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Brittany Ferries (08–03–82–88–28 | www.brittany-ferries.com).

Transmanche (08–00–65–01–00 | www.transmancheferries.com).

BUS TRAVEL

Cars Perier runs buses from Fécamp to Le Havre, stopping in Étretat along the way. Bus Verts du Calvados covers the coast, connecting with Caen and Honfleur, Bayeux, and other towns. It also runs, during July and August, the special D-Day Circuit 44, which allows you to see as many D-Day sights as you can squeeze into one day. These buses depart from the train stations in Bayeux and Caen. Bus routes connect many towns, including Rouen, Dieppe, Fécamp, Étretat, Le Havre, Caen, Honfleur, Deauville, Trouville, Cabourg, and Arromanches. To get to Honfleur, take a bus from Deauville; from Rouen, train it first to Le Havre, then continue on bus to Honfleur.

For Mont-St-Michel, hook up with buses from nearby Pontorson, St. Malo, or from Rennes in adjacent Brittany. If you are traveling from Paris to the Mont, take the high-speed TGV train from Gare Montparnasse to Rennes (in high season, five departures a day), then a Keolis bus transfer to the Mont. Many trains depart from Paris’s Gare-St-Lazare for Rouen (70 mins). Tourist offices and train stations in Normandy will have printed schedules.

BUS CONTACTS

Bus Information: Bus Verts du Calvados (08–10–21–42–14 | www.busverts.fr). VTNI (08–25–07–60–27). Keolis (02–99–19–70–80 | www.keolis-emeraude.com). Cars Perier (02–32–84–12–60 | www.cars-perier.fr).

CAR TRAVEL

From Paris, A13 slices its way to Rouen in 1½ hours (toll €5.20) before forking to Caen (an additional hr, toll €7.50) or Le Havre (45 mins on A131).

N13 continues from Caen to Bayeux in another two hours.

At Caen, the A84 forks off southwest toward Mont-St-Michel and Rennes.

From Paris, scenic D915 will take you to Dieppe in about three hours.

The Pont de Normandie, between Le Havre and Honfleur, effectively unites Upper and Lower Normandy.

TRAIN TRAVEL

From Paris (Gare St-Lazare), separate train lines head to Upper Normandy (Rouen and Le Havre or Dieppe) and Lower Normandy (Caen, Bayeux, and Cherbourg, via Évreux and Lisieux).

There are frequent trains from Paris to Rouen (70 mins, €19); some continue to Le Havre (2 hrs, €27). Change in Rouen for Dieppe (2 hrs from Paris, €25).

The trip from Paris to Deauville (2 hrs, €26) often requires a change at Lisieux.

There are regular trains from Paris to Caen (1 hr, 50 mins; €28), some continuing to Bayeux (2 hrs, €31).

Taking the train from Paris to Mont-St-Michel is not easy—the quickest way (3 hrs, 45 mins; €60) is to take the TGV from Gare Montparnasse to Rennes, then take the bus.

There are three trains daily, but the only one that will allow you a full day on the Mont leaves at 6:35 AM and arrives at 9:55 AM.

The other options are 11:05 (arriving 3:13 PM) and 1:05 PM (arriving 5:04). From Caen you can take either an early morning or an afternoon train to Pontorson (2 hrs, €22.20), the nearest station to the Mont; then it’s another 15 minutes to the foot of the abbey by bus or taxi (buses are directly in front of the station).

Unless you’re content to stick to the major towns (Rouen, Dieppe, Caen, Bayeux, Cherbourg), visiting Normandy by train may prove frustrating.

You can sometimes reach several smaller towns (Fécamp, Houlgate/Cabourg) on snail-paced branch lines, but the irregular intricacies of what is said to be Europe’s most complicated regional timetable will probably have driven you nuts by the time you get here.

Other destinations, like Honfleur or Étretat, require train/bus journeys.

Train Information: Gare SNCF Rouen (Rue Jeanne d’Arc | 76100 | 08–36–35–35–39). SNCF (08–36–35–35–35 | www.ter-sncf.com/regions/basse-normandie/fr/Default.aspx).

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Rouen | Fécamp | Étretat | Le Havre

From Rouen to the coast—the area known as Upper Normandy—medieval castles and abbeys stand guard above rolling countryside, while resort and fishing towns line the white