Paris to Mont-Saint Michel to the Channel

I have taken a TGV to Rennes and rented a car there. From Rennes I have driven to both Mont Saint-Michel and St. Malo. There are also ferries to the UK from Cherbourg and Ouistreham (next to Caen). If all goes as planned, I will be arriving to Cherbourg via ferry this early June from Portsmouth. Check Brittany Ferries for schedules.

If you can drive, I would take the high-speed train to Rennes, rent a car there, drive ~1 hr to Mont St Michel.

After Mont St Michel, drive back to Rennes airport (max ~1.5 hr), return the car, and fly to London.

The same could be done by bus, it's just slower and on the way back you'd need transport from the station to the airport (metro + bus, or a taxi). Check "Keolis Armor" for Rennes-Mont St Michel bus times.

If Portsmouth is convenient for you, then the ferry from St Malo is also an option. Portsmouth is convenient if you had places like Winchester, Salisbury & Stonehenge on your radar.

If your destination is London or near it, and you rent a car in Rennes, Easyjet has a daily flight from Rennes to Gatwick airport.

Just to clarify, are you intending to travel as a ferry foot passenger to England.
If not, check carefully with your car hire company if you can take the car - apart from anything else, we drive cars on the left with the steering wheel on the right.

whereabouts in England are you heading for?

An alternative not discussed above is train to Paris, change to the gare du Nord and take Eurostar to London. From there you can take trains to almost everywhere in England, Scotland and Wales.

sarazinnm, welcome to this newsboard with your first post. Please tell us a little more about your travel experience in Europe (of course, not including France!) You have chosen multiple locations that are poorly linked, and time-consuming to visit. Have you read any past posts here about usage of Ferries to England from France? The Search box top left is pretty effective. Do you know that August is vacation month in Europe - things will be especially crowded and harder to book.

I've twice had ferries connecting St. Malo to the Channel Islands and southern England canceled. If you're on a tight itinerary, there's a bit of risk in relying on those ferries for on-time arrival.

Thank you all for the replies. I've never been to mainland Europe before - I was in London and Oxford for two weeks way back in 2002 as a student, and I did a Collette tour in Ireland in 2022 with 3 days in London as a tour extension. I think i am trying to fit too much into a short trip, but because I'm very unfamiliar with France and the French language, I'm struggling to get a handle on how to make plans. Nothing is booked so far, still just trying to come up with a plan!

I've twice had ferries connecting St. Malo to the Channel Islands and
southern England canceled. If you're on a tight itinerary, there's a
bit of risk in relying on those ferries for on-time arrival.

I had my one and only ferry trip cancelled. They got me on a different ferry, but it left from a different port (Portsmouth versus Poole) so it was a bit of a scramble. This year, I have booked a ferry and also a full-fare Eurostar ticket from England to Paris. Full-fare is 100% refundable. If I don't need it, no harm. But if I do, the price will salvage a vacation with lot of other things planned.

sarazinnm,
First, how long is your trip not counting arrival and departure days? Are you flying into Paris and home from London? Do you plan on spending time in Paris before Mt. St. Michel? Count nights, not days. Night one is on arrival day. Your real trip begins after that day. The night before your departure day follows your last day on your trip. Travel days between locations shouldn't be counted as "trip" days, as they will be taken up in moving from place to place
.
So, if you have two weeks, 14 days total). Day 1 arrive, days 2-5 Paris (nights 1-5). Day 6 travel to Mt. St. Michel and stay 2 nights in Pontorson or on the Mont, giving you a full day (day 7) at Mont St. Michel (nights 6 and 7). Day 8 travel to London (I suggest train to Paris and switch train stations for Eurostar to England. Ferries are too iffy.) Days 9-13 London (nights 8-13). Day 14 fly home from London. As you can see, days 6 and 8 are travel days. Day 1 is arrival day. Days 2 through 5 Paris, Day 7 Mont St. Michel, Days 9-13 London, Day 14 departure. You have 10 days of your trip, 2 days travel, 1 day arrival, 1 day departure=14 days.

This is just an example of an itinerary. I don't know how long you have or what your Paris and England plans are. I hope it helps.

Pontorson is the closest to the mont and there are several places to stay there. There is a bus or jitney to take you from the parking lot across he causeway to the base of the mont. Then an uphill walk to the abbey at the top. As far a how to get to the parking lot from Pontorson, I don't know as we have always driven there.

Do let the forum know how long you have and when you are going.

+1 for balso and Judy. 4 hours at MSM were enough for my wife and me (ages over 65, we had a car). You sound young to me, which I only mention because many older Americans consider the Normandy invasion beaches the most important place to see in France-but you may have no interest.

My wife will not take a ferry again after a seasick night on the Channel.

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

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/france/london-to-bayeux-and-back-again-by-rail

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/france/england-to-france

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/france/summer-travel-to-normandy-from-london-uk

I highly recommend you borrow or purchase Rick Steves' guidebook to France, which wonderfully explains things like how to get to Mont St-Michel, and using the train system in France. Your local library should have a copy.

Count me in with the other replies who have taken the train from Paris to Rennes to pick up a reserved rental car. We really enjoyed the drive out to Mont St Michel and all around the coast. We stayed on the Mont, so the car stays in a large paid parking lot on the mainland, and they have free shuttle buses to take you from the parking lot to the Mont.

After Mont-Saint Michel, I next need to get to England. Will it be tricky to get to Saint-Malo? Or would it be better to aim for another place - which city would make the most sense to travel to next to board a ferry?

We did that Channel crossing after finding out about the ferries. We booked on Brittany Ferries, who depart from several ports in France to several ports in England. Pick a port based on where you want to land in England. We did not leave from St Malo because we wanted to drive the car around and explore more first, but if you need to go straight to England, Brittany Ferries sails from St Malo to Portsmouth or Plymouth. The ferry ride was fun, but the Channel can sometimes be a bit of a ride if you have problems with seasickness.

St Malo is close to Mont St Michel so if you had a rental car it would be an easy short drive. However...you do have to account for which city you will be able to drop off the rental car. That affected our route planning. The final piece in the puzzle is transportation from the rental car drop-off location to the ferry dock.

Book everything well in advance...we traveled off-season but still ran into crowds on Mont St Michel and less choice than we expected for rental cars. August would be nuts!

If you can schedule this and if weather allows, try to be able to explore Mont St Michel in the evening and early morning. During these hours the crushing mobs of day-trippers are not jamming the very narrow streets, so the whole place is much emptier and more like what we might imagine it to be. We only stayed one night but managed to enjoy it this way.

An alternative not discussed above is train to Paris, change to the gare du Nord and take Eurostar to London. From there you can take trains to almost everywhere in England, Scotland and Wales.

We considered that, but one reason we went with the ferry is that the ferry crossing would only be 5 hours, while in comparison, doubling back to Paris, crossing the channel, and getting from London to our eventual England destination would not only take many more hours, but cost much more money in total fares.