Bonjour, My wife and I are traveling 20 March thru 6 April in France beginning in Paris, we are renting a car after 4 nights and traveling through France, we are staying on Mont St Michelle one night, while in Normandy. The luggage storage lockers at the Tourist Info Center are closed, is there another option for securing luggage other than leaving it in car?
I was hoping someone more knowledgeable would chime in here, because I don't know if there's a safe place to leave luggage.
I will say, do not leave ANYTHING in your car at Mont Saint-Michel, even if it's hidden.
Just take anything important (money, passports, meds, credit cards, computer, etc) to your island hotel with you. If you only leave clothes in the car - preferably bags out of sight. Your chances of losing that stuff is small, even if someone does break into the car.
I know you wrote "on MSM", but I think the mainland hotels along the "strip" there may have their own parking, a little safer. And likely bigger rooms. Just an idea.
I wouldn't bring more than a small overnight bag to the island itself. It is all you will need, and large luggage can be a real chore on the one small, cobble-stoned road. But stash your other luggage in your trunk miles before you get to town so no one sees you putting it in your trunk right before walking away and leaving it unattended.
Make sure your valuables are with you, but as long as your bags are out of sight, you should be okay leaving them in the car. I would get the bags you are going to carry organized before you get to the parking area so you do not have to fish around in the back and advertise what you are doing.
We've stayed on Mont St Michel 6 times and have never had anything stolen from our car. Of course that doesn't mean it can't happen but our experience is that it's not a high risk.
By all means, follow the advice above about taking your irreplaceable items with you, carry as little as possible with you for the overnight stay (narrow cobblestone street can make heavy luggage a real chore) and do your luggage shifting and "hiding" before you arrive at the parking lot.
You'll hear advocates both ways, but my advice is to stay on the island. It's lovely after the day trippers depart in late afternoon and then again in the morning before a new crop arrives.
I agree with Bob…..we paired down our luggage to the necessities we needed on the island, left our big luggage in our rental trunk locked up and walked to the island to our room with our lighter luggage. Our rental car was parked in a locked lot…..seems it would be difficult to get to our locked trunk even if someone really wanted to. Sleep on the island……it is SO WORTH it.
Bonjour.
You might want to checkout Luggage Hero which is a great way to store luggage.
Have a great trip!!
Take it with you,
I add to the chorus of those who have safely left my luggage in my car (last May) while spending a night on the Mont with a backpack. The overnight parking lots are separate and have security guards. One thing we really enjoyed was taking a guided tour on the sand in the bay; full of history and environmental stories.