Train travel from CDG airport to Bayonne France

Yes and no. TGV's do leave from Charles de Gaulle airport, but not to Bayonne. You have to change somewhere. Either take a train from Charles de Gaulle to central Paris, and then from Paris Montparnasse to Bayonne, or in some cases you can avoid travelling into Paris and take one train from Charles de Gaulle to Bordeaux-St-Jean, then a second one from Bordeaux-St-Jean to Bayonne. Changing at Bordeaux would probably be easier.
You can look up times yourself at www.bahn.de but to find prices you need to go to a French railway site, either http://www.sncf.com/ or http://www.sncf.com/

Note, not all French trains are TGV's. TGV's are the High Speed trains, there are plenty of perfectly good trains that travel at slower speeds (like 100 mph!).

Thank you Chris. For your reply. Happy New Year to you!

Your train to Bayonne goes from the Gare Montparnasse. See here for timetables. (Ignore the price in AU$: that's just because I'm logging in to it from Australia.)

People will tend to tell you that you have to cross Paris on the RER/Metro but in my experience the Air France bus is a far easier option. It may cost a little more but you won't be hassled by touts wanting to carry your luggage and/or 'help' you buy your ticket from the machines at the entrance to the Metro. But you do have to buy your ticket before you board the bus: they are sold from a little kiosk near the bus stop. Look for signs to 'Cars AirFrance'. You will want Route 4 for Gare Montparnasse. That way you will get to see something of Paris on the way through. But allow plenty of time because they can get held up in traffic esp. in peak hours. For the same reason they may not run exactly according to the timetable.

Definitely choose a through train from CDG to Bordeaux if it's convenient. If you have to go from Montparnasse, the Air France bus (not just for Air France air passengers) directly from CDG may be more convenient than RER and Metro, if more vulnerable to traffic delays.

Some people have difficulty buying rail tickets from SNCF using US credit cards, if so use www.capitainetrain.com, which is a trustworthy and more user-friendly reseller.

You can get much cheaper rail tickets if you book 90 days or so in advance (prior to this train tickets will not be available) but these are strictly limited to specific trains, and if you are delayed on your flight or on your way to the airport you will have to buy a new ticket at full price.

I took that Basque tour last year. I hope you like it as much as I did. To get to Bayonne I took a train from Gare Montparnasse. I think I made one train change along the way and arrived in about 6 hours. You can save $$ by buying your train ticket in advance at iDTGV. The walk from the train station to the hotel is easy and interesting. There was an internet cafe near the train station, on the way to the hotel. You might be able to fly to Biarritz from somewhere else. Biarritz is a short train ride from Bayonne. If you have an extra day in Bayonne, I recommend the short train ride to San Jean de Luz (I think that's the name). San Jean is a lovely resort town with a beach on the Atlantic and makes a nice day trip.

Train tickets aren't particularly cheap. If you want to get to Bayonne/Biaritz quickly, then I would fly there. Your trans-Atlantic airline should be able to add a connection on the same ticket, so that baggage transfers are handled and they are responsible for any disconnect due to flight delays. If you plan to visit Paris or another city at the end of the trip, then you get an "open-jaws" type plane ticket into one city and out from another, by requesting a "multi-city" itinerary.

The direct trains from Charles de Gaulle TGV station to Bordeaux depart just after 8:00, 14:00, 16:00 and 18:00. The last one that would give you enough time to connect to Bayonne on the same day is 16:00. Don't plan too tight a connection to this train. CDG takes time to navigate and advance-discount train tickets are not refundable or changeable if you miss the scheduled departure.

I think the iDTGV web site is not worth your time, as I believe they take only take US credit cards that include Verified by Visa or MasterCard SecureCode (which most people dont have) and don't offer the PayPal option that you can choose when buying “Prems” rate TGV tickets through SNCF. Capitaine Train is simpler. These web sites do tend to change their features every year, so certain details will vary by the time your trip is open for booking (max 3 - 4 months in advance).

Thanks to all of you for your help. Happy New Year!