I’ve been wanting to visit Mont Saint-Michel ever since I saw pictures of it. I mean, look at the picture above, it looks like it would only exist in a fantasy movie. Actually, the hubs claims it looks like a set out of the Lord of the Rings trilogy! So with 5 days in Paris, I knew we had to spend one day visiting Mont Saint Michel.
There are numerous companies that plan day trips from Paris and some of them even combine Mont St. Michel with other tourist destinations like the Normandy beaches and the Brittany coast. Most of the tours I looked into were reviewed favorably, span approx. 15 hours, typically making pit stops for lunch, with 3 hours of free time at Mont St. Michel and cost at a minimum $200 per person. You can do it yourself however, which is what we opted for since we liked being in charge of our own schedule.
If you plan to see Mont St. Michel on your own, just know that it takes a little bit of advanced planning and the day can be tiring since there’s quite a bit of transfers involved. It does however give you the flexibility of going at your own pace and is certainly cheaper than booking a tour.
The Basics:
Take the TGV from Gare Montparnasse in Paris to either Dol or Rennes. We chose Rennes because the timing was better for us and Rennes is a much bigger city than Dol and we figured we’d spend a few hours checking out the city prior to coming back to Paris. The train prices will vary depending on when you purchase, generally the earlier you buy the tickets, the cheaper they will be. We ended up paying approx. 86 Euros each for round trip tickets but easily could have paid less had we purchased it earlier. Total train time is approx. 2 hours and 15 minutes.
Once you arrive in Dol or Rennes, you board a bus that will take you directly to the entrance of Mont St. Michel (the bus schedule corresponds with the train schedule so you won’t have to worry about getting the timing right). The bus is located right outside the train station and you can purchase tickets as you board. The bus ticket from Rennes to Mont St. Michel is 12.40 Euros each way and takes approx. 1.5 hours. Make sure to pick up the bus schedule so you know the departure times for the bus going back to Rennes.
This is the official site for bus to Mont St. Michel and provides the train and bus timetables and pricing: http://www.destination-montsaintmichel.com/
Overall, it took us approx. 4.5 hours to get to Mont St. Michel. We ended up spending 1.5 hours walking around the abbey and another 1 hour eating lunch and checking out the city. The city itself is pretty since it’s a cobblestone medieval village at the base of the abbey, however aside from being very picturesque, we didn’t feel the city had much else to offer. It’s rather touristy and is mostly full of souvenir shops and restaurants. One reason why we decided to DIY the trip is that most of the tours allot only 3 hours of free time to visit the abbey and the city which I wasn’t sure was sufficient, however it’s actually more than enough. In fact, we ended up taking an earlier bus back to Rennes, giving us more than 5 hours in Rennes before taking the train back to Paris, which was another problem since we also felt that was too much time in Rennes.
In summary, I would say visiting Mont St. Michel is a must for any tourist. If I were to do it again, I’d highly consider doing a tour and combining it with a visit to the Normandy beaches. While the tour is more expensive, it involves less transfers and seems a more comfortable and enjoyable way of doing the trip. I would recommend the DIY route if you’re looking to control your own schedule, are on a budget, and want to spend time in Rennes or Dol in addition to Mont St. Michel. One thing to keep in mind though is you do buy your train ticket in advance and your departure times are set so you won’t be able to hop on an earlier train if you’re done sightseeing unless you buy a refundable ticket which costs more.
Also, don’t let me deter you from visiting Rennes. The city is worth visiting and has a wonderfully preserved city centre, full of medieval buildings. There’s plenty of shops and restaurants in the city centre and parks scattered throughout the city. The hubs and I just felt that 2-3 hours were enough for us and given that we already had a long day, we were ready to get back to Paris.
A Sprinkle of Adventure 
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