Paris - Mont St-Michel
 

Hello-
I am trying to squeeze in a day trip from Paris to Mont St-Michel (traveling with husband and 3 children --- 15, 9 and 5). Is this a trip doable in a day? I'm sure we'd need to leave early --- what time? How long is the drive?

With the price of gas.... should we drive or take train/bus?

Thanks!

I just booked a Cityrama bus tour. It was convenient for me to do that than worry about train schedules and connection times.

Folks like Cityrama will get you there, but for four of you, at a cost much higher than renting a car. We went that route recently - it's about 3-1/2 hours from central Paris to MSM. (We went the full route of Normandy beaches and MSM, leaving at 6:30 AM, and returning at 11 PM. It's not for everyone, but it worked for us, especially with the worry-free use of a GPS.)

For five, I think a car would be most economical, unless you can get PREMS fares on the train.

Also, look into the combination of taking the train to Bayeux, then renting a car and driving the 90 minutes to MSM.

A tour bus would be my last choice.

Hi abhodges

This is not what you asked, but what I feel obliged to say: especially with a 5 year old, and even with a 9 year old: don't do a day trip to MSM from Paris. It is a 3.5 hour trip, minimum, EACH WAY. Or over 700 km, i.e over 400 miles round-trip. (You can confirm this and play around with routes on viamichelin.com or google maps.)

If you get there midday, you have none of the magic and all of the crowds.

It is even more awkward to do a daytrip by (public) train or bus - there is no train direct to MSM, the closest you can get is Pontorson, from which I believe a bus meets the train (I'd have to check this as we ourselves visited by car.)

The Cityrama bus tour is a way to do it in a day (leave at 7:15 a.m, return 9:15 p.m) but at €158 per person it ain't cheap.

I would really, really try to make it an overnight stay if this is absolutely a must-do. Better yet, wait till you can do it in conjunction with Normandy, which is well worth seeing.

I agree with Sue - don't do it in one day.
When you get to Mont St Michel, it is an uphill walk with many, many steps to the abbey at the very top. You would not want to ride for 3 to 4 hours, walk around the mont and then drive back again.

The best way to enjoy it is to have accommodations on the mont so you can be there when the tourists leave.

Thank you all for the quick response. Pretty much what I thought...... but, was hoping I was wrong (I really want to see Mont St-Michel)! ;) Well, if we are able to spend one night. Any suggestions on places to stay (I wouldn't want to spend more than 225 Euros). We are doing a home exchange which allows us to spend a little more on accomodations for road trips --- but, I'd still like to keep the cost down. I still have to consider how much we'll be spending on gas! Thanks so much.

Hello again abhodges.

Re staying overnight: first, I suspect you will need at least 2 rooms. However, it should be possible to get 2 rooms for € 225 or less, total.

Second, you need to pick 'where' and 'ambiance.'

Many have stayed 'on the Mont' itself and enjoyed it. Others, including myself, found being off-Mont offered better value.

There are several hotels in a variety of price ranges just the other side of the causeway to the Mont. Most are standard chain hotels that span a wide variety of budgets: a few not far away have more ambiance but can also be quite pricey.

We stayed 'off-mont' in a little village called Ducey about 20 minutes drive away. Ambiance of a different sort (Ducey is on a river, and there's an old converted mill with a BWestern hotel in it.)

We stayed at La Jacotiere B&B at Mont St Michel. The b&b recommended a restaurant a few miles down the road where we had a wonderful omelette for dinner. Looked to be a local group there - even had sheep running down the street when moving them for the evening.

We did not stay on the mont because of lack of availability and the rooms are more expensive but others have said they liked staying there.

We stayed on the mont in May at Auberge St Pierre. Not the fanciest place ever hahaha...but it was great to stay on the mont. And we were the first ones in the Abbey in the morning and had it all to ourselves.

We arrived at 3pm the day before and could not believe how many people were there in May.. could barely walk up the street. By 6pm we had it almost to ourselves. You can see our pics:

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/jamie....r/BrittanyDay2

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/jamie....r/BrittanyDay3

Just throwing in my 2 cents. For us, all the magic was seeing the mount light up at night.

We did climb up about 2pm in May and the crowds weren't bad that day. Your daytime enjoyment may depend on how many other similar perched places you've been.

Jamie, I looked at your photos and they are so beautiful. My compliments.
By the way, the last time I was at Mont St Michel was in the early 70's and we pitched our tent at a campground quite close by and it was magical.

Thanks Cynthia, photography has sort of become one of our reasons to travel :)