Salzburg to Normandy????
 

We'd like to go from Salzburg to Normandy next month by train.

Can anyone tell me how easy it is to get to Normandy by train.

Thank you

Your best choices are Salzburg-Munich-Paris-Caen (or Bayeux) with Munich-Paris being a night train or Salzburg-Strasbourg-Paris-Caen (or Bayeux) with Salzburg-Strasbourg being a night train. See the timetables at www.bahn.de. Click on the drop-down menu in the upper right-hand corner for English. After you get summary timetables for Salzburg-Caen (or Bayeux), click on "Details for all" to see the connecting points.

Hello tampabay1.

TimS beat me to it - you want to get familiar with bahn.de.

You will have at least 2 changes of train, plus you will have to switch train stations in Paris (yes, there's more than one!) which you could do by local metro (subway.)It takes at least 12 hours.

By the way, Normandy being an entire region in France, you need to be a bit more specific. It seems both TimS and I decided to use "Bayeux" when we queried bahn.de.

Where in Normandy?

Have you considered flying? That's a heckuva train trip. You can check out low-cost flights at www.which budget.com.

Like where in Normandy? Rouen, Cherbourg, Dieppe, Le Havre, Caen.

It is a long train ride from Salzburg.
Take a look at the Austrian national rail web site: WWW.ÖBB.COM and look at the schedules.

Assuming your want to go to Rouen your best bet is this connection:
lv Salburg 7:53
ar Stuttgart 12:00
lv Stuttgart 12:54
ar Paris Est 16:37
lv Paris St. Lazare 17:25
ar Rouen 18:35 (Train continues to Le Havre)


Your best bet for getting from Paris Est to Paris St. Lazare is to take the RER E.

Some walking is involved to get to the RER and then from the RER to the train platform at St. Lazare.

If you are traveling on a Saturday or Sunday, a taxi would be the easiest way to go from Paris Est to St. Lazare. If on a week day, I am not sure how badly the traffic would hold you up.

Some of the other connections take longer and involve more changes.

I suggest you look at the full schedule and decide how you want to do it. Perhaps you might opt for an overnight train. The big hangup on this journey is the mandatory transfer to Gare St. Lazare in Paris.

How easy is it? That is a judgment call. I would say, "'Tain't simple."

I know of no way to get there without going through Paris.

Hi T,

Even flying ain't that easy.

You would have to train from Salzburg to Munich, fly to Paris ORY, get into Paris and then out to your Normandy destination.

Is this trip really necessary?

((I))

Consider the Germany-France railpass for such a journey - from Salzburg, which is considered a Germany station you'd go to Munich then via Stuttgart to paris then to Normandy - a long day though i think there still may be a Munich-Paris overnight train - not sure was talk about withdrawing it with opening of new high-speed TGV-Est line - or aborting it at Strasbourg very early in the morning.

We have a 5 day Germany France rail pass. We were thinking that going to Omaha Beach would be a good thing to do.

Didn't know that Normandy is a region. I thought that Normandy is where we landed in WWII.

Does anyone know where the nearest train station is to Omaha Beach area.

Anyway, thanks for the input. I appreciate it.

Does

Bayeux. Some direct trains from Paris Saint-Lazare station and more links via a change in Caen

Bayeux is several miles from the beach. Take the minibus tours - lots of companies - one that gets good reviews www.battlebus.fr - may pick up from your hotel

Bayeux is a neat old town, about the only one in the area not totally decimated - also a sweat cathedral and the famous Tapestry of Queen Mathilda portraying the 1066 William the Conqueror's Invasion of Saxon England

The best train connection from Salzburg to Bayeux takes 13 hours and requires two changes of trains. After this, you will be fed up with train riding for the rest of your life.

Better forget it.

Hi T,

>We were thinking that going to Omaha Beach would be a good thing to do.

But not necessarily from Salzburg.

>Didn't know that Normandy is a region. I thought that Normandy is where we landed in WWII.<

We landed in the country of France, in the region of Normandy, between the towns of Cherbourg and Caen.

((I))