare du Nord in Paris. The standard 2nd class fare is expensive (€130.00), but if you book early (up to 90 days allowed) at thalys.com, you can get a €35.00 Smoove fare. Trains from Paris to Bayeux depart from Gare Saint-Lazare. Take the RER E from the Magenta RER station(attached to Gare du Nord) one stop to the Haussmann - Saint-Lazare RER station and walk to Gare Saint-Lazare. Trains run about every 10-15 minutes, the ride takes 4 minutes, and the fare is €1.70. The standard 2nd class fare for Paris-Bayeux is €36.60. However, if you book well in advance (up to three months allowed) at tgv-europe.com, you can get a Prem's fare of €15.00 for a direct train or €21.20 if you have to make a connection in Caen. To keep the site in English and to avoid being bumped to the Rail Europe site which doesn't offer discount fares, choose Great Britain as your ticket retrieval country. Don't worry. You will be able to either print your own ticket or pick it up at any SNCF station in France. I agree with Ken that flying easyJet from CDG to Edinburgh would be a good choice. EasyJet has one flight per day. The Saturday flight is a morning one and won't work for you because you can't get from Bayeux to CDG in time to catch it. Any other day of the week will be fine because the flight leaves either late afternoon or evening. Take the train from Bayeux to Gare Saint-Lazare. Take the RER E from Haussman - Saint-Lazare to Magenta. Take the RER B from Gare du Nord to the CDG 2 TGV station. Trains run about every 10 minutes, the ride takes 30 minutes, and the fare is €9.25. Be aware that the RER B line divides northeast of Paris so be sure to get on a train that is going to CDG. You could take a morning train from Bayeux to Paris, store your bags at Gare du Nord, and explore a bit of Paris before heading to CDG.

Fastest and cheapest are not often happy bedfellows. I thought perhaps that 7 hours on the train could be bettered driving but being 700km 7 hours is the best I could work out by the best routes I know. Commercial flights, given that a connection would be required will certainly be slower and probably more cost. The only way I can think of for faster is to fly privately, by plane or helicopter. Unfortunately cheapest rapidly falls overboard. (-(( Certainly the Edinburgh leg has to be fly or train. Fly is what fly is. Train to Paris, cross to Gare de Nord, 30 minute check in, just over 2 hours to St Pancras. Very short walk next door to Kings Cross and on to the East Coast train whipping up the east coast for under 4 and a half hours and you're there. Who's quicker or cheaper? Dunno..

Nigel, Even with getting advance discount fares for the Eurostar from Paris to London and an East Coast train from London to Edinburgh, flying will be better in this case. (This comes from someone who prefers to travel by train.) EasyJet flys non-stop from CDG to Edinburgh. The flight time is 1hr45min. If Lynn needs to get to Edinburgh earlier in the day than is possible if flying easyJet, she can fly Flybe, Air France, or British Airways. Some flights leave from CDG and others leave from Orly. Some are non-stop and some require a connection. She can see all her flight options by going to the search engine, skyscanner.com.

Nigel's comments remind me of what a housepainter told me several years ago: "Everbody wants cheap, fast, and good. You can have any two, but not all three." It turns out to be true for more than having the ceilings done.

Thank you all so much for the replies. I still have yet to decide but at least I know I have choices. Of course a new wrench has been thrown into the mix. A friend is going to be joining me in Edinburgh and I now have to try and arrive earlier than what I thought I would on May 18th. I don't know what the earliest times are for the trains out of Bayeux, as I haven't been able to pull up a schedule for May, yet, but it's definitely going to be a flight from Paris. Is there an airport closer to Bayeux that I could possibly fly out of? Ah life.....

Also, the flight on Easyjet is pretty late in the evening so I will probably catch a different airline. But the 4 and 1/2 hour trip up the east coast is certainly inviting!

It looks as though there is one morning train from A'dam to Lille (France) that is only about 2-1/2 hours. If you rent a car in Lille it's probably about 4 hours of driving, but figure you'll want to stop for breaks and lunch. There are a few 6-hour train trips via Paris (which means riding the RER from station to station in Paris). Seems to be the quickest option. The car might be cheaper, I don't know. And you might want the car for other reasons. But the train is the fastest way to Bayeux.

The closest airports to Bayeux that you could use are Paris Orly and Paris CDG. I know you said that you plan to fly from Paris to Edinburgh, but I'll give you the information I found on the German Rail site which has timetables for virtually all of Europe. It might convince you to take the train after all, especially if you book your tickets well in advance to get discount fares. The date I entered on the site is your travel date, 18 May. Leave Bayeux at 06:51 and arrive at Paris Gare Saint-Lazare at 08:58. Take the RER E from Haussmann - Saint-Lazare one stop to Magenta (attached to Gare du Nord). Take the Eurostar from Gare du Nord to London St Pancras, departing at 10:13 and arriving at 11:30. Take a very short walk to King's Cross and take an East Coast train to Edinburgh, departing at 12:00 and arriving at 16:23. Flying: If you arrive in Paris at 08:58, the first plane you can hope to catch is the 12:45 Air France flight from Orly to London City. Connect there to an Air France flight that arrives in Edinburgh at 16:05. So the total time from Bayeux to Edinburgh is nearly the same whether you take the train all the way or take the train to Paris and fly from there. (A note for Nigel: I'll bet you're feeling vindicated about now! Of course, if taking the direct easyJet flight were still an option, then flying would win for both speed and cost.)