Mont St Michel Over Night

How were they horrible?

We went to MSM on our own. We stayed off island and were happy with our accommodations. I think all the restaurants are affiliated. The food where we ate was terrible. Probably the worst meal we've had it France. I'm wondering if your experience is similar to ours in that if you want to sleep/eat on the island or the causeway leading to it, its all the same organization and if the demand is high enough, they don't need to make much of an effort?

I've heard that "waking up on the island" is "magical". I'm thinking that perhaps if you want that experience you have to settle for the hotels they have?

I’m assuming you mean your after tour review. After 12 tours, I’ve never had anyone respond to my critiques of the tour. If you want to talk to someone about it, you might try calling their office to talk to the tour department.

Jules m - Can you comment on where you stayed? I'm planning to spend one night at/near Mont Saint Michel in September 2025. Reviews are unfavorable for hotels on the island so I'm considering one at the entrance to the causeway. Some say you must stay on the Island but others says it's a must to see if from a distance. I'm thinking I could arrive on the Island around 4 pm and stay until after sunset. I'd then go back across the causeway for the view from a distance, have dinner and sleep there. Any thoughts? Thanks in advance. Anne

Anne, we stayed at Auberge de la Baie. Its a modest place, very clean. The restaurant looked good, it was crowded. We should have eaten dinner there. I believe it was a couple miles, at most, from the parking lot for the shuttle bus. We arrived perhaps at about 5 or 6, for the "golden hour". Pictures from the highway were stunning. We went over to the island in the evening and then went back in the am and walked up to the abbey to be there at opening. We visited the abbey and walked the island and left at about 11am when it was starting to get busy.

Regarding the OPs post. Were the comments provided on a survey at the end of the tour? I don't think I would expect a reply to that. If it was a personal email, IMO, then a response is polite. Would still love to know what "horrible" means.

The OP has also posted comments on the Ireland Board with the general comment that hotels were “bad.”
Replies asking for more clarification have gone unanswered.

Surprisingly, no one on their staff responded.

I'd like to respond (to this comment, not about the tour) and say that we read every last tour review. Your voice is heard. We consider all the input and we tweak our itineraries every year. I should know, I make the edits to each of the itineraries on the website. However, we do not have the ability to respond to reviews provided by 30,000+ tour members each year. It's just not reasonably feasible.

For issues that require a personal response, please contact customer service at [email protected] or 425-771-8303.

We are staying on the island for 1 night in June 2025. We are fully anticipating it to not be as good as other places (and Rick's guidebook points out all the flaws of recommended hotels), but my son says sleeping on the island was one of the things he was really looking forward to. So, we booked a hotel on the island.

I went on the Paris and heart of France tour that spent one night on Mont St Michel, and I found spending the night there and going to the sunrise service to be absolutely magical. It was one of the highlights of the tour for me. As for the hotel, I remember it being basic, but definitely not horrible and worth it to me for the experience. It’s unfortunate that your experience was so different from mine. My tour was five years ago and pre-Covid, so maybe things have changed?

Super annoying that someone drops something like this in the forum with no specifics and then fails to come back to answer questions. The only one that benefits from the post is the OP who gets the opportunity to vent.