For more travel advice from Paul and Myriam and previous clients and travellers please visit our Battlebus Forum. There in addition to touring, hotel, restaurant and general travel advice you are invited to read our news stories and discover lots of other threads of interest to visitors and history buffs alike.
Background
Bayeux is a town of approximately 17000 people and is situated 5 miles inland from Omaha and Gold Beaches in the Department of Calvados. Amongst its many attractions are the Cathedral and famous Bayeux Tapestry
and it is well known for its restaurants and local farmers' markets. The mostly medieval town centre is quite compact and most restaurants and shops are within a couple of blocks of the cathedral, which dominates the skyline. We have a thread on our forum with advice about what time of year to travel with regards to weather and how busy the region is, you can find the thread here.
Getting to Bayeux by train
Bayeux is on the line from Gare St Lazare in Paris to Cherbourg and trains run regularly (there are less trains on weekends and public holidays). The ride from Paris is a little over 2 hours and the trains are reliable, clean and efficient. It’s rarely necessary to book your tickets in advance, but information about timetables and prices can be found on the following two websites. The National SNCF
site is always changing styles and even the English version (click on the British flag) is difficult to use. We actually prefer the Normandy trains website which is much simpler to navigate and use, although most of the site is in French only.
Bayeux by car
Quite a number of clients drive to Bayeux from Paris or one of the channel ferry ports. Bayeux is on the N13 highway, approximately 25 minutes drive west from the Caen ring-road, and about 3 hours drive (via Caen) from Paris. For detailed driving instructions, you can use one of the many internet route-planners. Our favourite is the
Michelin
service, this is the UK version so it’s in English language but is perfectly compatible with French towns, just make sure you select France in the Country option. However we do find that the times they give for most routes are a little ambitious, we would always allow longer than the time indicated.
Flying to the area
Caen has an airport at Carpiquet and it has various internal flights from other European countries including Germany and Spain. The range of flights is constantly changing and improving, so check the airport website
for the services offered. However the Charles De Gaulle airport in Paris is still the most popular place for most people flying into France. We have a thread on our Battlebus forum with advice for getting from CDG airport to Paris here.
From England by ferry
There are numerous crossings available into Calais (north France), and for here in Normandy there is Brittany Ferries
who offer Poole-Cherbourg and Portsmouth-Caen (Ouistreham.) There are additional services to Dieppe and Le Havre etc.
Arriving in Bayeux
If you arrive by car you will arrive at the Bayeux ring-road, from which the main tourist sites and some of the hotels are signposted. If you come by train you will arrive at the rail station which is also on the ring-road. From there it’s a 10 minute walk to the town-centre and most of the hotels - here is our map page
. To the right of the station exit is the taxi park and often there are taxis there waiting for each train that can take you to your hotel. However they get taken very quickly at peak hours, so in front of the taxi-rank is a public telephone which you can use to call the company and book a ride, most of the hotels can book taxis for you too. The Bayeux company is called Les Taxis du Bessin telephone 0231 929240. If you are arriving late at night, it is better to book a taxi in advance.
Places to stay in Bayeux
There are many great places to stay in Bayeux, here are just a few that we especially recommend:
Two fantastic 3-Star hotels are the Churchill Hotel
- ideally situated for
Place de Quebec and the Hotel d’Argouges
opposite Place Saint Patrice.
The owners and staff of these two establishments are good friends of
ours and their customer service is top-notch.
In the 2-Star category are La Reine Mathilde, which is very close to Place de Quebec and Le Bayeux also a short walk away - again the owners of both
these hotels are friends of ours and come highly recommended.
If you have a car, there are many Gites and B & Bs within a few miles of Bayeux, but please do check exactly how long it will take to drive into Bayeux. Caen is popularly listed as the best place to stay, but although it’s a great city, it’s a large place and the hotels are spread out, it’s also further away from the American D-Day beaches than Bayeux. Caen is also quite a modern city these days, Bayeux by contrast is very tourist-friendly.
More Bayeux Information
The best resource is the Bayeux Office of Tourism
, which has links to car rental agencies, hotels, restaurants and other tour companies. The English version is accessible from the homepage.
Visiting Paris
American in Paris
- Provides a Guide to Paris, a listing of over 300 hotels with reviews by people who stayed at them, photos and a Paris A-Z covering everything from airport to zoo.
Basic Facts
The time in France is GMT+1 hour, and the Currency used is the Euro. We recommend changing money at La Poste (Post Office), but the best way is simply to draw out cash from the ATM machines. of which there are several in Bayeux, the exchange rate and fees are normally as low as you can find. You will need to know your 4-digit pin code of course!
Shop and Bank Opening Hours
Shops and Banks open at around 9.00am, and usually close for lunch from around 12.00pm to 2.00pm. In the summer many souvenir shops stay open to until 7.00pm or later. There are three large hyper-markets around the ring road - Champion, Leclerc and Intermarché (which is the only one open on Sunday morning). Watch out for bank and shop Monday closures too in the town centre. On Saturday in Bayeux, it’s worth a stroll up to Place St Patrice for the market of local foods, clothes and other goods.
