Hi everyone,
I've been doing a deep dive on the differences between staying on MSM and staying off site.
I think we'd REALLY like to stay on MSM, but we'll have at least 5 suitcase (3 small rollers and 2 medium rollers).
However, we won't have a car to leave them in overnight.
Any suggestions/options?
is that 5 suitcases for 5 people or 5 suitcases for two people? It will make a huge difference...
There is no longer a luggage storage area on the island. You could ask your hotel to hold them for you. It won't be the most fun trek with luggage,but the experience should be worth it.
I have seen otherwise healthy looking, young couples struggle with one each of those 4-wheel suitcases on the main, cobbled street on MSM. Most hotels on MSM are up a steep hill, steep stairs, or both. That being said, I highly recommend staying on the island as you have planned. Just not with tons of luggage. Where are you staying before or after MSM? Is there a previous hotel you can leave some bags at for retrieval later? I can't imagine needing more than 1/2 of a small piece of luggage per person for one night on the island.
We are coming from Paris and just staying there for the night before heading on the Eurostar to London, so we won't have the option of leaving them in our previous lodging.
left luggage at Gare du Nord before you leave Paris and collect before you check in for Eurostar? That's a long way back from Mont St Michel followed by a cross-channel train. You're courageous.
Be sure to check in on time or early for the Eurostar. You do Immigration and Customs and airport style security before boarding - and they don't hold the train or extend check in.
left luggage at Gare du Nord before you leave Paris and collect before you check in for Eurostar? That's a long way back from Mont St Michel followed by a cross-channel train. You're courageous. Be sure to check in on time or early for the Eurostar. You do Immigration and Customs and airport style security before boarding - and they don't hold the train or extend check in.
This was my concern too (although we'll have private transport to Paris from MSM).
Is there a better option below:
1) Check out of MSM in morning, explore a bit more, head back to Paris and stay near Gare Du Nord and then leave in the morning?
2) Check out of MSM in morning, explore a bit more, head back to Paris and take 1903 or 2103 train?
3) Another option?
my true opinion, having spent plenty of time in Paris, a couple of days at Giverny, 10 days in Normandy, and a visit to MSM?
It is an awfully long way from Paris, hump up the steep street, hump back down and an awfully long way back. Do it when you are in Normandy anyway.
Option 1. But reserve space at a luggage service ahead of time. I've used Blue Marble, but there are others. Gare du Nord could have space but you'd need to be dropping a lot of coins into a lot of slots.
I’m wondering if maybe we stay in Bayeux or Caen for the night and then can drop off our luggage before going to Normandy?
Tuesday: stay at MSM
Wednesday: stay in Caen or Bayeux
Thursday: take Eurostar
This is all predicated on the idea that a hotel will hold our luggage one night early.
The Bayeux/Caen option does not make sense to me, because it is not as easy as you would think to travel between Mont Saint Michel and Bayeux without a car. Trains are slow and scarce.
How are you planning to go to/from Mont Saint Michel from Paris ? If left luggage at/near Paris Nord isn't an option (it is a great idea though), then perhaps you could leave stuff near the station in Rennes (at a private luggage service, there are no station lockers)? Or at Paris Montparnasse if you don't want to travel to Paris Nord during your stay in Paris?
Here's what I'm thinking to get everything done:
June 21
- We take train to Bayeux (with our luggage) to meet our tour guide
- Before we start tour, we visit the hotel we'll stay at on June 22 in the hopes they'll let us store our luggage
- We tour the Normandy sites with guide
- At end of tour, we get dropped off at Mont St-Michel (with only minimal bags to carry up the steps to the abbey) by driver
- We stay at a hotel ON Mt Saint-Michel
June 22
- We explore Mont Saint-Michel on our own (no guide)
- We get our own private transport back to Bayeux
- Stay at the hotel where we left our luggage
June 23
- We wake up and take the train from Bayeux to Paris to catch the Eurostar to London
Here's the devil on my other shoulder:
Most trip reports I've read say to leave MSM by 10:00am or so when the tourists arrive.
If we did that, we'd be back in Paris by 2:30 or so (with private transfer).
Wouldn't that be enough to get the train to London?
definitely leave your bags at Gare du Nord and go to MSM with backpacks.
What company are you using to do a DDay tour and MSM on the same day?
I’m not using a company and not doing both on the same day.
Our tour guide is having our private transportation drop us off at MSM around dinner time and then we’re on our own to explore that night and the next morning.
We arranged a driver from MSM to Bayeux through MyDaytrip. The most difficult part was getting picked up. The Navette bus from the island leaves you in the middle of a large pay parking lot, which your driver may not want to enter and pay for parking just to pick you up. If you are willing to walk 10 minutes and buy a souvenir, I'm guessing you could get picked up at Produits Regionaux LEFRANC Farmshop.
And hopefully you can email your Bayeux hotel ahead of time to arrange for the luggage or get their advice on where to leave it.
One other option that we may need to consider for convenience's sake is to just stay somewhere with a view of the abbey instead, since the view from inside probably isn't as great as the view looking at the abbey from the shore.
That would make life easier when it came to leaving luggage somewhere.
You're talking about five pieces of luggage. I doubt any hotel would keep that much for one customer, but they would be glad to let you pay for a room to leave it in. Assuming you are five people, paying one room vs paying to store 5 suitcases could be a draw.
Tip: After hunting down storage space in smaller cities, I would use only a storage that you know is near the train station, the opening hours are set in stone, and you can reserve in advance.
We had five pieces of luggage, 1 large, two medium, and two rollaboards when we moved to Europe permanently. Although, one was delayed and delivered to our home, my husband said never again, so we sent part of the next load with Send My Bag.
Random idea. Scrap Eurostar, do MSM, definately stay on the island, then get the ferrry from St Malo to England and train up to to London?
There are hotels near the visitors center/Navette stop on the mainland. You should still be able to take the bus over for the evening and back.
There are hotels near the visitors center/Navette stop on the mainland. You should still be able to take the bus over for the evening and back
Could you explain this a bit more?
This is a suggestion to stay in the strip mall with restaurants and hotels before going across the island to the Mont. -- I'd not do that unless you really can't manage the luggage storage. Stay on the mont.
I would recommend staying on the island. One consideration for staying landside is whether you are comfortable walking from the hotel to either the bus starting point or the island. I remember there being a stop along the bus route near the hotels, but the bus we were on had already filled to capacity in the parking lot and no one was able to get on at that midway stop. But maybe that was an outlier. Others may know better than me if that is a major issue.
So, is your plan to leave Paris in the morning (the earliest train I see is at 6:01 arriving 8:42), drop your bags at the hotel, have a guided tour of Normandy (would have to be a private tour, not starting before 9:30), leave Normandy by 4:00 and have private driver take you to Mont St Michel (90 minutes), spend the evening on the island, leave by 10:00 am back to Bayeux (again a private driver?), spend the night in Bayeux, then train back to Paris (nearly 3 hours) to catch the Eurostar?
Have you traveled like this before? The reason I ask is that this will be exhausting. There are enough hours in the day to do this, but if you are too tired, you won't enjoy it. If I were you, I would definitely drop something.
Good luck on your planning! Please let us know what you decide to do and how it turns out.
