Can anyone recommend a hotel for in Mont St Michel? My husband and I will be there for one night in August and are debatting whether to stay on the island or not. I have read that parking can be difficult and hectic so I'm wondering if it would be easier to stay off the island. We don't want to spend anymore than 120 Euros for the night.
Parking's not a problem; there's plenty of room at the mont end of the causeway, espcially later in the afternoon. Good luck on the hotels, they're way out of my price range, so's the food and it is uniformyly bad.
An alternative idea is to leave MSN and drive fourty-five minutes west to St Malo -- the best example of a walled port in europe. It has great grub (just inside the wall next to the recreational marina is a slew of places) and hotels at better than half the price.
Arrive later in the day after the day trippers leave and you will not have any problems parking. We stayed at Hotel Saint Michel which is unclassified (meaning that contrary to some of the hotels which are a three-star hotel, Hotel Saint Michel has no star) and the rates were 75 euros or 85 euros depending on whether you want a view overlooking the bay. We took one with the view. All the rooms are equipped with a private bathroom, telephone and television. If you are looking for a basic, clean, small room without the high price this should work for you. We were there in May 2009 so it was not at the height of the travel season. The fact that you are going in August should be a much busier time since many Europeans take their holiday in August and the rates would probably be higher. Hotel Saint Michel is managed by Terrasses Poulard so you would need to contact them for reservations. You could also ask for a room at Terrasses Poulard but they may already be booked plus the price would be higher since I think it is rated a three star hotel. If you are interested and know the date you are going to be there you probably should go ahead and reserve a room before everything is booked. You can always cancel if your plans change. Below is their contact information.
E-mail: [email protected]
tel: +33 2 33 89 02 02
fax: + 33 2 33 60 37 31
If you stay in one of the hotels on the island, you get parking access to a limited access lot closer to the Mont. Once you check in, they'll give you a swipe card to raise the barrier so that you can park there. I stayed at a place called Auberge St. Pierre (or at least, I think that was the name). Small, but it did the job for me. As Ed noted, most of the restaurants on the island are forgettable, but with one notable exception- Restaurant St. Michel.