Mont St-Michel accommodations

The area on the mainland serving Mont St-Michael is a little bit oddly laid out, kind of strung down the riverbank and interrupted by marshy areas. It's quite flat, so views will often be interrupted by other buildings, trees, etc. I'd expect that there aren't hotel properties with good views from all rooms, but rather some rooms with unobstructed St-Michel views. So smart to vet rooms carefully if you really want the prime view. Which, btw, sounds great - it's so frackin pretty you might as well maximize your viewing time :)

Also will note that calvados is onto something that staying on the island seems pretty cool. It's a magical spot, must be pretty awesome later at night or early morning without all the people.

It's a magical spot, must be pretty awesome later at night or early
morning without all the people.

It is. I have stayed both on and off island, and if I ever get a chance to return, I will definitely stay on island. The experience is something you will remember for your whole life and is completely different from day tripping there. People who say staying off island is just as good or preferred, I would guess have never stayed overnight on the Mont itself.

I'm one of those who thinks that 4 hours is enough. Although last time I visited I was in and out in two hours. To me it's just an island with a rebuilt church and some cheap (but not inexpensive) tourist traps.

There are some places with good views of the Mont, but mostly on the other side of the bay, so you get a distant view and you need to drive 45 min. Not really worth it. Check out Hotel Les Hermelles as an example of what I mean.

In 2018 we stayed at https://lajacotiere.fr/ (from RS book). We had a beautiful view of MSM at night. We enjoyed our stay, had easy free parking and we walked to the island..

We visited Mont St Michel three weeks ago on a RS tour. We stayed overnight at the Hotel Auberge Saint Pierre. The hotel was fine but I was disappointed to find that the abbey wasn’t illuminated at night. Not sure if this is temporary but it was very, very dark walking around the ramparts at night and in the early morning hours. I tried to research it on the internet but was unable to find anything.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/france/travel-to-mount-st-michel

Just so you have enough information to be sure what you want, try to download the official access and parking map, or at least look at Google Maps. It's easy to overlook major redevelopment of the immediate area (12? years ago) to accommodate today's massive crowds. There are multiple chain motels (and a supermarket and a restaurant) lining the 100% paved asphalt walk from the farthest reaches of the parking lot. I'm sure you can find reviews for those motels, and I imagine most of them are interchangeable. But any of them is entirely walkable to a close or near view of the abbey. You don't need the electric bus, and the island is VERY close to the mainland. This is remote and rural, but it is not "far-from-civilization." It's not prudent to depend on "a view" from a modern "highway motel", which is exactly what these are.

I'm not telling you what you want, but some visitors want a B&B that actually does have a distant view of the abbey. But that would require a car, or at least bicycles and good weather. We were happy with 4 hours, in our car on the way to elsewhere.

We enjoyed our stay at Les Valtières du Mont-Saint-Michel back in 2014. Check it out at https://www.montsaintmichel-location-gite.fr. Our view over to MSM was great but it was not visible from our hotel room window as I recall.