Hi all. My wife and I are going to France for 12 Days and we plan on going to Bayuex/Normandy for 2 or three days. We also thought of throwing Rouen in for a one night stop over in one of the directions. We are having some trouble finding train times on the various websites. On one site it seemed like there was only one train from Paris to Rouen on the Saturday we get there, on another site (the DB Bahn site) it seemed like there were many. What's up with the discrepancy? Also it lists the travel time of a train from Rouen to Bayeux as 2 to 3 hours (depending on which one you pick). Can this be right? Is train travel easier than these sites make it seem?
Posted by
US Pacific Northwest
10344 posts
You may have gone to the RailEurope site, which doesn't show all the trains. The DB site does show all the trains and is one of the more user-friendly sites for looking up timetables. 2 to 3 hours Rouen to Bayeux sounds about right, because there are stops and connections.
Posted by
Minneapolis, MN, USA
8700 posts
Perhaps one of the sites you checked was Rail Europe. It doesn't show all the departure times. The DB site does show them all. There are at least 18 direct trains/day from Paris to Rouen-Rive Droite on Saturdays--and a couple that require one connection.
Yes, the fastest route for Rouen-Bayeux takes just over two hours.
Posted by
Lakewood, Colorado
19092 posts
RailEurope's site only show the schedule and fares for trains for which they sell tickets, usually only the fastest, most expensive connections. The Bahn shows all rail connections in Europe, but only shows fares for trains for which they sell tickets online.
The difference: RailEurope has tickets for the most expensive trains all over Europe. The Bahn has tickets for virtually every train, as long as the connection has one end in Germany, but nothing (almost) totally outside Germany.
Posted by
OP
Melville, NY, USA
3 posts
Thanks everyone. Do you suppose it is easy to just show up at a station and buy a ticket in early June (assuming I have gotten a schedule before hand)?
Posted by
OP
Melville, NY, USA
3 posts
BTW, it now sounds like a day trip from Paris to Rouen and back to Paris might be better than making a stopover en route from Bayeux to Paris, yes/no?
Posted by
Minneapolis, MN, USA
8700 posts
One reason to go Bayeux-Rouen-Paris would be to make better use of your time by eliminating one train ride and not having to make separate trips from Paris. Doing this on a weekday would allow you to have most of a day and part of an evening in Rouen.
On weekdays you could leave Bayeux as early as 06:51 and be in Rouen at 08:55.
On Saturdays and Sundays you would need to wait to leave until 09:25 and you would arrive in Rouen at 11:55.
On Saturdays the last train to Paris leaves Rouen at 20:09, but on weekdays and Sundays you could leave as late as 22:09.