My family of 4 will be arriving at Mont St Michel for one night on a Saturday in August around 4 pm give or take an hour. Was hoping to go directly to visit the abbey once we dropped our bags at our hotel for the night, but know our time is limited as last entry is at 6 pm. They open again at 7:30- midnight for a special night show with lights, etc but they told me via email that you cannot stay on past 7 pm to attend the evening show as my Rick Steves book had indicated. So have any of you been there both for the daytime to tour/visit the abbey as well as seen the special light show there at night? If I don't get into the abbey before 5/5:30, is it worth the money for us to visit during the day? I'm not really interested in seeing a special lighting show. I really want to see the authentic abbey as, but am considering the evening show just to be able to get into and see the abbey. If we are only able to go at night (after 7:30), will we be able to see the genuine authentic abbey or is it a lot of glitz? Also, we leave pretty directly in the morning to return our car in Rennes and catch a train south to Avignon so we won't have a lot of time in the morning. Thank you.
Posted by
Wyckoff, NJ, USA
7324 posts
Visiting the Abbey requires a long level walk or shuttle bus from the parking lot, a ticket line, and then a substantial, stone-paved uphill walk to the top of the town. I don’t know anything about the night access.
If you are sleeping on the island, you will have plenty of time for daylight exterior viewing.
Posted by
Florida, USA
12172 posts
I arrived at MSM in mid afternoon. I was there in later September and don't recall night hours. When I got there, I hiked straight up to the Abbey via the ramparts. It took quite awhile longer to get from the parking lot to the top of the Mont than I had expected. I made it about an hour before last entry. Not sure where Tim bought his ticket? Maybe at the visitors center by the parking lot? I paid at the entry to the Abbey. An hour or two is a reasonable amount of time to see the Abbey. It's not huge but worth seeing. Afterward I worked my way back down the hill seeing the things I wanted to see. I had planned on coming back in the evening but chose not to because I had seen everything on my list. Crowds weren't too bad except for on the main street through the town.
I was there during low tide. The road would have been at least a foot under water at high tide. I thought I'd come back to see high tide from the ramparts but it was projected to be overcast. Without the moon, it would just be black.
I'm thinking you should plan an evening visit because you may not make the daytime closure.
I planned on an omelette for dinner on MSM but balked at the cost, 35 to 55 euro for just one omelette. Instead I went to nearby Cancale and had their oysters for dinner (I've had oysters many places and felt these lived up to their billing) for an affordable dinner price. Other shopping on MSM is definitely tourist trap type stores.