We are arriving in Paris at CDG at 6:10 AM from Boston. We want to take a nonstop train directly to Bayaeux. What is your advice? We will have been traveling all night and will be carrying luggage and would prefer not to be changing trains or busses. Is there a train to Bayeux at CDG? How far is Lazare from CDG? Thank you in advance for any help.
Posted by
Boston
4132 posts
There are no direct trains from the airport.
There are a few direct trains to St-Pierre-des-Corps, the TGV station near Amboise. There are even fewer connections from there to Caen. Taking the RER into Paris and taking the train from St. Lazar is much quicker.
This is a long morning to be sure, but really your best bet if you want to get to Bayeux as directly as possible.
Posted by
Minneapolis, MN, USA
8700 posts
Gare Saint-Lazare is just under an hour from CDG by RER. It's your fastest and cheapest route, but it involves some walking and a change of trains at Gare du Nord/Magenta.
Since you want to make as few changes as possible, your best choice probably is to take a taxi directly from CDG to Gare Saint-Lazare. If you'll arrive on a weekday, you'll be fighting rush hour traffic so the taxi probably will take more than an hour. On a weekend the ride would take less than an hour.
At certain times of the day going from Paris to Bayeux requires a change in Caen. The 08:45 train is one of them. But if your plane is late, you wouldn't be able to catch that one anyway. The first direct train to Bayeux departs at 10:10 and you should have no trouble catching that one.
Steve suggested that you use www.tgv.com and choose Great Britain as your country of residence. If you do that, you will be bumped to the UK version of the Rail Europe site and you will not be shown any discount fares. Instead go to www.tgv-europe.com and then choose Great Britain as your country of residence and you won't be bumped to the Rail Europe site. You will be able to book discount fares (when available). If you book far enough in advance (up to three months allowed), you can get a Prem's fare as low as €15 for Paris-Bayeux.
Posted by
Vernon, Canada
32352 posts
Jill,
The method I'd probably choose would be RER "B" to Chatelet and then Line 14, direction St. Lazare. This is the quickest route, but after a long flight and hauling lots of luggage it would require a bit of effort. Given your destination, I think "changing trains or busses" is inevitable (trains will be faster and easier).
A few points to note about that route. Some walking will be involved, both at Chatelet and St. Lazare. As I recall, there are lots of Escalators between the Metro station and the rail station at St. Lazare.
It would be a good idea to research the trains and find one that's direct to Bayeux. When you arrive at the station in Bayeux there will likely be Taxi's waiting, but there aren't as many as other towns so grab the first one you can find. When you leave Bayeux, you might consider getting your Hotel to pre-book a Taxi for you.
If you decide to use the RER / Metro route, be sure to have a look at the parisbytrain website for details on reaching the RER station at CDG, tickets, etc. One point to note is that there are often huge queues at the staffed ticket office, so the ticket machines are a better option. However, at CDG these machines will ONLY accept the newer "chip & PIN" credit cards or Euro coins as I recall.
Happy travels!