I will be picking up a friend who is taking the train north from St Lazare in Paris. I will drive from Honfleur and my question is where is the best place to meet him? Lisieux, Rouen or Caen. I'd rather not make them change trains so I don't think Trouville works. Any advice?

JoeCal

It's an easier drive for you to meet your friend in Lisieux then to go into Rouen or Caen.

There are some direct Saint-Lazare to Deauville-Trouville trains - not many but weekdays 7:45; 11:45; 19:10 are direct - all other change at Lisieux, which like Robert says is probably the best place for you to meet them.

these are mainly regional trains that do not require reservations and have a pretty much flat fare - just buy tickets once in Saint-Lazare - probably can use a ticket on any regional train on that route.

Thanks PalenQ and Robert. Just the info I needed.

JoeCal

Not trying to nitpick but you will get a cheaper price if you buy in advance for the train from Paris to either Lisieux or Deauville. It won't be much of a savings but it is a savings nonetheless. It's 30€ last minute to Lisieux and 15€ to 23€ purchased in advance. The tickets will be time specific so you can't just get on any train.

I would not have newbie train folks that the OP does not even want to have to make a simple change of trains (understandable) have a gtrain-specific savings for such little savings - you give up much more in this case than you gain IMO - with a full fare ticket they can board any regional train - if they miss their specific train with say 7-10 euros savings then they have to buy a full-fare ticket.

No in this case the savings do not justify what they are giving up - now if they were experienced travelers and knew exactly when they were going yes why not - well even then with such negligible savings you often have to spend, if novice users, hours getting www.voyages-sncf.com to work - no not worth the time and effort.

and OP tell them to go first class - for novices much much more relaxing - I take regional trains like this all the time - zillions and in first class there will be many many empty seats - in 2nd class depending on time on day it can be SRO.

This is not something to pinch pennies on - the Fodor's mantra is if you can save one lousy euro do it in spite of what you are giving up - potentially very crowded 2nd class car vs relaxing in an often nearly empty first class car.

It's a short ride. Second class is never so crowded it's uncomfortable, and the difference between 2nd and 1st class is totally negligible. People don't often miss trains unless there's an SNCF problem, in which case SNCF takes care of them, or they encounter unexpected problems or don't have their wits about them. A 15-euro savings is a nice lunch.

Second class is never so crowded it's uncomfortable, and the difference between 2nd and 1st class is totally negligible.>

In my zillions of rides on regional trains my experience has been totally different than St Cirq's - to say the difference is neglible defies credibility!

I ride regional trains to Paris many many times most years and I can say that 2nd class is often SRO and first class sparsely occupied - there is a difference and IMO anyone who says that there is none or little just has not ridden many regional trains in the Paris area. That does not mean the 2nd class train will be full - it could be empty but often IME the ones I ride are always full - hard to find two seats adjoining unless you board really early.

Pay extra for these folks to go in a really dependably relaxed style - this is speaking from real experience with hundreds of such trains.

It's a short ride - nearly two hours! Well depends on what you call short but sitting in a potentially crowded - potentially and not IME unusual but not always - 2nd class car can make it a longer ride. And again to say 2nd class can never - never be so crowded it's uncomfortable is just nonsense based on I suspect a very few regional train trips - St Cirq is based down in England on the Dordogne and down there in mainly rural areas yes trains like to Sarlat would rarely be crowded in 2nd class but those are side lines - we are talking here about major commuter routes so at some times of day - going into Paris in early morning coming out in late afternoon can be very crowded - at other times of day usually not.