Mount Ste. Michael
 

We are considering going to Ste Michael while in Le Harve. Is it worth a 6 hour to/from trip? It sounds extremely interesting, but six hours is a long time to sit. We have considered biking around Le Havre and checking out the town instead. Have you been to Mt. Ste. Michael, if so, please respond. Thanks

If you are planning an overnight at MSM, it would be worth 6 hrs in the car, IMO. But as a day trip when you'll probably be there when everyone else is there - no.

Stu Dudley

Listen to Stu. Trying it as a day trip means you would be there in the middle of he day and the place will be a zoo, If you can stay overnight - yes; a nearly 300 mile round trip day trip - no.

I'd cycle around Le Havre and I don't even really like it.

The three flowers of France; Barfleur, Honfleur and Harfleur are all in Normandy. But Harfleur is in Le Havre. Obviously the bombing didn't do it any favours but visit and maybe catch the train to Fecamp.

Mont-Saint-Michel is how the place is spelt, with or without hyphens, it will help you search out details more easily https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mont-Saint-Michel. It also differs from St Michael's Mount https://stmichaelsmount.co.uk/ which is across the Channel.

We spent the day at MSM ten years ago.
In sum, I'd say 95% of our fond memories of MSM are of how it looked. That you can get just from looking at the various videos and photographs available on the internet. The vision of it is quite remarkable.
Our experience actually ON the island wasn't memorable.

This is from my Normandy & Brittany itinerary.

Mont St Michel*** Listed in both Michelin guides. We have visited the Mont 3 times.

You will park in one of the many large lots, and take a shuttle from the central shuttle area to the Mont. If you stay at the hotel I recommend, they will tell you which area to park in, and the access code to that area.

Here is a perfect plan for visiting Mont St Michel. We did this on June 26 & 27 in 2019.

Stay overnight on the Mont to experience this incomparable and unforgettable site. We stayed at the Auberge St Pierre https://www.auberge-saint-pierre.fr/en/ in one of the rooms in the "main" building. We booked half-board. I think we stayed in room 102. It is the room directly across the hall from the secret rampart access door. The Auberge is very close to the entrance to the Mont. Arrive at 6PM. The Auberge has a "secret door" to the ramparts. As soon as you check into the hotel, spend 30 minutes slowly walking along the entire length of the ramparts - all the way to the Abbey. Then walk down the Grand Rue (main street in MSM) - without many tourists around you. Then go have a 7:30 dinner at the hotel. They had a fantastic roast rack of lamb. My wife indicated that the soup de poisson was quite good too. After dinner, repeat the Ramparts/Grand Rue circuit. This was our favorite time of the day at MSM - when there was still enough daylight to photograph the streets, buildings, and Abbey. This was between 9:30 & 10:15PM in late June. Adjust the timing if you will be there on a different date.

Now - here is the most important thing to do. Next morning, repeat the ramparts walk again very early - perhaps 7:15AM. The sun is perfect at this time of day (adjust for your date). Walk along the ramparts until you hit the first long flight of stairs. Then return along the ramparts to the Auberge to have quick breakfast at 7:45. At 8:15, walk along the ramparts all the way to the Abbey. Arrive at the Abbey at 8:30, sit in the shade on the steps (or anywhere else you can find), and wait for the Abbey to open at 9:00. A leisurely tour of the Abbey will take 45 minutes. We did not use the audio. Then exit the Abbey through the gardens - back to the area where you first entered the Abbey. Walk along the road just left of the stairs (which go up to the Abbey ticket office), and explore the small paths "off" Grand Rue. Keep close to the Abbey - but if you can see cars parked on a street to your right - take the path "away" from the cars. Eventually you will end up at the St Peter's Parich - where you will walk down Grande Rue to the Auberge.

Depart the Auberge/MSM NO LATER then 10:30AM. We departed at 10:20 and there were mobs & mobs & mobs of people entering MSM. When we got off the shuttle where our car was parked, there were very long lines of people waiting to get on the shuttles to MSM. I would not enjoy the experience of MSM if I visited between the hours of 10:30 and 6:30. MSM is magic if you can avoid the massive crowds. Don't visit any museums - they will add nothing to the experience. MSM's setting, architecture, and the Abbey are all unique - the museums are not (we visited several on prior trips).

Stu Dudley

MSM is a protected historical monument, and is worth visiting for the details of the building. This was the hamster wheel used to bring up supplies when the abbey was a prison in the 19th century:

You might consider a much closer destination for a day trip. Étretat, with its spectacular white cliffs and natural arches, is less than an hour from Le Havre. From there, in less than an hour, you could continue to Fécamp where you could visit the Benedictine abbey where the famous liqueur has been made for centuries. Farther from Le Havre but still much closer than Mont-Saint-Michel is Rouen with its cathedral and historic sites.

I agree with the other posters. Not worth the drive to do it as a day trip. We were there several years ago in October and it was still pretty crowded. I found that the views as you approach it from the east are what is most impressive. Now it didn't help that we were there on a very rainy day and so walking up the stone steps you needed to be really very focused on watching your steps. Inside the Mont itself which is still a functioning monastery, there isn't actually all that much of interest to see beyond the above hamster wheel. We did sit through part of a prayer service. The winding road at the foot is filled with tourist shops and restaurants. We did stay overnight but not on the Mont itself but at one of the hotels that are lined up on the strip before you cross the bridge into the Mont. Would have been a better plan to stay on the isle itself.

We did vist Rouen, Honfluer, E'tratat and Caen on our way to Bayeux for a few days to tour the Normandy beaches Bayeux itself before we headed to the Mont.

We felt differently about how much there is to see: the cloister, the great hall, and the chapel were all of interest to us. It helps to read about the Abbey before visiting, as the history is fascinating.

Removed Trip Report flag

MSM as a rushed daytrip is completely different from MSM as overnight where you have adequate time. I would focus on something closer, like Honfleur, and I say that having loved my trip to MSM.

Honfleur is very charming and interesting. We enjoyed our stop in E'Tratat as well, although it was really a quick stop for the view of the famed rock arches that the Impressionists painted. It was somewhat rainy but the sun was out when we got to Honfleur.

Le Havre is a designated UNESCO World Heritage site due to the remarkable design of the postwar reconstruction who I used to find incredibly ugly but which has now gained the very nice patina of years. The MuMa (The André Malraux modern art museum) is one of the finest museums in France and was the very first museum to be rebuilt after being destroyed in WW2. All of the artworks were saved from the war except for some of the sculptures that were too large to be moved. And also the Eglish Saint Joseph, which was also part of the reconstruction plan by architect Auguste Perret is one of the most breathtaking churches in France.


https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...86245bf5c8.jpg

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...13b5c5af06.jpg

This is what they had to work with after the war.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...39a8f414a4.jpg

If you can still find it, "The Tides of Mont St-Michel" makes for a good read. So does Aaron Elkins "Old Bones." Good background reading if you are so inclined.

Just our experience...
I had always wanted to see Mont St Michelle, even as a little kid, so I was so excited when we would get to do it as a family. We toured Brittany and Normandy by cycle, and we were able to see it in the distance from our hotel in Cancale. The view was as dreamy as I could wish. Our cycling company timed our visit perfectly--we arrived at dawn before the crowds plus we had several private tours of areas.

Great, right?

No--it does not live up to the imagination. I got just as much of (and maybe more of) a kick out of visiting it's "brother" site in Cornwall--St Michael's Mount.

However, later on in the same Brittany/Normandy trip, we rented a car in Caen and drove up to Honfleur. All of us loved it. Great town to kick around in. Seeing all the various sites of the "En plein air" movement on the road trip was so perfect. Both of our kids had learned a lot about the Impressionists in their elementary school and could spot so many views right away on our journey to it and back through Rouen (which was cool not only because of Monet's paintings of the cathedral but also because we are talking bigtime Joan of Arc stuff).
I personally wanted to get on a cycle up there and explore, explore, explore.

I'd skip MSM.

AZ

If you go to Etretat (highly recommended), it is very exciting to hike at the foot of the cliffs. But you have to keep in mind the tide tables, as a the walk back could be underwater if your timing is wrong.

Honfleur is very beautiful and has some wonderful wooden architecture.

Hiking along the foot of the cliffs of Etretat is now forbidden as the cliffs continue to collapse unexpeectedy and even killed somebody last year. Even walking along the top might be forbidden soon for the same reason