Hi All
I am looking at train schedules out of Paris to Bayeaux or Le Havre and it shows two Paris stations: "Gare Lyon" & "St Lazare". Are these across town from each other? Does one always go through both of them? If we came in to Paris on a train from say Bayeux, and wanted to continue south to maybe Lyon - are we going to have trouble changing trains/stations??? It should be obvious by now that I really don't know what I'm doing at this point. Thanx for your patience and your answers.
shrink

In direct response to your question about Gare de Lyon and St. Lazare:
They are two separate and distinct stations.

They are connected by the Metro and the bus and the RER. There is no direct Metro connection. Bus 20 goes from one to the other, but through central Paris.

Line RER A passes through Gare de Lyon and comes close to St. Lazare, but I am not at all familiar with that RER line.

Someone else will need to supply the details.

But one thing is for sure. If you arrive at one of the two stations you named and need leave from the other, yu will have to take some kind of transportation to the other station, and get on another train.

St Lazare is on the north of the Seine and a little west of center, just about due north of Place de la Concorde. Gare de Lyon is on the east side of central Paris, but still on the right bank.

I think it safe to say that one NEVER goes through both of them on the same sNCF train.

I am not sure how far apart the two stations are, but 6 to 7 K is what it looks like on my map.

Hello Shrink. Here is a website that should help you with your question about where these train stations are compared to each other:

http://www.paris.org/Gares/

The trains in Paris are generally easy to get around on, everything is color-coded and the maps are very clear. Before you go you can request some pamphlets from the Tourism Department but for now here is a few other websites that you may find handy to get a little familiar:

Paris Metro map: http://www.paris.org/Metro/gifs/metro01.map.jpg

RER Map: http://www.paris.org/Metro/gifs/rer01.map.jpg

Hope this helps a bit!

Thanks guys -- This really helps!! I really appreciate it.
shrink

The fastest way from Gare de Lyon to Gare Saint Lazare or vice versa is to take Metro Line 14 (Météor), which will zip you across town to the train stations. It costs 1,40 EUR (price of a normal metro ticket), and runs from 05:50 to 01:00