Do we skip Mont St Michel?
 

I have previously only visited Paris, France and am returning to France with a friend next year to more extensively see the beauty that lies beyond Paris.

We would both like to visit Mont St Michel but are mindful that as we won't be visiting Normandy, the only viable option for Mont St Michel would be as a day tour from Paris (we don't have time for an overnight stay and would prefer not to drive there ourselves).

On other threads I have seen a number of Fodorites express that we should not bother with Mont St Michel unless we are in Normandy (or stay at MSM overnight) and that it is otherwise very touristy.

For those who have visited Mont St Michel, whether in a day tour from Paris or otherwise, do you feel you would have regretted not going if you hadn't visited? Would you go again? Would you recommend for others to see it or skip it?

Although I stayed overnight, I would highly recommend it. How long is the day trip from Paris? That may be a contributing factor

From what I have seen, it is about 4+ hours by coach, you arrive at MSM around 11/11:30am and then depart around 3:30/4pm for Paris.

While I enjoyed MSM very much, I don’t know that I’d spend 8 hours on a bus to have 4 hours there.

If you are not going to be in the area skip it. That sounds like a very long day trip to me.

I'm glad I've seen it, but I agree with joannyc and hetismij - come back another time, do Brittany and Normandy in a separate trip where you can see MSM at leisure. It's not like there aren't other sights in other areas to occupy you. I also have the horrors of heavily touristed areas, and this is one, if ever there was one, along with Honfleur just up the road.

Lavandula

Watch "Mindwalk" and decide for yourself.

We saw MStM on a week drive to Normandy travelling counter-clockwise and loved it. It was not overly crowded, but usually do Europe in the Fall. If not in Normandy, I'd say keep for next time.

When I was there was mobbed and filled with cheap looking goods. I liked it on the approach.

If I were driving, I would never skip Mont Saint Michel. However, as a day trip from Paris, it would require much more motivation. The main negative point of a day trip is that you will arrive at the busiest part of the day with all of the other tour buses. It is at least ten times better to be able to arrive relatively early in the morning before the mobs swarm the place. This said, if you could spend a night in a place like Caen and get transportation to the Mont from there the next morning, it might be worthy of consideration.

Under your circumstances, I would not consider it.