Paris to Bayeux (again)

Since those trains don't require reservations, they technically cannot sell out. Only the cheaper advance-discount fares sell out (leaving full fare of €40 in 2nd class).

I'm slightly concerned that DB schedules for that time period are not reflecting the same direct trains you're seeing earlier in the week on SNCF. Of course, SNCF should be the one that knows best. (Part of me thinks they're less likely to change schedules at the last minute for trains that do require reservations and travel longer distances, which this is not.)

Laura, that's been a concern of mine, as well. I've been seeing the same results on DB Bahn for some time, and that's part of what led me to believe the direct train wouldn't be running. We were thinking of taking an Overlord D-Day tour. I may try giving them a call and see if they can shed any light, as they deal with people making the same trip all the time.

Thanks!

And do they refund your money if you schedule a spendy tour and then are unable to get there?

I'll also add that the Rail Europe site linked to from the RS pages gives the same result as SNCF.

Kent: That would be my second question to Overlord ;-)

Stay away from Rail Europe - they're a middleman (reseller). You say it's the same price as SNCF??? Did you calculate in the $7.95 Rail Europe booking fee?? Probably not. They're a reseller, they have to make money. There was some traveler on the RS forum here just this week fretting about how they bought tickets from Rail Europe only to find that Rail Europe had scattered them across different carriages so they weren't sitting together. That's a stupid thing for RE to do. But alas, RE could "fix" it for them for a fee.

Just book directly at SNCF and be done with it.

Tim: No, Rail Europe wasn't showing the same price. I was just commenting that the site indicated that the direct trains would be running, as does SNCF, while for some reason DB Bahn wasn't showing the direct trains scheduled. If I do book the trip, it will likely be through SNCF. Thanks!

Good for you. RE can be very misleading as they don't readily disclose the fees and they don't even display all of the trains and times...only a portion.

Update: I bought three round-trip tickets on the Paris-Bayeux direct train from SNCF this morning. For an extra 42 euros total, I chose the semi-flexible option in case a problem arises. I've also made reservations for a half-day Normandy D-Day beach tour with Jean-Marc Bacon (www.normandy-landing-tours.com), as Overlord was already booked. Jean-Marc's website isn't very slick, but it looks like he's been doing this quite awhile and I found a number of online references to his knowledge and ability, so I'm confident we'll be in good hands.

And so ends, I hope, several months of frustration in trying to guess whether train schedules would allow us to make this journey. It will be a long day -- our last in France -- but it should be a rewarding experience to at least get a glimpse of the historic D-Day sites, as well as the French countryside from the train windows.

Cheers!