Mont Saint Michel Time Needed?

You just need a few hours late in the day, then you have to spend the night on the Mont itself (don't fail to do this, it is key!), then a few hours the next morning, then get the heck out before the tide of humanity rushes in and turns the place into Times Square on New Years Eve.

Best strategy for MSM is to simply not be there at all from 10 am to 4 pm.

Thanks David. I should have noted that our itinerary has us getting there in the morning with the "tide of humanity". We're hoping to arrive around 10am. It will be early April when we go.

Tourists flood in and recede like the tide at Mont Saint Michel on a daily basis. I think the time of day that you arrive will impact the quality of your experience and the length of time it may take to do everything that you would like. Early morning or late afternoon/early evening would be preferred times in terms of smaller crowds wanting to see the same things that you do.

The second variable is just what do you want to accomplish while there? Do you want to wander the street and ramparts? Do you want to go on a organized tour? Do you want to attend a religious service? Do you want to have meal?

Can you visit Mont Saint Michel in 4 hours? probably. The quality and depth of your experience may vary.

I just read your new post that you plan to arrive at 10 am. If that is the only time you can get there, well that is the only time I suppose...

However, I truly did not appreciate the many, many posts I read on this forum about the timing of the crowds at Mont St. Michel until I actually experienced it. I thought to myself, "It can't really make that big of a difference can it?" It can! Timing makes such a difference in this location. I have pictures that show the main road so crowded with humanity that you could hardly walk along it, and pictures that show it practically deserted just a few hours later.

If 10 am is really the only time you can get there, still go. If you can change the time a little, I would encourage it.

Carol, thank you for your reply. What time do you recommend arriving there? We can arrive in the evening, but we'd like to get good pictures obviously before it gets dark.

We're hoping to arrive around 10am.

Arriving to MSM around 10 am is not something one should hope for (maybe something to wish on your enemy...). My suggestion is that you should hope for something better than that.

From roughly 10 am to 4 pm, the single, tiny little street into MSM becomes a tightly packed mosh pit. There's only one street, it's narrow and doesn't go very far before it pretty much just disappears. Mid-day, moving through it is a shoulder-to-shoulder contact sport.

But it's only that way during the hours when the day-trippers descend on it like swarms of locusts out of some biblical plague. Don't be one of them. Swim against the tide, like a salmon fighting its way upstream to spawn, knowing that your reward at the end will be worth it (unlike salmon, you won't die upon completing your business upstream). For a few hours in the evening, and again early the next morning, the place is completely magical, quite empty, unspoiled, and is one of Europe's greatest experiences. But that is only possible when the crowds are gone.

Do yourself a big favor: tweak your day before and/or after so you arrive on MSM around 4 pm. Most critically of all, book a room in one of the small and admittedly overpriced hotels on the Mont itself. Enjoy the blisslully crowd-free hours from 5 or 6 pm until you go to bed, get up early and enjoy a few more hours the next morning, then flee, and don't look back over your shoulder. You will be glad you did it this way for the rest of your life.

David...how do you really feel about 10am to 4pm? lol!!!

Thanks for the great advice. You've convinced me. We'll arrive around 3:30 and stay until dark (we already a place to stay). Thanks for the help.

If you must go there during the crush, don't try to walk up the main road. Instead, just inside the gates, take the stairs to the right that bring you up to the ramparts and make your way to the top using that route. You won't be the only one doing it by any stretch, but it is still a much better experience in my opinion. You also get nice views across the tidal plain instead of walking by tourist shops shoulder to shoulder with others. The main road is nothing special IMHO, and you can still look down upon it from the ramparts walk. There are also alternate routes down from the top that mostly avoid the main road. If you do start down the main road, take a right to view the wonderful little chapel half-way down (I forget the name). If you walk through the chapel to the other side, you'll come out to a little graveyard with wonderful views. Continue out the back of the graveyard and slightly up the hill to the right and end up on walkways and paths most will not visit, and eventually work your way down to the main gate. There are some nice little parks en route too. You can even end up taking a road/path out to the beach to the West beyond the public safety office. Check it out on Google Maps. In short, look at maps and do everything you can to not be on the main road and you'll have a much better experience.

My too sense...

Great suggestion PharmerPhil. I am in Bayeux now and going to the Mt in the morning. To clarify, if one walks up main street to chapel then thru the back, is the path going down to the gate only or, one can continue walking up the Mt, avoiding the main walkway?

When you enter the main gate of Mont St. Michel - you can get a map of the island and the pathways to the top.
I have always walked the main path to see all the shops, scenic outlooks, have a nice lunch and spend some time at the top admiring the cathedral.
Happy Travels...

if one walks up main street to chapel then thru the back, is the path
going down to the gate only or, one can continue walking up the Mt,
avoiding the main walkway?

Just to clarify, the chapel is not the abbey at the top. It is a very small church 2/3 of the way up. It's name escapes me, but it is a very nice place to visit. Technically, if you go out the back, you could take a few paths that would bring you closer to the top. But I am not sure that would save you much time, as by the time you get to the chapel you have already gone through the worst of the tourist crush. But if you go out the back of the chapel on the way back, you can avoid those same hoards again, and those same shops. And instead you'll see some nice small parks/green areas, and some wonderful views of the causeway. As well as some close-up views of the huge buttresses that support the abbey at the top. Be sure to go slightly behind the chapel and slightly uphill before descending a nice sloping walkway. Keep West/North as you are descending, and you'll find a nice road that brings you to the water on the West end of the island.

We arrived the area around 5pm. Our hotel was on the mainland. We got some beautiful pictures during the "golden hour" of sheep and farm fields with MSM in the background. We then went to the MSM parking lot and took the shuttle to get pictures from the bridge and closer at dusk and with fewer people. We then walked around a bit before going back to our hotel for dinner. The next morning we timed it to arrive to the parking lot about AN HOUR BEFORE the abbey opens (opening might be 10am?? or 9am??) We walked up to the abbey with relatively few people and got into the abbey at opening. We visited and left the island at about noon or 1pm and had a picnic on the mainland with a view of MSM.

For some people, a midday visit is enough. We walked up on the walls, and back down the main street. If you're going to settle for a pre-made sandwich, the crowds in the sit-down restaurants aren't such a problem. I think my opinion is influenced by having visited a large number of medieval town centers (for example, Brugge), so that the "MSM Experience" wasn't so cosmic for us.

Jules, I hope you'll add to your post to explain whether you were staying in the long "strip" of modern "mainland" hotels that now line the shuttle bus route from the parking lot. (That is, they are parking-lot distance, and closer. Technically, "walking distance" to MSM itself.) As I read your post, when you wrote "mainland", you meant "off-site", and, maybe, you had a car. If you used any public transit, it would be a big help to others to describe that.

Tim, we had a car for Brittney and Normandy. We stayed at Auberge de la Baie Mont Saint Michel (had to search my email for the name) It is not on that strip of hotels and restaurants. It was a couple miles from the parking lot that the shuttles leave from. Auberge de la Baie Mont Saint Michel. It was modest, but less expensive, huge room and very clean. It also looked like the restaurant was quite good. We made the mistake of eating at one of the restaurants on the "strip" that the shuttle passes. It still is the worst meal we've had in France. It appeared to me that all the restaurants on MSM and on the strip were somehow related to each other.

If you stay overnight don't forget to get night pics. It is so wonderful to wander about in the evening and you can get some amazing shots!

And if you're looking for a good place to eat on MSM, I'd recommend La Sirene for crepes and the local cider! To get there, you go in through the gift shop of the same name (on the main street up to the Abbey) and then go to the back corner of the gift shop and up a small stone staircase. There are very few tables in the place, but service is quick, prices are good and the crepes were delicious!

Just reinforcing how valuable PharmerPhil’s tip about using the pathway which is to the left of the main gate. I shared this with others in the shuttle I was travelling in. Two followed suit, the others didn’t and not one got to the top...slowed down, tired out and frustrated by the throngs of people using the main path. We on the other hand had lots of time to explore, join a tour etc. Out of curiosity I took the main route down and while I had heard about the crowding, couldn’t believe how truly awful it was.So appreciate this forum! Also, tour provided of the church is interest8ng, free and starts at 1100.