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Day trip to Mont Saint Michel from Paris (stay how long?)

Posted by (Pico Rivera, CA) on

Seasoned traveler here. Have been to France many times, but have yet to visit Mont Saint Michel. Well, this May I'm finally going to set aside a day from my stay in Paris and put up with the long route. I think the train/bus connections are much better now than they were a few years ago when I last visited Paris. According to the SNCF website, there is a train/bus combo (Montparnasse to Mont St. Michel) that takes less than 3 hours each way. I only have time to visit this part of Normandy in case there are those of you who chime in to consider spending more time to see the war sites (I don't have enough time allotted for these sights). And I do realize that I will be visiting when the throngs of tourists are there. I'm ok with that.

My question, really, is how much time should I allot for a day trip here? I want to purchase train tickets now to save money and I want to be sure I'm not spending way too much time there. One schedule has us in Mont Saint Michel by 10:30 and leaving back to Paris at about 6 pm. That would give us about 6 hours. Is that too long?

Posted by
1229 posts

Are these times from MSM? Or are they the train times? First, think about what you want to see. I would include:
A complete audio tour of the Abbey. Which includes walking out the back side.

  • Walking the ramparts, or even better, having lunch at one of the restaurants that overlook the bay.
  • A walk on the sand flats.
  • A walk down the back alleys, to include the chapel half-way up and the cemetery behind it.

If you do all of these things, and these are the arrival/departure times on MSM itself, you have a good amount of time. It will be a long day, but you won't miss anything. If you just want to walk up the tourist street, buy some trinkets, take a selfie and and say you were there, it is too much time.

Posted by
594 posts

Yeah those are the time schedules from the SNCF website. And, yes, I would want to have a somewhat leisurely stay there and explore the "island." Thanks a lot for the proposed itinerary.

Posted by
8166 posts

it is going to be too crowded hardly leisurely. You would need to arrive earlier before 9am or later after 4 and stay overnight for it to be leisurely. I was there January 2 2015 at it was crowded back than.

Posted by
151 posts

It may not be that crowded, depending on the season you are going there. Of course if it is between June and August, it will not be a quiet time there in the middle of the day...
Three hours on the island is already a fair amount of time, but of course it is possible to spend more, especially if you intend to have some lunch there.
If you want to save some more time and make the day trip much easier, you could also take a private tour including the drive, from Rennes: right from the train station, you directly go to Mont St Michel, without having to wait for the few bus connections (it allows you to choose many more possibilities for the train schedule). Then you can either make the day shorter and come back to Paris earlier, or even combine with a tour in St Malo before heading back to Paris (TGV train from St Malo or Rennes).

Posted by
594 posts

Can you suggest a company that does day trips from Paris. My only concern with that is cost. My friend that's coming with me will likely want to do the cheapest option available, but I'm happy to explore other options.

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