Please need advise. Arriving in Paris and trying to decided how many stops and for how long. We're doing Versailles, Giverney, Rouen, Caen, Bayeux and St Malo/St Michel. We are going to be there late summer.
Posted by
Chicago
7874 posts
St Malo is more of a resort town with the original medieval ramparts with a beach; so if I was trying to unwind I would stay two nights. It will probably be crowded with tourists and natives as the French from the big cities start taking vacations around that time.
If you can find a hotel and I doubt it for night on Mt St Michel go for it. Otherwise it is at least a 3 hour visit but it is going to be crowded. The whole visit involves a lot of stairs to get to the top. I went on January 2 and it started to get crowded with daytrip tours that operate from as far as Paris around after 11 so the earlier or later the better
Posted by
Florida, USA
12172 posts
I spent a morning in St. Malo. I walked the walls, waded in the sea on the beach and wandered through the town stopping at a couple of shops. I had lunch before moving on. If I had more time, I would have liked to have visited the museum and walked out to the island fortifications at low tide.
I spent an afternoon at MSM. I arrived maybe 3 pm and walked straight up to the Abbey (along the ramparts). I probably spent a little over two hours at the Abbey then worked my way back down toward the gate for the next hour plus. If I had more time, I would have liked to take a guided walk on the bay at low tide. Lots of people did and it looked like they enjoyed being knee deep in mud. I planned on eating one of the omelettes there but the price (upwards of 35 euro just for one omelette) made me opt for great oysters in Cancale.
Posted by
Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, USA
13966 posts
I visited Saint-Malo last spring and loved it! I would stay at least 2 nights so you've got one full day and can see the complete tide change high/low/high or the opposite. I loved walking out to the islets at low tide (missed one because it wasn't low enough to get across the causeway to it and it was getting dark) and seeing the tomb of the writer Chateaubriand on Le Grand Be. There is actually a tidal swimming pool there where a walking tour guide said the sailors were taught to swim. It's very weird to see a diving board sticking up out of the sea when the tide is in.
TBH, If the time is available, I would probably stay 3 nights so I had 2 full days. I did not get to the 39-45 bunker just outside the city walls nor did I have a chance to take the ferry over to Dinard. There is an Alfred Hitchcock connection there if that's of interest to you. I was on a tour that stayed 3 nights but only had one free day in Saint-Malo. Some of the others on the tour did the tour of the Corsair's Home which was given only in French but they felt they got enough out of it to be enjoyable.
As indicated walking the wall is interesting as is the Cathedral which has the tomb of explorer Jacques Cartier. Cartier first went to the Grand Banks as part of the Saint-Malo fishing fleet and was later appointed to head the exploration of the areas. Mind-boggling to me that men from this small village could sail to Canada in their fishing boats in the 1500's.
Anyway...I'm a fan of Saint-Malo. If seafood has palled by this time, I enjoyed a nice meal at an Indian restaurant within the walls.