We will have to go to Mont St. Michel in the afternoon.(we have reservations to stay on the Mont). Is there a particular time we should arrive to avoid the tourist crush?

According to the hotel we have to be there by 6 but I know we want to get there earlier. Any suggestions?..And does the tide affect our arrival time at all?

Thanks

The tides do not cover the causeway, only the parking lots. Warnings are posted when that is expected.

When I was in Mont St Michel for the day, the crowds started slow down around 4pm.

Monica

.

If you check your bags at the hotel and go on up to the Abbey, you will find much fewer people.

Only a small fraction of the hoard goes up that high.

Keith

When are you going? Crowds are awful in summer and on some weekends but not nearly so suffocating during other periods. I was there one August day arriving about 11am and the main street was elbow-elbow by that time and things didn't thin out until late afternoon. At night there is often a sound-and-light show The Marvels of Mont-Saint-Michel that takes place in the abbey with eerie special effects.

Won't be there till September 8 or 9.

It stays light in France in September until relatively late (9 pm or so,I should think in that part of France), and it's still tourist season, but I should think if you got there by 5 pm, people would be clearing out. Most people I've observed on le MSM walk through the gates, huff and puff up about halfway to the abbey, meander around the shops, get something light to eat, and leave.