Can you visit Mont St. Michel at night?

You can explore the town and ramparts at any time of day, but the abbey closes in the evening. The parking lots should remain open 24 hours a day. Don't worry about driving on the causeway. It's not a bridge, its a fairly wide strip of land .

Here is an official information website that gives you opening hours. The English speaking guided tours don't leave very frequently so if you want to go late you might have to just use an audioguide to tour the abbey. In high season there are special evening tours, otherwise the Abbey closes at 6/7 pm.

http://mont-saint-michel.monuments-nationaux.fr/en/bdd/page/visites

Don't worry about the parking. It's very easy to drive up the causeway (not a bridge, though they are plans to build one to replace the causeway) and park anytime.

Cecily, I just booked this wonderful Chateau, which is 15 minutes from Mont St. Michel

click here for the Chateau near Mont Saint Michel Abbey

At : 310 kms from Paris, 18 kms from Mont-Saint-Michel
30 kms from the beach 55 kms from Saint-Malo

My coworker (who visits paris regularly) recommended this chateau. The chateau still belongs to the family, and its still their home. The price includes breakfast, and the person who answered the phone spoke wonderful english.

Kent, it does?? Geez, I guess I should read my book, eh?? Its sitting on my nightstand... Oops!

Michelle: It's okay, that's my raison d'etre on this site, right, somebody's gotta be the book nerd! :)page 239, 2nd paraThe Mont is magical at night, esp. if they have the flood lights on the walls of the abbey, they don't always. Walking around there at night and knowing it has been a place of spiritual beauty since the 6th century, for the last 1500 years!Isn't this why we keep going back to Europe--despite the sinking dollar and higher airfares? For the inspirational moments that a place like Mont St. Michel can give us?The masses of day-trippers on the big bus tours leave by about 4pm to head back to Paris, so it's just the few people sleeping on the Mont or nearby that are left!

Yeah, what Kent just said, my thoughts exactly. Few other sites in Europe offer such a pleasantly dramatic contrast between night and day. Note that even if English tours leave fairly infrequently, you can rent an audioguide anytime. In my experience, audioguides tend to be a hit-or-miss affair, but Mont St. Michel had one of the better ones.

Great to know. Thanks for the information and recommendaions.

We are also planning on visiting the Mont soon (June 26). How late can we visit in the morning and be ahead of the Paris day-trip tours? We are staying in Dinan, which I believe is it hour away.

For the rest of that day we are planning either Fougeres or Vitre (which is better for ambience?---we prefer our castles romantically ruined, not restored), Roches-aux-Fees, and maybe Jublains, then return to Dinan hotel. Would it be better to circle the opposite direction and visit the Mont late afternoon? (We will have a car.)

Cynthia:The much reviled day-trippers :) mob the Mont from roughly 10am to 4pm. I wouldn't choose between Fougeres and Vitre but rather do both! Richilieu did a good job of demolishing a portion of the Fougeres castle and the high keep is completely missing, so it should satisfy your requirement of ruined. And Vitre is probably the best preserved "old world" town in Bretagne. Coming from Fougeres there's a great view of the town on the road coming down the hill. Vitre also has a romantic and partially ruined castle. Ville Romaine de Jublains I would rank below Vitre and Fougeres but is also worthwhile. I'm not familiar with Roches-aux-Fee.The drive along the coast from Dinan to the Mont is highly recommended, although you should get onto N176 around Mont Dol as you drive east.