It's been 14 years since I last visited MSM, and at that time, I was able to find a parking spot right outside the main entrance. From what I understand, visitors to MSM are now required to park in a nearby village and take a shuttle bus to the abbey.
Has anyone here visited MSM in the past few months, and is able to give me the correct information on parking there? My friend and I are planning a trip to Normandy about the middle of September.
Posted by
698 posts
Yes, it's a major, massive 4000 space parking lot (not in the village) which you cannot miss as it's the only place you can park. Then you catch the shuttle or walk (long walk.) You can see it on google maps. Put parking Mont St Michel and look at it from satellite view. Just follow the signs and other cars that point you in that direction.
In fact the nearby village (Not MSM) if you will, with a few hotels on La Bas Pays is gated off and has personnel security. I don't know if you have to prove you are staying in those village hotels or why the road is blocked, but it was gated when we were there last month. I'm guessing it got overrun with too many cars/tourists trying to catch views of MSM? Anyway, the parking lot is not within but adjacent/near the village, and is surrounded mostly by green meadows.
My understanding is that even if you are staying on MSM, you also park in that massive parking lot as well; and catch the shuttle like everyone else. It's paid parking, except free after 6:30pm I believe. Shuttle is free (or should I say no extra fee.)
Posted by
Wisconsin, USA
148 posts
Two years ago, you had to pay for parking (near the shuttle stop by the parking lot) before trying to drive out the exit.
Posted by
Wyckoff, NJ, USA
7719 posts
Having been there since 2012, when parking was outsourced to a multi-national infrastructure company, I think this is a fairly good link, with maps and prices:
There's a lot of misinformation kicking around, some of it going back to postwar rebuilding. There's a persistent myth that the abbey is so far from the mainland that you must take a bus over a scary one-lane causeway to get there. It's actually very close, and as you may know, at many tidal times you don't have to use the causeway. The bus is now double-ended and electric.
It is entirely possible for an able-bodied adult to walk from halfway back in the parking lot to the ticket office in 20 minutes. That would be without stopping at the ten (?) hotels, bathrooms, supermarket, TI, souvenir shops, and everything else on the mainland.
Yes, just like universities, parking garages in the US, and state parks, people who don't believe it is possible to pay for parking before you get into the car try to exit without a paid ticket. Then, cars back up as they drop their credit card on the pavement, insert it backwards, and squint to read the instructions on the wrong side of their bifocals. (I wear bifocals.)
There is no Constitutional right to park for free right in front of the business that is your destination. This parking was built to solve mass tourism, which has probably doubled since 2012. I think it is a good solution.
Posted by
Middletown, RI
1201 posts
"Mont-Saint-Michel"
No "e" at the end.
Posted by
USA
399 posts
In fact the nearby village (Not MSM) if you will, with a few hotels on La Bas Pays is gated off and has personnel security. I don't know if you have to prove you are staying in those village hotels or why the road is blocked, but it was gated when we were there last month.
When we stayed at one of those hotels they gave us an access code for the gate. During the day parking there is for hotel guests only. When we were there a few years ago the gates were up in the evening after MSM was closed so people could drive up and park at the restaurants.