Lauradublin

Hi,

I'm going to Honfleur for a week on the 19th. Would like to visit Mont-St-Michel from there and have seen that it's a two hour drive. Is it feasible to visit the Mont and visit the D-Day beaches on the way back to Honfleur that evening? There are two of us driving. Have looked at the Mont web site but don't understand their notes about the tides - will we have to wait before we can cross onto the island?

Thanks in advance, Laura

PalenQ

rarely do tides these days ever cover the causeway and parking lots on the island - only in rare full moons or storms.

Once was an island at high tide but due to silting of the bay long ago (from farmers irrigating draining water from rivers that cleansed the bay and because of the causeway that blocks off currents that do likewise) so this would not be a worry - in fact it would be so extraordinary that i would make a special journey there just to see it.

Rastaguytoday

When you get there you should see the start of the construction of a bridge that will eventually stop the silting and return the Mont to an island.

Here's an earlier thread...http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34949786

sandals

I think calling this a two hour drive is a little off. We did it going the other direction recently, leaving Mont Ste. Michel around 9:00 a.m. We did stop in Etreat (sp?) for lunch and looked at the the beaches for about a half hour then and we got into Honfleur in the late afternoon. We would not have wanted to turn around and return to our starting point at that time, but if you have lots of energy and can put in a really long day, maybe it will work.

If you at all have the chance to arrive at Mont Ste. Michel in the late afternoon and stay there overnight when the tourist busses have gone, then get up early and walk around, it will have it to yourselves. At nine, you can escape, leaving it to the hordes!

Dave_in_Paris

I think the drive may be closer to two and one half hours. You can do this in a day, though an overnight stay on the Mont, or across from it would likely be better. If it were me, I'd rise very, very early and try to get to Mont St. Michel first thing in the morning.

Lauradublin

Hi,

Thanks for all the replies. The two-hour drive is using the motorway direct from Honfleur. It looks pretty accurate. But I guess once you go off it, it takes a lot longer to go from place to place. Guess we should leave the beaches for another day.

Laura

bilboburgler

I think the journey including the beeches will be a long one, the coast road is pretty small and you may want to go beach to beach. I think the American Beeches are at one end or that piece of coast and then up along the spit of land leading to Cherbourg. Again access is harder at that end (no not harder but slower)