Mont Saint-Michel 

Overview: 

Born out of a dream, the hid­den gem of France Mont Saint-Michel is as his­tor­i­cal­ly rich as it is cul­tur­al­ly and archi­tec­tural­ly, with this incred­i­ble medi­ae­val vil­lage — that is home to stun­ning eater­ies, his­tor­i­cal muse­ums and one of the most stun­ning abbeys on the plan­et —  rest­ing on an almost sur­re­al island that is acces­si­ble by both draw­bridge and cause­way and which, thanks to the ever-chang­ing and largest tides in Europe, is tru­ly mag­i­cal with high tide brin­ing a float­ing and mir­ror reflec­tion to the iso­lat­ed vil­lage – and low tide enabling explor­ers to walk on foot across quaint sand around the vil­lage, allow­ing for the incred­i­ble his­to­ry, beau­ty and romance of this true won­der of the world to be absorbed.  

Defined by its unique and dreamy loca­tion, Mont Saint-Michel has served as inspi­ra­tion for some of the most famous fic­tion­al cas­tles – includ­ing Gon­dor from Lord of the Rings, the cas­tle in the film Tan­gled and even Har­ry Pot­ter, yet the real­i­ty and his­to­ry of this vil­lage runs both deep­er and dark­er. Con­ceived in the dream of Bish­op Aubert of Avranch­es in 708AD Mont Saint-Michel took more than 1300 years to build with the site fought with con­struc­tion prob­lems owing to its remote loca­tion and the harsh con­di­tions that sur­round­ed it.  

His­to­ry:  Yet gen­er­a­tions after its incep­tion, the medieval vil­lage – which still remains a place of wor­ship – was com­plet­ed, with the dukes of Nor­mandy and then French Kings see­ing that the vil­lage – which remains in its cur­rent state – and the famed Bene­dic­tine abbey and monas­tic build­ings were added. With th  rep­u­ta­tion of the now com­plet­ed city spread­ing far across Europe and becom­ing a pil­grim­age site – such was both the his­tor­i­cal and archi­tec­tur­al beau­ty of Mont Saint-Michel and its reli­gious sig­nif­i­cance.  

Around the 7th cen­tu­ry, the his­to­ry of Mont Saint-Michel become more war cen­tric – with the unique and iso­lat­ed nature of the vil­lage – and its nat­ur­al defences thanks to the vary­ing tides – see­ing it becom­ing a Roman Strong­hold, and then owing to the beau­ty and arti­facts with­in it being sacked and raid­ed by the Franks. Mont Saint-Michel then played a promi­nent role in the 9th Cen­tu­ry and the Eng­lish and French strug­gles – with the famed William “Long Sword” and the duke of Nor­mandy annex­ing areas around Mont Saint-Michel before the monastery lent its sup­port to William of Nor­mandy in his claim to the throne – before Mont Saint-Michel would become the tar­get of sieges, attempt­ed con­quests and hos­til­i­ties dur­ing the 100-year war.  

Yet despite sus­tain­ing sig­nif­i­cant dam­age and being a key focus of the Eng­lish cam­paign, Mont Saint-Michel nev­er fell to the Eng­lish cam­paigns – with this expe­ri­ence of sur­viv­ing the Eng­lish siege – some­thing which can be explored fur­ther in the Mont Saint-Michel Muse­um —  stand­ing the vil­lage in good stead, when again the vil­lage did not fall dur­ing the French Rev­o­lu­tion, giv­ing it a rep­u­ta­tion as an uncon­quer­able fortress as well as a stun­ning and gor­geous vil­lage.  

How­ev­er, despite sur­viv­ing hun­dreds of years of wars and sieges – and being a cul­tur­al­ly, his­tor­i­cal­ly and beau­ti­ful medieval vil­lage – owing to only sev­en monks resid­ing with­in the vil­lage the monastery – and the vil­lage was offi­cial­ly dis­solved dur­ing the French Rev­o­lu­tion in the 18th Cen­tu­ry – with Napoleon re-clas­si­fy­ing the roman­tic vil­lage as one of the most unique pris­ons in the world which Mont Saint-Michel stood as until 1863 – before final­ly receiv­ing the recog­ni­tion and clas­si­fi­ca­tion it deserves in 1874 as a his­toric mon­u­ment  – with the vil­lage since ben­e­fit­ting from a series of restora­tion and preser­va­tion projects which have made it into and help it main­tain its sta­tus as a true won­der of the world.  

Explore: It’s thanks to these projects that explor­ers can now jour­ney to and explore all that this incred­i­ble vil­lage has to offer – with vis­i­tors arriv­ing in the small town of Beau­voir — the gate­way to Mont Saint-Michel and from there it’s a thrilling three kilo­me­tre jour­ney to the vil­lage, with the approach to the vil­lage being equal­ly stun­ning as it’s inside and allow­ing explor­ers to grab the icon­ic shots of the float­ig vil­lage that is Mont Saint-Michel.  

For those arriv­ing at low tide there’s the option to trek across the sands as thou­sands of pil­grims have done before­hand to reach the vil­lage and then trek across the 11th cen­tu­ry cause­way that will take you onto the cob­bled streets of the won­der of Mont Saint-Michel. While you can expect some steep stairs at times, the inside of the vil­lage is a true mar­vel – and along­side check­ing out the medieval vil­lage and the still used hous­es inside the vil­lage and admir­ing their increi­d­ble archi­tec­ture espe­cial­ly the well named hous­es of the Arti­choke (“la mai­son de l’artichaut”) and the Home of the Flee­ing Sow (“l’auberge de la tru­ie qui file”) – there’s no doubt the high­lights of Mont Saint-Michel lie in explor­ing the vilalges incred­i­ble abbey and for­ti­fi­ca­tions 

Direct­ly accessed by fol­low­ing the nar­row and steep cob­ble­stone path­way of the charm­ing La Grande Rue medieval streets the Abbey is tru­ly inspi­ra­tional – with a his­to­ry that dates back to 708 to step atop this incred­i­ble Abbey and first­ly look out over the plains of Mont Saint-Michel is mov­ing, yet to enter inside the his­toric and won­der­ful gold­en halls of the abbey and approach to alter is spir­i­tu­al – and we’d encour­age you to spend some time in deep reflec­tion at the altar as so many pil­grims have done before you.  

Hav­ing tak­en your time reflect­ing with­in the Abbey, you can then explore the incred­i­ble tapes­tries upon the walls – includ­ing those which depict the many sieges and the bat­tle of Nor­mandy before tak­ing one last moment with­in the stun­ning abbey and mak­ing your way back down the La Grande Rue – where we’d encour­age you to indulge in some of the increi­d­ble eater­ies that lie with­in the vil­lage – with an Omelette at the 1888 La Mère Poulard restau­rant being an undoubt­ed culi­nary high­light.  

Sim­ply stun­ning, for the his­to­ry buffs there’s also a great chance to explore the for­ti­fi­ca­tions that have pro­tect­ed the vil­lage against mul­ti­ple sieges across the cen­turies by tak­ing a walk across the ram­parts – and from there you will have a per­fect view of the ris­ing tide as the sun begins to set. With those who want a tru­ly icon­ic pho­to, view and expe­ri­ence over Mont Saint-Michel encour­aged to head back out over the 11th cen­tu­ry cause­way and head to sun­set point from where you can look back on the full beau­ty of Mont Saint-Michel as it glows against the sun­set – and as the sun begins to slow­ly set explor­ers can toast an incred­i­ble day at this his­tor­i­cal, reli­gious, spir­i­tu­al and cul­tur­al­ly impor­tant vil­lage toast that is an undoubt­ed and tru­ly incred­i­ble won­der of the world.  

Where:  

Tru­ly mag­i­cal, the his­tor­i­cal­ly rich and archi­tec­tural­ly won­der of the world of Mont-Saint-Michel is for­tu­nate­ly eas­i­ly found , with this jew­el of France lying on the west­ern coast in the North­ern part of the coun­try just off the Nor­mandy Coast near the small town of Avranch­es.  

Almost cir­cu­lar in nature – and a true priv­i­lege to explore the famed tides and sand based rocky islands that sur­round Mont-Saint-Michel and which sweep towards the Chan­nel only add to the romance of this spec­tac­u­lar vil­lage, with the site being accessed on foot along a cause­way link and bridge and which takes you into the spec­tac­u­lar wind­ing cob­bled stone streets of this spec­tac­u­lar palace.  

Despite its loca­tion off the coast of Nor­mandy — Mont-Saint-Michel is incred­i­bly acces­si­ble from main­land France, with this mag­i­cal won­der found just 40 miles north of the main French City of Rennes – and the town of Avranch­es being easy to access by both pub­lic trans­port and by road from across the coun­try – mean­ing that get­ting to the won­der of Mont-Saint-Michel is incred­i­bly straight­for­ward.  

Getting There: 

Lying off the coast of Nor­mandy — Mont-Saint-Michel is one of the most eas­i­ly acces­si­ble won­ders of the world, with this incred­i­ble palace being served by a series of pub­lic trans­port options, guid­ed tours and self-dri­ve options – which should hope­ful­ly make your vis­it to this mag­i­cal vil­lage as spe­cial and stress free as pos­si­ble.  

Your jour­ney to Mont-Saint-Michel will have to begin with get­ting your­self to France – and for those based across Europe we’d real­ly rec­om­mend tak­ing advan­tage of either the fan­tas­tic Eurostar train net­work, by jump­ing on one of the extreme­ly dis­count­ed flights – or even mak­ing Mont-Saint-Michel a stop on a Euro­pean Road Trip by util­is­ing the incred­i­ble road net­work across Europe to enter France.  

For those com­ing from fur­ther ashore and out­side the Euro­pean Con­ti­nent – then undoubt­ed­ly a long-haul flight into France or Europe will be your best option – and you’ll find the near­est major air­port of both Paris and Rennes incred­i­bly well served by air­lines from every con­ti­nent – so it should hope­ful­ly be a mat­ter of pick­ing your air­line (we’d rec­om­mend in advance for cheap­er flights) and set­ting off to explore the won­der of Mont-Saint-Michel.  

Once in France you’ll have a range of option to head to Mont-Saint-Michel and the Nor­mandy area – either by self-dri­ve, pub­lic trans­porta­tion or a guid­ed tour. For those tak­ing on a guid­ed tour – which is a great option for those who want a has­sle free option to reach the won­der with a guid­ed tour and all trans­port arrange­ments includ­ed for you – then it should be as sim­ple as pick­ing your provider online and mak­ing the nec­es­sary arrange­ments – with day tours – which typ­i­cal­ly last around 14 hours – being a par­tic­u­lar­ly pop­u­lar option to reach Mont-Saint-Michel from Paris and from the sur­round­ing areas of Nor­mandy – do bear in mind though that on a guid­ed tour you will be stuck to a strict sched­ule and may well find your­self vis­it­ing at the same time as mul­ti­ple oth­er explor­ers.  

For those who want a lit­tle bit more free­dom and to go at your own pace when vis­it­ing Mont-Saint-Michel – then we’d rec­om­mend going by your­self, either by self-dri­ve or by pub­lic trans­port – with both options giv­ing you the chance to not only explore Mont-Saint-Michel on your own timetable but also allow­ing for an overnight stay either with­in the vil­lage itself or at a neigh­bor­ing town – allow­ing for you to cap­ture incred­i­ble sun­set and night time pho­tos of this stun­ning palace.  

Self-dri­ve: Start­ing with self-dri­ve and from across the whole of France Mont-Saint-Michel is incred­i­ble easy to reach with the roads into Nor­mandy and then onwards to the vil­lage incred­i­bly well main­tained and eas­i­ly found on a sat-nav. For those leav­ing from Paris you can expect to spend around 4 hours to reach Mont-Saint-Michel – and it should be an almost straight dri­ve on the motor­way past the city of Caen towards Rennes – with the route from Rennes also fol­low­ing the same roads.  

For those dri­ving we’d advise avoid­ing the toll roads in France if pos­si­ble – and tak­ing a lit­tle extra care on the motor­ways with traf­fic known to be unre­li­able in both speed and safe­ty on the high­way. Once you’ve reached Mont-Saint-Michel you’ll also find a range of park­ing options – which are very hand­i­ly marked from P2 to P13 – although do be warned that day park­ing is not allowed and you have to have proof of stay­ing overnight to utilise the car park in the peak sum­mer months.  

As well as being a con­ve­nient way of get­ting to Mont-Saint-Michel – dri­ving by car also allows for you to extend your trip from Mont-Saint-Michel into oth­er regions of France, yet for those who don’t fan­cy dri­ving – which can be par­tic­u­lar­ly daunt­ing in a for­eign coun­try – you’ll find a range of pub­lic trans­port options to reach Mont-Saint-Michel includ­ing both bus­es and trains. 

Bus: For those who pre­fer trav­el­ing by bus – there are two main options pri­vate bus – which can take you direct from around France to Mont-Saint-Michel- with the two main oper­a­tors being Flixbus and FH – and which offer cus­tomised timeta­bles for explor­ers. The pub­lic bus­es are also incred­i­bly reli­able across France and both head to and leave from Avranch­es, Granville, Rennes and Pon­tor­son and run from Sun­rise to Sun­set through­out the year – with it being a sim­ple man­ner of wait­ing for the bus­es, flag­ging them down and head­ing off to explore Mont-Saint-Michel.  

Train: As well as head­ing by bus, the train net­work across France is also incred­i­bly reli­able and offers routes into Mont-Saint-Michel from across France. To head to the won­der by train the eas­i­est route – whether trav­el­ing from Paris or fur­ther abroad is to get to the sta­tion of Pon­tor­son – which is reached direct from Paris or via con­nec­tions from the sta­tion of Rennes. From Pon­tor­son you can then either flag down a cab or jump on the bus – with train jour­neys from Paris tak­ing around 2 hours to reach Pon­tor­son – and cost­ing around 20 Euros – with this jour­ney being both an incred­i­bly reli­able and smooth option to reach the vil­lage.  

Whichev­er way you choose to reach Mont-Saint-Michel – we’d real­ly encour­age you to spend at least one night in either the vil­lage itself or the sur­round­ing town, which is an option avail­able to those who trav­el by pub­lic trans­port or self-dri­ve. With Mont-Saint-Michel being incred­i­bly spe­cial at both sun­set and in the evening thanks to the chang­ing tides – and an overnight stay allow­ing you both incred­i­ble pho­tos of this tru­ly mag­i­cal palace and allow­ing you to expe­ri­ence the absolute best of the won­der of the world that is Mont-Saint-Michel.  

Best time to Visit: 

Open and acces­si­ble all year round, one of the only draw­backs about Mont-Saint-Michel from a vis­it­ing and trav­el­ling per­spec­tive at least can be the cold and freez­ing win­ters dur­ing the months of Novem­ber – Jan­u­ary, where cold winds and gales sweep across from the chan­nel mak­ing your expe­ri­ence at Mont-Saint-Michel a cold and chal­leng­ing one – and with the vil­lage itself hav­ing reduced open­ing hours. 

For this rea­son, we cau­tion against vis­it­ing Mont-Saint-Michel in the win­ter months, where despite the occa­sion­al snow mak­ing for spe­cial pho­tos – the over­all expe­ri­ence is dimin­ished in com­par­i­son to the sum­mer months of June to August. Between the sum­mer months you’ll find French weath­er and that of Mont-Saint-Michel at its most pleas­ant, with tem­per­a­tures in the mid 20 degrees and the vil­lage being explorable in t‑shirts and shorts and the abbey and the vil­lage stay­ing open from 9am – 7pm giv­ing you more time to explore this great won­der.  

Yet these sum­mer months are also the most pop­u­lar – with day tours espe­cial­ly at a pre­mi­um, costs ris­ing – and per­haps most impor­tant­ly crowds being intense – occa­sion­al­ly result­ing in high foot-traf­fic and even queues to enter the abbey, which in intense heat can be a lit­tle unpleas­ant – so while it may be nice and warm if pos­si­ble we’d cau­tion against vis­it­ing in the sum­mer months as there’s no guar­an­tee of get­ting the best expe­ri­ence at Mont-Saint-Michel.  

As a result of this, for this with a free sched­ule we’d advise the best time to vis­it Mont-Saint-Michel as being the months of April – May or Sep­tem­ber to ear­ly Octo­ber, where you should get the best of both worlds – with tem­per­a­tures being on the warm side, although like­ly requir­ing a sweater, and crowds being sig­nif­i­cant­ly reduced – allow­ing you to explore Mont-Saint-Michel at your own pace in hope­ful­ly com­fort­able con­di­tions for the tru­ly best expe­ri­ence at this stun­ning won­der of the world.   

How long to stay:

While Mont-Saint-Michel is acces­si­ble and vis­it­ed as a day trip from the towns of Paris and Rennes, and often fea­tures as a one-day stop on euro-trips or jour­neys across France, we’d real­ly encour­age explor­ers to put aside 2 days and 1 night to explore this his­tor­i­cal­ly and cul­tur­al­ly rich vil­lage.  

Afford­ing your­self 2 days will not only give you plen­ty of time to explore all that the vil­lage has to offer and jour­ney through the many cob­ble­stone path­ways and take in the stun­ning abbey and its accom­pa­ny­ing tapes­tries, but also give you a chance to tru­ly see the best of Mont-Saint-Michel by tak­ing in a sun­rise, sun­set and the mag­i­cal vil­lage at night­fall – with each of these three light­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties giv­ing explor­ers not only a stun­ning pho­tog­ra­phy oppor­tu­ni­ty but also a unique and mes­meris­ing expe­ri­ence at the won­der as it lights up and glows in an array of bright colours against the sparkling tides.  

For an extra spe­cial expe­ri­ence, we’d encour­age you to book a room in advance with­in Mont-Saint-Michel itself, with the expe­ri­ence of stay­ing in this medieval vil­lage being tru­ly unique and giv­ing you a dif­fer­ing view and expe­ri­ence of life with­in this stun­ning medieval vil­lage as you spend 2 days and a night explor­ing the his­tor­i­cal­ly and cul­tur­al­ly rich and tru­ly mag­i­cal won­der of the world.  

Top Tip:

A mes­meris­ing and mag­i­cal vil­lage, Mont Saint-Michel has right­ly earned a rep­u­ta­tion as one of the most unique, pho­to­genic, and inspi­ra­tional won­ders of the world – with the rich his­to­ry, cul­ture and archi­tec­tur­al won­ders found with­in this medieval vil­lage offer­ing both an edu­ca­tion­al and fas­ci­nat­ing expe­ri­ence.  

As a result of this rep­u­ta­tion, vis­its to Mont Saint-Michel have soared in pop­u­lar­i­ty – with the vil­lage receiv­ing almost 3 mil­lion vis­i­tors a year – and being par­tic­u­lar­ly crowd­ed dur­ing the high sea­son in the sum­mer months. These exces­sive crowds, com­bined with the poten­tial­ly treach­er­ous tides that sur­round the fortress, the vol­ume of walk­ing that explor­ing Mont Saint-Michel entails and of course the unpre­dictable weath­er have the poten­tial to real­ly take the shine off any trip to Mont Saint-Michel and damp­en the expe­ri­ence of explor­ing this great won­der.  

So in order to ensure that your expe­ri­ence to the great site of Mont Saint-Michel is as thrilling and enjoy­able as pos­si­ble, we’ve round­ed up our top tips for vis­it­ing this incred­i­ble vil­lage in order to make sure you get the absolute best out of this incred­i­ble won­der of the world: 

- Stay Overnight: While it’s cer­tain­ly pos­si­ble to explore Mont Saint-Michel in a long day trip from Paris or Rennes – or make it a quick stop on a Euro­pean road trip, for the absolute best expe­ri­ence and to ful­ly immerse your­self in the beau­ty of Mont Saint-Michel we’d real­ly rec­om­mend stay­ing overnight – and if pos­si­ble stay­ing with­in the vil­lage itself.  

Stay­ing overnight will first­ly give you an oppor­tu­ni­ty to snap tru­ly beau­ti­ful pho­tos of both the sun­set and moon against the vil­lage from the out­side cause­way – but will also give you a chance to explore the incred­i­ble cob­ble­stone vil­lage in a peri­od where crowds are at a min­i­mal and give you a real flavour for life in this unique vil­lage as it cur­rent­ly is.  

While we’d rec­om­mend stay­ing with­in the vil­lage itself – and tak­ing a room in the bed and break­fast or one of the hotels that lie with­in the road of the Grand Rue with­in Mont Saint-Michel, book­ing accom­mo­da­tion can be a chal­lenge and requires both an advanced reser­va­tion and a gen­er­ous trav­el­ling bud­get, for those who don’t man­age to secure a room you can also find great accom­mo­da­tion in the neigh­bour­ing vil­lages of Mont Saint-Michel – some of which even fea­ture a stun­ning view our over this palace that can make for an incred­i­ble place to both wit­ness the sun­rise and moon­light against Mont Saint-Michel.  

So while a day­time vis­it to Mont Saint-Michel is an undoubt­ed­ly incred­i­ble expe­ri­ence, to take in the true mag­ic of this great vil­lage an overnight stay is an absolute must – and you’ll find a range of incred­i­ble options both with­in the vil­lage itself and in the sur­round­ing towns.  

Be Pre­pared for some Car­dio: While Mont Saint-Michel is eas­i­ly acces­si­ble from across all of France and Europe, and there exists a range of options to get to this incred­i­ble vil­lage, includ­ing self-dri­ve, a range of pub­lic trans­port options and guid­ed tours – once inside the vil­lage you’ll find that aside from Ves­pas, walk­ing is the only way to explore this incred­i­ble won­der. 

Intro­duced to help pre­serve the streets and medieval nature of Mont Saint-Michel, your walk­ing expe­ri­ence will like­ly begin on your approach when you tra­verse an almost 2 kilo­me­tre long bridge and cause­way on foot to enter the vil­lage, and from there the walk­ing does not slow down – with the streets of Mont Saint-Michel famed for their cob­ble­stone con­struc­tion and con­sist­ing of a series of uphill alleys which lead towards both the main street of Grand Rue, the abbey and the out­side for­ti­fi­ca­tions which are undoubt­ed­ly the high­lights of this immense won­der.  

While walk­ing through Mont Saint-Michel can of course be done at your own pace, and you’ll find plen­ty of cafes and restau­rants that make for great pit stops on the way, do be sure to bring some good stur­dy walk­ing shoes before set­ting off on your explo­ration of Mont Saint-Michel.  

The Tides: One of the main sources of Mont Saint-Michel’s mag­ic, and respon­si­ble for the clas­sic float­ing image that has become the icon and one of the must snap pho­tos of Mont Saint-Michel – the tides around the vil­lage are ever chang­ing and while they pro­vide an immense source of beau­ty – they can also be incred­i­bly treach­er­ous, and care should be tak­en for those who seek to explore them fur­ther.  

As a first rule it’s strong­ly advised not to attempt to cross the mud­flats dur­ing the ris­ing tides around Mont Saint-Michel on foot – with so much of this mud and sand­bank con­sist­ing of sud­den sharp drops into deep mud and quick­sand, which can see you both get stuck and sink – with these flats hav­ing once formed a key part of Mont Saint-Michel’s defences against intrud­ers. For those who are set on explor­ing the tides – be sure to do so at low tide and we’d advise tak­ing a walk­ing stick to allow you to test the depths of the flats and be sure to bring a sec­ond pair of shoes – as undoubt­ed­ly your own will find them­selves in need of a deep clean after trekking across the flats.  

We’d also advise doing a bit of research into the tides before set­ting off to Mont Saint-Michel – not just to ensure you get the best pho­tos but also from a safe­ty per­spec­tive – with both young chil­dren and the elder­ly advised to steer well clear from any engage­ment with the tides and flats in order to ensure that any trip to Mont Saint-Michel is as safe and trou­ble free as pos­si­ble.  

Crowds: Giv­en the incred­i­ble beau­ty and rich cul­ture and his­to­ry found at Mont Saint-Michel – this unique won­der of the world has been con­tin­u­ous­ly grow­ing in pop­u­lar­i­ty, with crowds flock­ing to it to explore the high­lights of the vil­lage on Euro­pean trips, day tours and jour­neys across France – with Mont Saint-Michel being incred­i­bly pop­u­lar as a sum­mer des­ti­na­tion when Euro­pean school and sum­mer hol­i­days kick in and the weath­er across Nor­mandy is typ­i­cal­ly warm and reli­able.  

As a result of this — Mont Saint-Michel has become incred­i­bly busy – par­tic­u­lar­ly dur­ing the sum­mer months – with the high pop­u­lar­i­ty draw­ing huge crowds and some­times result­ing in human traf­fic jams and exten­sive queues to both enter the vil­lage and explore its high­lights. These crowds, com­bined with the steep steps and swel­ter­ing hit can put vis­i­tors at risk of dizzy spells and real­ly take the enjoy­ment out of your vis­it to Mont Saint-Michel.  

For this rea­son, while we’d encour­age of vis­it­ing out­side the peak tourist sea­son – for those left with no choice but to vis­it dur­ing the peak sea­son – do come pre­pared for the crowds, and we’d sug­gest vis­it­ing ear­ly morn­ing – at sun­rise so you can avoid the bus loads of tourists who arrive dur­ing the day – and in the evening when again con­di­tions are cool­er and the crowds will have thinned – with a vis­it dur­ing these time peri­ods dur­ing the sum­mer see­ing you get the best of Mont Saint-Michel hope­ful­ly with­out intense crowds – mak­ing for a mag­i­cal expe­ri­ence.  

Dress for all con­di­tions: Final­ly, it’s essen­tial to come pre­pared for all weath­er con­di­tions – even when vis­it­ing in the sum­mer months – as giv­en Mont Saint-Michel sits atop a hill sur­round­ed by the chan­nel with ever chang­ing tides – both wind and water con­di­tions are to be expect­ed even dur­ing the warm sum­mer months.  

These con­di­tions are exas­per­at­ed and enhanced dur­ing the win­ter months espe­cial­ly – where high winds and rain can be expect­ed and can take the edge off your trip and be poten­tial­ly haz­ardous. To counter this it’s essen­tial that you come pre­pared for any con­di­tions ‑espe­cial­ly with your cloth­ing, bring­ing an anorak, an umbrel­la, a good scarf and a change of clothes – which will stand you in good stead to make the absolute best out of the true won­der of the world that is Mont Saint-Michel.  

Cost:  

With no entry cost to enter the vil­lage of Mont Saint-Michel – and giv­en that the won­der is eas­i­ly acces­si­ble from across France – vis­it­ing the his­tor­i­cal­ly and cul­tur­al­ly rich palace of this jew­el of France is both incred­i­bly afford­able and eas­i­ly done.  

In fact your main expense will like­ly be get­ting there – espe­cial­ly for trav­ellers based out­side of Europe – with those com­ing from as far out as South Amer­i­ca or Aus­trala­sia expect­ing to pay around $1000 USD to reach Europe by plane – with trav­el­ers from these regions encour­aged to book well in advance and con­sid­er­ing fly­ing into var­i­ous spots across the Euro­pean Con­ti­nent where flights may be cheap­er – and then hop­ping on the incred­i­ble Euro­rail or grab­bing a bud­get flight into Paris or Rennes.  

Get­ting there: For those com­ing from across Europe or clos­er to France – flights into Paris or Rennes can be bought for as lit­tle as $15 USD (One Way) with train rides – which are more scenic and relaxed like­ly to come in a lit­tle more expen­sive at around $40USD from across Europe.  

Hav­ing got your­self into France and most like­ly Paris or France which make for great places to base your­self to get to Mont Saint-Michel, the next step will be to get to Mont Saint-Michel itself. The most direct route and most expen­sive will be a guid­ed tour which launch and are pop­u­lar­ly under­tak­en from both Paris and Rennes as day trip – with these tours which will see you trans­port­ed by minibus to Mont Saint-Michel and give you a guid­ed tour around the great vil­lage start­ing from around $100 Usd – and be sure you don’t pay more than $150 Usd as chances are you’ve hit a marked up tour.  

For those set on under­tak­ing the bus or train from Paris or Rennes both to and from Mont Saint-Michel, which is like­ly to be your cheap­est option, we’d encour­age you to set aside around $20 Usd for two – with tick­ets like­ly to be seri­ous­ly reduced if you buy in advance on the trains. For the bus­es tick­ets from any of Avranch­es, Granville, Rennes and Pon­tor­son – be sure to have the cor­rect change to hand – which should be a cou­ple of Euros, with those trav­el­ling by bus advised to get a return tick­et to increase their sav­ings fur­ther. 

Last­ly in terms of get­ting to Mont Saint-Michel is the self-dri­ve option, which is the best option for those com­bin­ing a trip to the won­der of Mont Saint-Michel with a Euro­pean Road trip and who are set on explor­ing the won­der at both sun­rise, sun­set and at night – when Mont Saint-Michel is both incred­i­bly pho­to­genic and at its absolute best – then there are two main options – either self-dri­ving through your own car or hir­ing a car and head­ing to Mont Saint-Michel.  

Tak­ing advan­tage of the incred­i­ble road net­work that leads from across France to this won­der, for those dri­ving using their own car then it should be a sim­ple mat­ter of ensur­ing you have the right insur­ance ($10 USD) and fill­ing up with a tank of fuel ($40) and head­ing off to explore this increi­d­ble vil­lage. With those rent­ing a car – which is eas­i­ly done from across France and espe­cial­ly at the air­ports in both Paris and Rennes – advised to book in advance and expect to pay around $40 Usd a day for the car includ­ing add-ons and an extra $80 Usd for gas.  

Entrance: Hav­ing reached the incred­i­ble vil­lage of Mont Saint-Michel, you’ll find entrance free – mean­ing that for those on an incred­i­bly strict bud­get you are free to look around and soak in the beau­ti­ful archi­tec­ture and his­to­ry of this fas­ci­nat­ing vil­lage. For those who want more of an expe­ri­ence in this unique palace, then the first stop would undoubt­ed­ly be the high­light of Mont Saint-Michel — the great abbey – which costs 11 Euros to enter.  

Aside from the abbey, which is well worth the entrance fee, the oth­er high­lights of Mont Saint-Michel – includ­ing the fas­ci­nat­ing muse­ums, the for­ti­fi­ca­tions and the great cob­ble­stone street of the Grand Rue all remain free to vis­it and explore. But do be pre­pared to bud­get more than nor­mal for lunch and din­ner – with meals and the restau­rants and cafes – par­tic­u­lar­ly along the grand rue hav­ing a well-deserved rep­u­ta­tion for being a lit­tle pricey, with meals start­ing from around $20 USd and an omelette at the famed La Mère Poulard — which are hailed as the best int the world – start­ing from at least $30 Usd.  

With both the cause­way, sun­set point and the bay sur­round­ing Mont Saint-Michel all being free to vis­it and explore – although be sure to exer­cise cau­tion when explor­ing the bay, Mont Saint-Michel is tru­ly one of the most afford­able won­ders on the plan­et – with the only oth­er like­ly expense com­ing for those who opt to stay overnight, either with­in the vil­lage itself or near­by, which is an expe­ri­ence we’d high­ly rec­om­mend to get both incred­i­ble night-time and sun­set pho­tos of Mont Saint-Michel and tru­ly immerse your­self in this won­der of the world.  

Accom­mo­da­tion: For those stay­ing with­in Mont Saint-Michel – we’d encour­age you to book well in advance, par­tic­u­lar­ly dur­ing the sum­mer months, as rooms can book up months in advance – and for those for­tu­nate enough to get a room with­in the vil­lage expect prices to start from around $70 and rise to well into the hun­dreds of dol­lars depend­ing on the sea­son and the lev­el of com­fort you opt for – with prices out­side the vil­lage being notable cheap­er and offer­ing stun­ning views of Mont Saint-Michel lit up in all its glo­ry.  

There­fore, fac­tor­ing in trav­el, explor­ing Mont Saint-Michel and food it’s pos­si­ble to explore this incred­i­ble this great vil­lage from as lit­tle as $20 Usd when based with­in France, but for a more real­is­tic bud­get – and to expe­ri­ence the absolute best of Mont Saint-Michel includ­ing an Omlette at La Mère Poulard and a stay overnight and explor­ing the increi­d­ble abbey – we’d encour­age you to bud­get between $200 — $250 Usd for what is guar­an­teed to be a mag­i­cal expe­ri­ence at this stun­ning won­der of the world.  

Fun Fact: 

As well as being rich in his­to­ry, cul­ture and archi­tec­tur­al won­ders, Mont Saint-Michel – hav­ing been born out of a dream in the 7th cen­tu­ry by the Bish­op Aubert of Avranch­es – has served as fur­ther dream and fic­tion­al inspi­ra­tion across Hol­ly­wood and oth­ers, with the mag­i­cal cas­tle hav­ing served as the main cas­tle for the ani­mat­ed movie Tan­gled, the Lord of the Rings fic­tion­al city Gon­dor and with the mag­i­cal ele­ments of Mont Saint-Michel serv­ing as inspi­ra­tion for the mag­ic of the Har­ry pot­ter fran­chise.  

Along­side this, there are res­i­dents for­tu­nate enough to live with­in the mag­ic of Mont Saint-Michel – with the vil­lage being home to 45 res­i­dents includ­ing Nuns and Monks who have called Mont Saint-Michel home since its con­struc­tion – which took more than 1300 years – began in 708AD.  

Since this con­struc­tion, Mont Saint-Michel has served many func­tions, includ­ing a prison, a pil­grim­age site and a fortress, yet while the vil­lage itself has under­gone changes – one thing that has remain con­stant is the elec­tric tides that sur­round it and for so long have served as one of its key main defences – with the rides that sweep in from the chan­nel being the high­est in Europe and there being a dif­fer­ence of over 50 feet each day between the low and high tides – with these tides adding not only to the defences of Mont Saint-Michel – but giv­ing it the tru­ly mag­i­cal illu­sion look that makes it a tru­ly unique and spe­cial won­der of the world.  

Top Sights & Best photo spots: 

A mag­i­cal vil­lage rich in not only his­to­ry, cul­ture and life – but also — thanks to the stun­ning archi­tec­ture, abbey and its unique loca­tion — pho­tog­ra­phy oppor­tu­ni­ties, cap­tur­ing the beau­ty of Mont Saint-Michel is among the most spe­cial and unique pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ties on the plan­et, with this incred­i­ble and unique city – par­tic­u­lar­ly cap­tured in its reflec­tive best at full tide – being tru­ly spe­cial and lend­ing itself to tru­ly awe-inspir­ing shots.  

Along­side cap­tur­ing the great 11th cen­tu­ry draw­bridge and the cob­ble stone of the Grand Rue, pho­tog­ra­phy oppor­tu­ni­ties extend to cap­ture – and pre­serve – his­to­ry across this great won­der, with the for­ti­fi­ca­tions that have helped the his­tor­i­cal rich vil­lage – that has stood the test of mul­ti­ple sieges, con­flicts and rev­o­lu­tions – still pre­served and offer­ing great shots both of the for­ti­fi­ca­tions and weapon­ry them­selves and look­ing over the beach­es of Can­cale.  

Com­bine this with the exquis­ite gold­en hall and alter of the Mont Saint-Michel abbey – a true place of pil­grim­age – and of course the gold­en hour sun­set where the descend­ing sun reflects back on the vil­lage – turn­ing into a shade of bright yel­low and orange on a clear day and you have what is undoubt­ed­ly some of the most pris­tine and mag­i­cal pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ties o the plan­et.  

Yet despite these incred­i­ble pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ties, cap­tur­ing Mont Saint-Michel in all its glo­ry is not with­out dif­fi­cul­ties, with the process of tak­ing shots of the vil­lage undoubt­ed­ly com­pli­cat­ed by the sheer vol­ume of vis­i­tors who make the pil­grim­age and explore the won­der of Mont Saint-Michel – with cur­rent esti­mates indi­cat­ing that more than 2.5 mil­lion vis­it the only 97 hec­tor vil­lage each year – which can result in not only long queues at the pho­to spots but also intense crowds in any pho­tos.  

Com­bine this also with chal­leng­ing tides, weath­er and reli­gious con­sid­er­a­tions – and snap­ping the best of Mont Saint-Michel can be a chal­lenge. There­fore – while we’d rec­om­mend get­ting there as ear­ly as pos­si­ble and using a wide-angle lens for the best panoram­ic shots, to help ensure you get the absolute pho­tos – and mem­o­ries, we’ve round­ed out our favourite pho­to spots at the incred­i­ble won­der of the world that is Mont Saint-Michel: 

The approach and Exterior Shots: 

Start­ing with your approach to the vil­lage of Mont Saint-Michel and for those who jour­ney along the two-kilo­me­tre bridge and 11th cen­tu­ry cause­way and draw­bridge to enter the vil­lage – which we’d high­ly rec­om­mend – you can expect to be greet­ed by tru­ly awe­some pho­tog­ra­phy oppor­tu­ni­ties of the out­side of the vil­lage – includ­ing the famed panoram­ic shot of Mont Saint-Michel against the chan­nel tides. 

Being pre­pared for crowds, and wait­ing in line for your shot – we’d encour­age you to not only grab a full scale pho­to of the vil­lages exte­ri­ors and inte­ri­or – includ­ing mak­ing sure the great spire of the Abbey is vis­i­ble, but also tak­ing a lit­tle bit of time on approach to cap­ture the Bay itself, which is vis­i­ble on a clear day from the cause­way bridge and make for a great nature pho­to shot.  

For those start­ing their approach to Mont Saint-Michel from fur­ther out be sure also to snap pho­tos of the charm­ing neigh­bour­ing vil­lages of Vains and Genets, which are pris­tine lit­tle coastal vil­lages which tru­ly rep­re­sent the best of French vil­lages. A great to spot to cap­ture both the best of Mont Saint-Michel, icon­ic pho­tos, the nat­ur­al land­scape and French vil­lage life, tak­ing on the cause­way and the bridge on your approach can deliv­er not only stun­ning pho­tos – but also gives you a great tri­al run on this bridge – which is one of the great sun­set and night pho­tog­ra­phy spots that we advise return­ing to lat­er dur­ing your explo­ration of Mont Saint-Michel.  

The Village and Grand Rue 

Hav­ing made it across the draw­bridge and inside the vil­lage of Mont Saint-Michel itself, you’ll be imme­di­ate­ly stuck by its awe-inspir­ing beau­ty, with the unique­ness and beau­ty of the streets and vil­lage stand­ing out as par­tic­u­lar­ly pho­to­genic. First up we’d rec­om­mend tak­ing pho­tos of the many cob­bled and quaint streets you’ll find inside the vil­lage – with the main street of the Grand Rue – with its Medieval shops, restau­rants and par­tic­u­lar­ly the cob­ble­stone along this main street lend­ing itself to some tru­ly mag­i­cal pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ties.  

Along­side tak­ing in the great archi­tec­ture and design of the vil­lage, we’d rec­om­mend tak­ing a few moments to snap a pho­to­graph of the Medieval vil­lage and monas­tic com­mu­ni­ty – itself includ­ing the vil­lage Parish church. With the design lay­out and feel­ing of this vil­lage and com­mu­ni­ty hav­ing enshrined and pre­served its medieval feel whilst also mix­ing it with mod­ern neces­si­ties (espe­cial­ly Ves­pers) — with this unique blend of the past and present mak­ing for a great pho­to that cap­tures the essence of life with­in Mont Saint-Michel. 

The Fortifications and Causeway: 

Undoubt­ed­ly one of the most fas­ci­nat­ing ele­ments of vis­it­ing Mont Saint-Michel is to trace and immerse your­self in its rich – and often bloody – his­to­ry, withe vil­lage hav­ing been sieged and attack since its incep­tion in 708AD and par­tic­u­lar­ly since the 7th cen­tu­ry, hav­ing sur­vived the 100-year war, the bat­tles of Nor­mandy and the French rev­o­lu­tion amongst oth­ers.  

Undoubt­ed­ly the rea­sons behind its sur­vival lie in its unique design, loca­tion and in small part to its for­ti­fi­ca­tions – and for his­to­ry buffs you can ful­ly explore the out­er tur­rets and Ram­parts of the Abbey which for so long have held this great vil­lage in place. A chance to pho­to­graph medieval defences and a true part of his­to­ry – we’d also encour­age you to head to the Ter­rasse de l’Ouest along the top of the old for­ti­fi­ca­tions of the vil­lage from where you can get stun­ning views out over the bay – while stand­ing on a place that once served as the first line of defence of this incred­i­ble vil­lage.  

The Abbey:

Final­ly for pho­tos inside the medieval vil­lage – no explo­ration or pho­tog­ra­phy jour­ney through Mont Saint-Michel would be com­plete with­out explor­ing and cap­tur­ing the incred­i­ble abbey. Best pho­tographed both from out­side the vil­lage – from along the cause­way and at sun­rise and sun­set (see below) where you get the full panoram­ic mag­ni­tude and beau­ty of this incred­i­ble pil­grim­age sight and from inside from where you can cap­ture the gold­en halls, inter­nal spi­rals, spir­i­tu­al alter – and of course the his­tor­i­cal tapes­tries that depict some of the most famous moments of Euro­pean His­to­ry.  

For those pho­tograph­ing inside, we’d encour­age you to get to the Abbey as ear­ly as pos­si­ble – poten­tial­ly con­sid­er­ing mak­ing it your first spot with­in the vil­lage and of course be sen­si­tive to reli­gious cer­e­monies and pro­ce­dures before snap­ping – and then ensure you cap­ture the true essence and beau­ty of this holy site – with wide angle pho­tos from the back of the abbey, close up shots of the alter and non-flash pho­tos of the tapes­tries being essen­tial pho­tos in this sacred palace and being on undoubt­ed high­light of both your explo­ration and pho­tog­ra­phy jour­ney across the great won­der of the world that is Mont Saint-Michel. 

The Tides:  

Mov­ing towards the most icon­ic pho­to shots of Mont Saint-Michel which are influ­enced by the low and high tides around the vil­lage, it’s essen­tial to read up and under­stand the best tim­ings before head­ing to the van­tage points to snap the glo­ry of this unique vil­lage. Not­ing that the tides of the Chan­nel that sur­round Mont Saint-Michel are ever-chang­ing – and con­stant­ly ris­ing and falling – be sure to arrive a lit­tle ear­li­er than the fore­casts pre­dict, and of course take note of the dan­ger­ous con­di­tions at high tide – which can see you lose both your pho­tog­ra­phy equip­ment and poten­tial­ly get swept away in the high tides if you’re not care­ful.  

With the tides con­tribut­ing to incred­i­ble pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ties of the won­der of Mont Saint-Michel – as low tide pro­vides the beach and com­mune mir­ror reflec­tion around the vil­lage, and high tide pro­vid­ing the icon­ic float­ing vil­lage mir­ror image of this stun­ning vil­lage – it’s impor­tant to know the best Tidal van­tage points and best pho­tog­ra­phy times so as to capu­tre turly icon­ic image of the great vil­lage of Mont Saint-Michel: 

Low tide & Sunrise ( Couesnon river & Pointe du Grouin du Sud): 

Blessed by stun­ning­ly fast-mov­ing tides — the low tide at Mont Saint-Michel offers some tru­ly increi­d­ble pho­tos out over not just this mag­i­cal vil­lage but stretch­ing across the sands to the banks of the bay and the chan­nel itself. None more so is this incred­i­ble panoram­ic beach view against the back­drop of the won­der of Mont Saint-Michel expe­ri­enced than at sun­rise – where the ris­ing sun blazes both the vil­lage and the sand in shades of bright yel­low and orange – offer­ing a glow­ing illu­sion for a per­fect shot of the beau­ty of Mont Saint-Michel.  

A pho­to­graph that will require you to get up very ear­ly – or stay with­in the vil­lage itself, cap­tur­ing Mont Saint-Michel light­ing up is tru­ly spe­cial and you’ll need to find a sol­id van­tage point that offers sweep­ing vista views over the plains against the vil­lage, and we’d rec­om­mend head­ing to one of two stun­ning pho­to spots to cap­ture this great phe­nom­e­non.  

The First spot – and undoubt­ed­ly the one that gives you the clas­sic shot of sun­rise against Mont Saint-Michel is at the Coues­non Riv­er and par­tic­u­lar­ly at the bridge / Dam that lies over this riv­er. An ele­vat­ed spot, this is the place we’d also rec­om­mend for those arriv­ing at the vil­lage for sun­set – as it is both easy to find at the start of the cause­way that leads to Mont Saint-Michel and gives you stun­ning shots start­ing from first­ly the riv­er and then out over the beach plains lead­ing to the glo­ry of Mont Saint-Michel which is illu­mi­nat­ed by the ris­ing sun in shades of orange.  

While you’ll undoubt­ed­ly find immense views at the dam over the Coues­non Riv­er, it does on occa­sion get a lit­tle crowd­ed – par­tic­u­lar­ly dur­ing the sum­mer peri­od, so for those who want a qui­eter spot – that gives a unique but equal­ly stun­ning view of sun­rise at Mont Saint-Michel then we’d rec­om­mend head­ing to the spot of Pointe du Grouin du Sud.  

This spot, which lies at the far side of the plains of Mont Saint-Michel and will require about a half an hour dri­ve to get to from the vil­lage itself, gives you a great view look­ing back over the plains towards the vil­lage – with the view at the Pointe du Grouin du Sud offer­ing not only an incred­i­ble front view of the vil­lage light­ing up with the ris­ing sun, but thanks to its unique posi­tion allows you to cap­ture a shad­ow mir­ror shot  — as well as stun­ning time­lapse pho­tog­ra­phy of the full beau­ty of the won­der of Mont Saint-Michel. 

High Tide & Sunset (Couesnon river & Causeway) 

As stun­ning as sun­rise is, sun­set is just as – if not more beau­ti­ful – with a sun­set viewe­ing of Mont Saint-Michel being not only a per­fect way to cap off your day explor­ing this incred­i­ble won­der of the world, but also being a chance to grab tru­ly awe-inspir­ing pho­tos of the vil­lage – as the descend­ing sun lights up the abbey and vil­lage of Mont Saint-Michel cre­at­ing a colour­ful and tru­ly great shot at the Gold­en Hour of this unique won­der . 

As with sun­rise, the top pick in our view for great sun­set pho­tog­ra­phy of Mont Saint-Michel is found at the dam of the Coues­non riv­er – where thanks to the long nature of the dam on the riv­er you can cap­ture the sun­set per­spec­tive of Mont Saint-Michel from an easy to find and locate spot – with the high tide water’s cre­at­ing the clas­sic and famed float­ing illu­sion­ary of this stun­ning palace – that thanks to the descend­ing sun is light up in yel­low and orange colours – mak­ing for an absolute­ly stun­ning pho­to.  

Requir­ing you to get to the dam over the Coues­non Riv­er around 45 min­utes before sun­set to get a good spot – and expect to see throngs of tourists arriv­ing ear­li­er than that and set­ting up cam­era tripods in the sum­mer months, while the view from the Dam is tru­ly spe­cial and one we’d rec­om­mend – for those who want a qui­eter expe­ri­ence we’d advise tak­ing in the sun­set from any­where along the cause­way or bridge – which give you a sim­i­lar view of the sun­set, and thanks to the two kilo­me­tre length of the bridge you should be able to find a qui­et spot to stop look back and take in the incred­i­ble sun­set over the won­der of Mont Saint-Michel — for what will be both an awe-inspir­ing expe­ri­ence and incred­i­ble pho­to­graph that allows you to cap­ture the full beau­ty of this incred­i­ble won­der of the world.  

High Tide & Nightfall 

As well as being stun­ning at sun­rise and sun­set, Mont Saint-Michel is also one of the unique won­ders of the world that lends itself to some stun­ning night-time pho­tog­ra­phy – par­tic­u­lar­ly at the full moon, with the reflec­tive high tide across the plains com­bined with the mag­i­cal light of the moon com­bin­ing to illu­mi­nate Mont Saint-Michel for a both a spe­cial view and a great snap of this great vil­lage.  

Best seen on night of the full moon, snap­ping Mont Saint-Michel after dark can be tricky – and we’d advise bring­ing a spe­cial cam­era, if pos­si­ble – but for those who want the increi­d­ble pho­to of a sleep­ing Mont Saint-Michel you again have two rec­om­mend options – the first being the clas­sic Coues­non Riv­er and dam view­point, which will give you a tru­ly incred­i­ble view and shot of the vil­lage and which, thanks to the ris­ing tide, will also allow you to cap­ture the full reflec­tion of Mont Saint-Michel against the riv­er itself, which cre­ates and extra added ele­ment of beau­ty to your pho­to.  

Along­side revis­it­ing the dam over the riv­er, we’d actu­al­ly rec­om­mend for incred­i­ble night-time view and pho­tog­ra­phy oppor­tu­ni­ties of head­ing away from Mont Saint-Michel itself back along the cause­way towards the main town – and either perch­ing your­self on the banks of the riv­er at the start of the cause­way and bridge or head­ing towards the town of Beau­voir and din­ing at one of the out­door restau­rants – where with a plate of fine French cui­sine and a glass of French wine in your hand you can look out over the bays towards the vil­lage and watch and snap the glis­ten­ing moon­light illu­mi­nat­ing the true won­der of the world that is Mont Saint-Michel — for a tru­ly mag­i­cal expe­ri­ence.