Mont Saint Michel tide question
 

Hi, all! My husband and I are going to Mont Saint Michel as a one night side trip from Paris via public transportation in September. The train tickets are already booked, and we're staying at the Mercure that's near the causeway, so not right on the island.

The tide chart on the official website notes our arrival day as having very high tides, and says: "the access might be covered for a while from 12.85 meters". There are only a couple of days with this designation.

The Keolis (bus) website says: "Despite the high tides, Mont St Michel can be accessed via the causeway at any time of the day and all year round. Even at extremely high tides, the car parks are the only areas subject to flooding."

I'm a little confused about what exactly the official website means?

The causeway is raised high above the parking areas. So while a high tide can flood the parking areas and prevent their use taking transit across the causeway is still possible. Also, naturally the tides come and go - twice a day - so exact hours will vary - you need to check tide tables.

The info on the Keolis bus must be quite out of date, because it was the old car parks that would be flooded. The new car parks are away from the Mont since the causeway has been replaced by a bridge. Because of this bridge, the Mont can be surrounded by water at high tide when the tide is strong, so it is indeed possible that access to the Mont is not possible around the high tide at the date indicated in the website. This event can bring quite a few people to the Mont so if you go one of these days at the high tide time, you can expect many people.

Thanks for your replies! I'm sure it will be quite something to see. I guess we'll be okay because we're not planning on vising the abbey until the next morning. While it will be near high tide then, at least that one is not marked.

Which day are you coming exactly?

Sept 19th and 20th.

On the 19th the high tide will cover the pathway for a bit, but I think it will be dark in the evening.
In the morning of the 20th the pathway might not be covered (but you never know, as the tide can rise higher than expected depending on air pressure) but the Mont will likely be surrounder by water (or nearly) at high tide and it can be a very nice sight. Arrive early if you can.

Thank you!

Watching one of the particularly high tides (known as "spring tides," no matter when they arrive) come in at Mont St. Michel can be an amazing site. I actually planned a 26-day trip to western France, in part, around the chance to witness a spring tide from Mont St. Michel's ramparts.... You can get the tide information here:
http://www.ot-montsaintmichel.com/en...int-michel.htm

Ack! "an amazing experience"

During these "super" tide days, the new light bridge (both for bus shuttles and pedestrians) can be submerged at high tide, for about 2 hours. During these 2 hours, you cannot enter/exit the Mont, so you have to choose before where you want to enjoy the tide from. But it also depends on the weather/wind, and the exact water level cannot be guaranteed (water can remain under the bridge even during super tide peaks).

The car parks subject to flooding are not the ones where tourists leave their car, but just the small area right at the foot of MSM where only a few people from the Mont are allowed to park.

Thanks so much for the information! We'll definitely have to plan our brief time there carefully.

we are supposed to be there December 28 to December 29. If we arrive well before high tide (which I think is at 6:44 pm on 12/28) will we even be able to see anything since it will have been dark for a couple of hours?

@ richmich6: From my one-time experience, I'm not sure. I spent several hours watching (in part just to get a position with an unobstructed view right at a balustrade), and it seemed that hours went by during which basically nothing seemed to change. (At least, the changes were very subtle -- the things of interest, to me, were the efforts to ensure that everyone got off the mud flats in a timely way.). Only in the last ... what, half hour? hour? ... did the tide truly roar in, and WOW, that was something! Perhaps particularly interesting in contrast to the time when the changes were so minor.

Thank you @kja! It sounds really amazing and something we want to see for sure!

Not sure how much you can see in the dark of night though? Does anyone know?

I would imagine it would depend on the weather and the moon, non?

Actually, just the very last section where the new bridge ends and you have to walk about 100 meters to the Mont goes underwater temporarily.

http://i.f1g.fr/media/ext/805x453/ww...2b-805x453.jpg