Mont Saint Michel
 

We are on a Med. cruise, and one of the shore excursions is a trip to Mont Saint Michel. I have always wanted to see this place, but the trip sounds strenuous. I can walk- but have to stop to catch my breath as I am not in good physical condition. Do you think I could make it up to the top (It says 365 steps in the brochure.) by stopping frequently to rest, or am I just deluding myself?

It is quite a climb. I think you are probably deluding yourself to think you can make it. Not to be an alarmist, but this is the sort of thing that causes many heart attacks on vacations. If you can't do such climbs at home, you will be even less likely to on vacation, especially combined with gorging on the food during a cruise.

Being owned by the French government, it would be a shock if there weren't some provisions for physically challenged folk to reach the basilica on the island's summit. Ask someone if there is help - but once you get in the abbey/basilica i remember having to go up and down more steps.

wondering if anyone knows if MSM has facilities for infirm?

We sure didn't see any, and I don't know what might be put in place, given the island's structure. I just have a bad knee, and with that I wouldn't even have tried making the climb. As for stopping frequently to rest, the crowds are usually so dense that it would be very difficult to do so.

Perhaps the French government needs to consider turning the supplies-lift contraption into an outside elevator!

In May I climbed it, although taking stops now and then. On the other hand, I think it's real beauty is seeing it from afar (and gradually getting closer, etc.), and I don't know that I would necessarily recommend going there. I've heard that it is lovely at night when all the daytrippers leave, and that is probably so.

I love Mt. Saint Michel, but it gets awfully crowded in the daytime during tourist season, and the stairs become claustrophobic as well as steep. The best way to see it is to stay overnight, after the tour buses have taken away all the crowds. Then you feel like you can take the steps unhurried.

I think it is a little too close to scaremongering to suggest that the crowds will "sweep" you along, and you cannot rest.

I think you can rest every ten steps, all the way up, if you wish... but this is a question you can answer at home. You must have a flight of stairs you can use somewhere. Climb 36 times - - ideally in less than 90 minutes - - you can find out if you do it or not.

Best wishes,

Rex

I wasn't scaremongering, Rex, just reporting my own experience on our first visit to Mont St-Michel. Standing to rest is difficult with the crush of visitors, and benches are few and far between.

Hi txchic,

Being on a cruise and this will be a shore excursion, I guess you will be with a group. If that is case I think you might become unpopular with your shipmates if you cannot keep up with the rest. The time of your visit will probably when the island is most crowded, but it is too nice a site not to go.

You should go and see if you can make it to the top, or even part way up.
If not, there is still a lot you can do on the island while rest of the tour is climbing up to the Basilica and back down.

The view of Mont St. Michael as you are approaching it is most beautiful. I think you should go, then play it by "Ear".

Enjoy your cruise, Jimjim

Perhaps praying to Saint Michael as medieval pilgrims did may help you get there.

Better to try and turn back then never to try at all. At least if you are there and turn back then you will be happy within your own heart. I made it! And I was behind an 87 year old man who told me just to keep my eyes on his butte....if he could do it I could do it. We both made it.....although I did the last 10 stairs using my hands as well!!!!! Give it a try!!!!

I read in some guide book that only 10% of the visitors to the Mont make it to the top.

Keith

The 87-year-old man must have had a VERY large backside!

Mont St. Michel is well worth the visit but before you climb the steps, you are walking along a corkscrew uphill road - no vehicles - that is lined with tacky souvenir shops. For this portion maybe you could use a wheelchair and then when reaching the Abbey itself, climb as high as you are comfortable. The crowds seemed much more dense down in the shops than when in the abbey itself. It is not imperative to reach the top to capture the feeling here - and the views. I loved this place and found it to have a mystical quality. It is easy to understand why it was a place of worship. Don't bother with any of the "museums" on the way up.

Underhill : :):):) Actually the man was very skinny, scrawny and tough and I was a good 60 lbs heavier than I am now. But we made it!!!

I did stop off and see the house/museum of Logis Tiphaine and the guide let me out the back door/gate which was rather hidden. This saved me a ton of steps as the house is built on the hill w/ the back door higher than the front door. I got that tip from some guide book or other.

Not very far in is a 'creperie?' on the left. About half way up is another on the right. About two thirds of the way up is a park with benches on the left.
On our way down, we passed a group of grey frocked nuns oohing at the postcards and ticky tacky for sale as if they had never seen anything like it before.
It's a gotta go.

When we visited, my daughter had a hip injury that made traversing stairs excrutiating. Ramps weren't great but were much better. The guides told us not to worry--we would be ascending early a.m. via some special road. And that's exactly what we did--it was a road, not stairs.

Our descent was via the regular way, and my husband just carried her piggyback with frequent rests as described above.

So please do inquire if you can gain access to that ramp road with a wheelchair.

<<Our descent was via the regular way, and my husband just carried her piggyback with frequent rests...>>

Wow. All I can say is wow.

Well, it's embarrassing to ask, because it means admitting I haven't researched. But, what do you see when you climb? We didn't climb to the top of Les Baux because of my husband's knee. Is the climb for the scenery and the view, or is it like a little perched village like St. Paul de Vence or Vezelay?

The climb is to see the abbey buildings, which are called the Merveille (marvel) for good reasons. There's the church, the cloisters, monks'dormitory and dining hall, great hall, and many other nooks and crannies that require going up and down still more stairs, sometimes in dim lighting. And of course, the view of the surrounding bay is glorious. If you're up to it, the experience is not to be missed

wow, I am very happy to know I'm only one of 10% who made it to the top - cool. Though back then I was only 20 and in prime physical shape - not so sure it would happen again. :(

I think Mt.S.M. is the most magical and beautiful place I have ever been. We went in fall(no crowds, it really can change your perception of things)We spent 2 nights on the Mt. There are plenty of steps, we did not climb to the top I actually didnt know there was a top to climb to (didnt take a tour), but like someone else said, better to tried and failed than never to have tried at all. There are shops and cafes and beautiful vistas where you can just to sit and experience. It's an incredible place dont miss it:)

Bless all of you who were so positive!!! I am going to do it! I'm not in a wheel chair but have some problems that make it hard climbing hills. We were in Ireland a few weeks ago and walked a lot. I had to make frequent stops, and the elevations were nothing compared with MSM. But this will probably be my only chance to see it, so I'm going. Wish me luck.

Mont St Michel was one of the most beautiful and spiritual places we've ever been. I had to laugh as we were making our way up though - every time you'd turn a corner, there was yet another flight of stairs. I ended up taking photos of them all and laying them out to show everybody.

Just take your time and go as far up as you can - the cloister gardens and the abbey are absolutely worth it.

On a more earthy note... we got all the way to the tip-top and wanted to wait for Sunday Mass - but we needed to use the facilities. We asked someone where they were, and were told...at the bottom of the hill. Great. So we walked all the way back down, and on the way back up (using a different pathway) passed another public bathroom - way up near the top. Oh well, at least we got the exercise.

I can;t imagine that only 10% make it to the top. Granted - it is up hill - and a little bit of a climb - but it's not like you're scaling Kilimanjaro.

We made it without any trouble - and my brother in law was 45 with a bum knee (football) - although we didn;t do it as fast as the teenagers. However - we are all walkers that routinely do 3/4 mile walks after brunch on sundays.

And it seems to me a lot of it was walking uphill and not just stairs (until when you get to the monastery that is a lot of steep stairs).

Don't know when the cruise is - but have you thoght about just getting in better shape by then? (You need to do a LOT of walkng just about everywhere in europe - even if it's not all uphill.)

Actually I'd believe that statistic about only 10% going to the top, but I think it is because most don't even try. The vast majority of daytrippers to Mont St. Michel seem to be on such a tight schedule and only concerned with saying they've been there, that I firmly believe most of them spend their brief time in a couple of shops buying souveniers and postcards and never bother to go up.

Just a bit more about what's on top of the Mont. Way up at the top is the statue of St. Michael, with his sword. Just below are the various abbey buildings, so complex that it's best to visit them with a guide. The cloisters are astonishingly beautiful, and the view from them is magnificent. The one time I made the climb to the top of the Mont is permanently etched in my memory.

As for the crowds, keep in mind that Mont St-Michel has been a major pilgrimage site for centuries, much like Rocadadour, and still is.