24 Hours In Mont Saint Michel

A Day Trip to Mont Saint Michel

Mont Saint Michel – a historic abbey located on Europe’s highest tidal basin.

Mont Saint Michel was the destination of my dreams – and is one that can be easily packed into a day trip! Located in Brittany, on the Northern coast of France, it’s a destination that can be reached from Rennes, Paris (although I’d recommend spending a night nearby if you go this route), or as part of a longer Northern France itinerary.

We chose to spend the night in Mont Saint Michel to check out the island after many of the day trippers have gone home. There are a number of hotels on the island, and although it’s a pricier option than staying nearby, it does offer the ability to not ruse through the activities on the island.

The second most visited attraction in France, a stop in Mont Saint Michel was a worthy one to tick off the bucket list!

How to get to Mont Saint Michel

Mont Saint Michel, located in Normandy on the Northern Coast of France, is a great destination from Rennes, Paris, or as part of a longer road trip in the Normandy region.

By Car:

Mont Saint Michel is about a 1.5 hour drive from Rennes, the capital of the Brittany region, and around 4 hours 30 minutes from Paris. It’s doable as a day trip from Paris, but to have enough time appreciating the Abbey, I’d recommend breaking it up into at least one night.

If arriving by car, there is a large parking lot around 2km from the island via a long walkway, the Pont Passerelle du Mont Saint-Michel. This parking lot is the closest you can get to the island via car. You must pay to park here, for 24 hours this set us back 22 euro. Luckily, there is a free shuttle that leaves every 15 minutes from the lot. You can also walk the pathway, which takes about 40 minutes (this is what we did!)

By Train:

From Rennes: Take a TER train from Rennes to Pontorson (around 50 minutes), then transfer to the Mont Saint Michel shuttle bus (around 25 minutes) to the island. There are also several private companies that run direct buses that you can rent from the link below.

From Paris: By public transportation, all trains transfer in Rennes. Take a high speed TGV train from Paris Montparnasse to Rennes, then follow the steps above.

Things to do on Mont Saint Michel

Explore the Historic Abbey

Checking out the Abbey should be number one on the itinerary when visiting the historic island. It’s the heart of the island, and its most famous structure. This stunning medieval monastery was built over several centuries, with its earliest foundations laid in the year 708. The Abbey features breathtaking Gothic architecture, and its gardens provide a great vantage point to look out over the bay.

There are audio guides available at the entrance, which are definitely worth picking up, as the Abbey itself doesn’t have many signs, other than the names of the rooms, indicating what everything is.

Souvenir Shop on the Grande Rue

The Grande Rue is the main street of Mont Saint Michel, lined with charming shops selling local souveniers, postcards, and regional specialties like cider and shortbread cookies. The shopping street isn’t too long, probably taking ten minutes from one end to the other, but does get quite busy with tourists as there aren’t too many other places on the island to walk around. We managed to find a few treats to take home with us, and really enjoyed wandering around checking out the various shops. This street is also where you’ll find all of the dinner and drink options, as well as creperies, ice cream and candy shops.

Walk through the Bay

At low tide, visitors can walk around the vast bay surrounding Mont Saint Michel. Guided tours are also available (links shown below), as walking the bay along can be dangerous due to quicksand and quickly rising tides. The experience of walking in the bay during low tide is one of the coolest things I’ve done! The vantage point of the giant Abbey island, surrounded by sand on all sides, is an incredible sight to see.

If you choose to walk through the bay alone (we did, and noted a number of other groups doing so), please do your research beforehand as the tides come in quicker here than almost anywhere else in the world! This schedule outlines the high and low tides throughout the year.

Walk on Quicksand!

Okay, now this was really cool. There are pockets of quicksand around the Bay, and if you do venture out without a guide, it’s definitely something to be on your guard for as stumbling onto the quicksand without being prepared is a scary experience!

There are certain techniques to help you not fall prey to quicksand, including shifting your weight quickly back and forth between legs, which keeps the sand from liquifying and keeps you from sinking! Any guided tour of the area will likely give you an overview of how to do this.

We had a great time walking (and sinking) in the quicksand! It’s very rare to sink lower than your waist, but always listen to your guide when trying it out!

Try the famous omelet at La Mere Poulard

It has been described as the most famous omelet in the world! Imagine our surprise when finding out it’s not really an omelet at all, at least not one similar to any omelet we’ve had before! Much fluffier and frothier, we haven’t had anything like it before. Back in the 1800s, the island’s famous chef Madame Poulard began making these omelets for those who made the pilgrimage to the abbey on the island. Made with a combination of eggs, milk, and lots of butter, the omelet stuck, and has been around ever since.

These are served at various establishments around the island, although those served at La Mere Poulard are the most authentic!

Walk the Ramparts

The Ramparts surrounding the island are a great way to admire the views of the bay without getting into the Abbey. These ramparts have helped the island stand strong and survive countless wars over its history.

Along the Ramparts, there are a few restaurants open for a drink, as well as back entrances to get into the souvenier shops. It’s also a great vantage point from which to watch the tides go in or out.

How we did it

We flew into Rennes, spending a day exploring the capital of Brittany, before renting a car and driving up to Mont Saint Michel. It’s only a hour drive, on easily drivable roads, so this was an easy option for us. There is a parking lot around 2km from the island. It is a paid parking lot (but access to the island is free, so it ends up not being too bad.) For our 24 hour stay, we paid 22 euros to leave the car there. From the lot, there is an option to get the free shuttle bus or walk across the “Pont Passerelle du Mont Saint-Michel,” the man-made bridge leading from the car park/info center to the island. For me, one of my favorite parts of the day was to walk across the bridge, as it gives a great vantage point of the architectural wonder that is the Abbey!

Upon arrival, we took about two hours exploring the main shopping street, the Grande Rue, and grabbing a bite to eat. We walked along the Ramparts and walked through the Grande Rue, picking up some souveniers and snacks. We ate lunch at Mont Burger, one of the highest rated lunch options on the street. . There are a lot of little shops though, so it’s worth a few hours just wandering around and grabbing a crepe or ice cream!

Our main event was to take a tour of the Abbey, which we scheduled for mid afternoon. The Abbey is seriously impressive and it’s well worth some of your time on the island. There are audio guides you can pick up at the entrance that are worthwhile as the various rooms and sites aren’t super well marked as to describe what they were once used for.

After our tour of the Abbey, it was low tide and time to explore the bay! This was my favorite part of the trip, theres nothing like seeing the abbey and island from the sand. We walked around barefoot with shorts or rolled up leggings on, as the wet sand easily stuck to you. There are a ton of tour groups that lead guided tours that I’ve listed above, which I’d recommend if you’re nervous about walking around the bay alone or unsure of the tide schedule. We chose to walk ourselves, as it was just about low tide exactly when we embarked so weren’t too worried about the tide rushing in. We successfully completed a whole lap around the island, having to wade into some water about calf height, but nothing too crazy! We also saw a tour group walking through the quicksand, which we did and successfully escaped at about knee level. It was a really cool experience! (Disclaimer – according to Chat GPT, no tourists get sucked into the quicksand in a way that they’re unable to successfully get out. However, as with anything in nature, it’s impossible to predict if that’ll always be the case!)

For dinner, we tried Restaurant Du Guesclin, which served a three course meal at a good value, and was recommended to us by our Hotel. Here, we tried the famous omelet, which was definitely very unusual and worth trying, even if it wasn’t our favorite meal!

We stayed at the classic option La Mere Poulard, which dates back to 1879.