Hello, all. I am traveling from Paris to Bayeaux with my son in the middle of June. We would like to take the train, but I'm not sure how to do this (what stations to take, how to get to the hotel, etc.). I believe we will use Battlebus for the D-Day beaches/museum tour, but need advice on a side trip to Mont St. Michel. When we are done, I will need to get back from Bayeaux to Paris so we can fly home the next morning. Advice on hotel that night is welcome, too. Also, is there a castle in the area that we can spend the night in?
Thanks for any help.

In the middle of June things are likely still to be very crowded because of the D-Day anniversary celebrations. You might need to stay some distance from Bayeux to find accomodations and will need to move fast to reserve them.

There's a web site for owners of private châteaux that take in paying guests:

www.chateauxhotelsfrance.com

These are not all necessarily the kind of castles you think of, with moats and turrets and all, but some might be smaller versions. In any event, they can be very nice, uncommercial places to stay.

You'll find it fairly difficult to get to Mont St-Michel without a car; possibly you can book a tour from Bayeux or Caen, depending on where you find a hotel.

Bayeux (note spelling) is on the railway line from Paris to Cherbourg. Trains leave from St-Lazare station and take a little over two hours. Trains stop at the city of Caen about 20 minutes before Bayeux, and it may be easier to find accommodation there. Bayeux is a small town and it's only a short walk from the station to the centre. You can check schedules quickly on www.bahn.de or check schedules and fares on www.sncf.fr.

topping

I did this trip two weeks ago. Before I left, I went to www.sncf.com, clicked on the English language option, and got a screen similar to the ones you get when making airline reservations. Enter Paris and Bayeux and the dates you want to travel (don't forget to enter it in the European way as day/month/year). You will a screen showing your options. You can reserve and pay for the ticket online, using your credit card. Then pick it up when you get to Paris -- the site has a list of boutique offices that you can print out and then just go to one of those to pick up your tickets. The site is very clear and easy to use. When I got to Bayeux I took a taxi to my hotel -- it was about 7 euro.

But before you do that, you should see if you can get hotel reservations. By the middle of June the 60th anniversery festivities should be over, but it may still be difficult to find a hotel.

I can definately recommend Battlebus tours. I took the all-day American beaches highlights tour and it was fantastic. They use 8 passenger vans so it is a small group. Our guide was Dale and he was excellent. If I had tried to see the beaches, museums, cemetaries, etc. on my own I would have seen a lot, but would not have learned nearly as much. The tour started at 8:30am so you will need to get to Bayeux the night before. Go to www.battlebus.fr for all the information and to make reservations for the tour (you need to do that before you go).

Thank you so much. I have reserved a hotel in Bayeux (although it was tough to find one that had availability). One other question - how would I get to Mont St Michel? I had planned to rent a car in Caen and drive the beaches, Arromanches, Bayeux, then Mont St Michel (with an overnight at Mont St Michel). I could cancel the reservation at Mont St Michel, I guess.... any thoughts?