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Doing a trip to Europe, and wanting tips on transportation…?

Hi everyone! I am planning an 18 day trip in Europe with my fiance. We are wanting to start in Ireland, and then head to London, then Northern France (near St-Michel) and then the D-Day landing sites in Normandy, followed by Paris. Then from Paris, we want to go through Switzerland and then end in Italy.

Here is our question. We are planning on getting a EuroRail pass so we can take the trains. But what about when going from small areas? Does the train cover a LOT of area in Europe? For example: How will we get from London to some of the castles in the countryside without having to rely on a $300 tour bus/group? We want to be independent on some of these things and do it without a huge group.

Or how will we get from St-Michel and Caen (northern France) to Paris? I was told there was train service, but does the EuroRail pass cover EVERY Train in the continent?

So any help on small modes of transportation would be great. Thanks!

If you had at least one month your travels would be possible by train an local bus, but in 18 days you will not have much time to look at anything as you need your time moving from one place to an other.

Ireland, even if you just stay in Dublin, you need 2 or more days, and to see something of the island you need to stay at least a week and even that is pushing it.
Flight to London, half a day, with transport to and from the airport and being there in time for the security check.
Traveling by train or bus and ferry, most of a day.
London, anything shorter than 3 days is not worth stopping in London for, a week is better.
Travel from London to Brittany in France, I would take the train to Portsmouth and an overnight ferry to St Malo, and the train from there to Mont St-Michel. That is from midafternoon till the next day mid morning, or even later.
And remember that England is not covered by your Eurail pass.

From the coast near Mont St-Michel to the Caen area, is possible, takes from 9:56 to 12:07, by a direct local trains but the rail planners tried to send me via Paris, which costs 10 hours or more, with luck you will just catch the bus for the beaches, otherwise you may have to wait till the next morning.
From Caen to Paris is easy, regular trains taking about two hours.
As the other answerer indicated, for Paris you need more than 3 days again.
Paris to Switzerland and Switzerland to Italy is not difficult, but again count on most of a day for each leg of the trip.

I would advice you to cut your plans, in half or shorter, and you will be fine with the train and local transport.
If you just want to be able to say you have been there, do not try to see the sights and just stop in the capital cities and buy the photos, as you will not remember anything but the insides of the trains.

In sources I put a link to the railway map of France I used to get you the information on the travel from Mont St-Michel to Caen, as I remembered having traveled by train in the region while the planner could not find it.
You see the detailed railway map. It is not really just railways, because where there are not enough people to pay for having the trains running they will use buses instead.

The second link is to a map for most of the train lines in Europe, but you will see that a lot of the smallest lines are not there.

I’d say, forget Ireland for this trip, fly to London instead.
Stay 5 days in London and take an Eurostar train to Paris, travel from Paris to Mont St Michel or Caen, than from one to the other, and back to Paris.
You will be able to see some of the countryside of France that way, and it will be possible to enjoy being there rather than being driven by time considerations.
For travel in France you may want a rail pass, but you can also just buy the tickets as you go, allowing you to combine the fast trains with local trains and adjust to your liking.
Only if you want to go all the way to Switzerland too, a pass might be worth it.

The third link is a good planner that can find most trains in Europe, even the local lines in France as long as you can supply it with the local names and midway points.
And the forth is a planner for France, in French, but it did not work for me today. Mostly it is the best for trains within France, and it can also find the prices of the individual tickets.

I have traveled a lot in Europe, England, France and so on, and often by train.
By the way, your Eurail pass will pay for most trains, but not the Eurostar from London to Paris, not your trains in England and for many of the fast trains in France you will have to pay a surcharge, anything from just a seat reservation to quite a sum for some popular trains.

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