Ando

Any recommendations for hotels near Mont St. Michel? We'll be driving in from Caen, and plan on staying two nights. Will be spending one day visiting Mont St. Michel, and another visiting Dinan. Any other area "tips" would be appreciated, too. Thanks. . . .

Sue

We stayed at Hotel du Jardin des Plantes in Avranches and liked it very much--good food also. Short drive to Mont St M. It's near an "i" and on Place Carnot, where there is parking. http://www.normandy-tourism.org/gb/l...s/01avran.html
There are other web sites--do a search.

Patrick

I would strongly recommend that you stay in Mount St. Michel. The place is packed with daytrippers in the day, when you could leave, but by late afternoon it clears out and becomes a magical place. You can never really experience the Mount unless you spend the night there. Also the light show (you walk through for sound, light, and art shows) late at night is superb! We stayed at Auberge St. Pierre, which is actually a number of small places scattered about the mount. Our room was half-way up and had spectacular views and charming atmospheric decor. They sent someone to our car to help with the luggage up to room. Their fax is 33485982, haven't checked for a web site since we stayed there three years ago.

Nancy

Ando, I would highly recommend the Hotel Elizabeth (just inside the walls) of St. Malo. St. Malo is a walled city,on the coast,about a 40 minute drive from Mont St. Michel. It is the best place! There are so many small towns that are worth a day trip and it is so well situated as a base. It is also great fun to stay inside the walled city.Mont St. Michel is a wonderful day trip...Nancy

Beth

Ando,
I'm going to chime in here and recommend Mere Poulard, which is located on the island, just inside the entrance. It is a wonderful place with great people. I had my two teenage daughter with me and we had a triple room. It was unbelievably large and one of the largest bathrooms I've ever had while in Europe. Two of the beds were in the large room, while one was in its own little room. Guess which one I took?? I really did love it there. There is nothing like waking up in the morning surrounded by rolling fog and a feeling like no other.

The restaurant in the hotel is also very good. Famous for making huge omelets (one is enough to feed two or three people!) over an open fire.

Ellen

I researched the area very, very well for a trip that never happened (thanks to the fuel crisis last Sept). It as also highly recommended to me to stay at least one night on Mont St. Michel. Not only can you avoid the crowds, but you can do the illumination tour at night. Many people feel the spot is so crowded during the day that it almost ruins the experience. Apparently, the tour buses are in by 10 and out by 4. If you stay on the Mont, you can avoid the crowds. It was recommended to me to stay at the Auberge St. Pierre which is supposed to be lower cost than Mere Poulard but provides very good accomodation.

I also agree with the other poster about staying in St. Malo. If you'd like some web sites regarding these two areas, just e-mail me directly and I'd be happy to hyperlink them to you.
Ellen

Curt

If you can get room on the Mont that would be good. However, there are several hotels at the entrance to the causeway leading to the island in the small village there. We stayed at the Relais St Michel, owned by the Poulard group, which is the last hotel before you drive onto the causeway. It was a very nice hotel and had HUGE rooms, with a great view of the abbey both at night and at day. The room rate we got in Nobember was only 450 ff. This is a 4 star hotel, and the dining room is also very good and not too expensive. There were several other hotels in this village as well, but in November many of them were closed. I would recommend this hotel highly, but I believe that the rate "in season" will be more like 750 ff. The hotel has a web site if you would like to search for it.

Dinan has a wonderful old town area, and is certainly worth a visit. As I recall it was about a 45 minute drive over there from St Michel. Well worth it.

Anna

I stayed at La Terasses Poulard on the Mont this past September. I had tred to reserve ahead via email, but they said they were full. We arrived with no reservations and all of the hotels had vacancies, this may have been due to the fuel blockades. We had a nice room at the Terasses Poulard for 350 FF per night. Their optional breakfast was not worth the 50FF though. I think most people day trip to the Mont so you shuldn't have too much difficulty finding a place to stay.

elvira

Like Curt, we stayed at the end of the causeway, hotel Saint Aubert - more like a motel (we could park the car outside our door), not fancy, but comfortable and not expensive. We had a beautiful view of the mont at night, and at sunrise. It was just a short drive to the mont (2km)/tel 33 60 08 74
fax 33 60 28 03
We were there in October, no reservations, and the hotels were very full. Make reservations as soon as you can if you want to stay on the mont.
Tour the mont early in the morning, or at night - during the day, bus upon bus arrives, full of tourists, so the place gets jam-packed.

Ando

Many thanks to all of you for taking the time to share your insights. Best, Ando.