My husband and I are planning a 5 day trip to Paris in March '99. I'd love to use one of these days to take a tour to Mont St. Michel, and return to Paris in the evening. However I'm not sure if this is feasible. If anybody has information on this I'd greatly appreciate it.

The Mont is a wonderful adventure. We were there last summer in what started as a heavy rain and turned into a serious storm. 15 foot waves tend to give one perspective on the reason the Mont is such an important military (and therefore historic) site. <BR> <BR>I believe you will be hard pressed to travel from Paris to the Mont and back without investing a significant amount of time. There are ferries that provide service from the French coast to Portsmith, but you will still have to get from Paris to the ferry and then Portsmith to the Cornish coast and the Mont. There may also be air service from Paris to Portsmith. <BR> <BR>However, there is so much else to see in Devon and Cornwall - all the way to Dartmouth - that it realy merits is own enjoyable holiday.

Contrary to what Joseph has told you, it is not necessary to go to England to get to Mt.-St.-Michel. I have done it in one day, but it is a long day. Your hotel concierge can tell you how to do it, but if I remember correctly, one takes the train from the Gare Montparnasse to a village on the coast. A bus meets the train and, providing the tide is low, takes people onto the Mont. <BR>

The French toursit desk can give you the details. You take the TVG to Rennes and the bus meets the train. You can return the same day and you will have a few hours on the Mont. However, I feel that you do not have enough time for Paris to waste an entire day going to Mont St. Michel. A much closer trip is a visit to Chartre and its 13th century Gothic Cathedral. I wouldn't recommend going to St.Michel without staying over night on the Mont. You need time there without the masses of tourists to appreciate the feel of the place and its moods.

The French toursit desk can give you the details. You take the TVG to Rennes and the bus meets the train. You can return the same day and you will have a few hours on the Mont. However, I feel that you do not have enough time for Paris to waste an entire day going to Mont St. Michel. A much closer trip is a visit to Chartre and its 13th century Gothic Cathedral. I wouldn't recommend going to St.Michel without staying over night on the Mont. You need time there without the masses of tourists to appreciate the feel of the place and its moods.

<BR>Louis above is absolutely right. Yes, the train takes you to Rennes and then a bus goes from there to Mt. St Michel and I agree 100% with him that you must stay there overnight to appreciate the Mont. Otherwise you will just find it a crowded tourist trap. Once those tourists leave at 4 or 5 pm its a whole new world. Really wonderful then. <BR>But with only 5 days in Paris I certainly don't think you should even leave Paris. God knows 5 days is a VERY short time to be in Paris at all. Chartes is nice and worth a trip but only if you have say a month in Paris. <BR>Once you see Paris I really doubt you will want to cut any of those slim 5 days you have. I have never understood these short European trips people take and Frommer's etc promote. It's way too short. I'm sure you will enjoy Paris and long to return.

Mont St. Michel is a French location, and St. Michael's Mount is a Cornwall location. It IS possible that Joseph was referring to St. Michael's Mount, which is not far from Land's End. <BR> <BR>

Well, to each his own, if you have your heart set on Mont St-Michel, that's your choice. Chartres isn't comparable, it's an entirely different thing; and any tourist site, including Chartres, is going to have tourists around it in the day time. Anyway, if you want to do this in one day, the quickest and easiest thing to do is take one of the bus tours that go from Paris to the Mont so you don't have to fool around with the train and bus combo, wasting energy and time. You can easily do this, ParisVision tours runs a couple Mont St-Michel bus excursions that leave about 7 am and get back about 9-11 pm. You can see descriptions and costs at their WEB site: www.parisvision.com. If you want to do this, go ahead and don't let people tell you not so -- in addition to seeing the Mont, you'll get a nice bus ride through the Normandy countryside so that will be scenic also. When I was in Vienna last summer, I spent one day on a bus tour to and from Budapest which was about a 3 hr trip each way--I suppose a lot of people would have told me the same thing but I saw a lot and it was one of the highlights of my trip, plus I got to see the Hungarian countryside. <BR>

Mont. St. Michel is one of the top couple tourist destinations in France and it can be absolutely jam-packed, though March shouldn't be too bad. Try to get there as early in the day as possible, especially to avoid the throngs of tourists arriving in buses.

We stayed 2 nights ON Mont St Michel and I've typed a "report"...If you are interested in details, please E-MAIL me and I'll send it on. Will also answer specific questions if I can.