Mont St. Michel Excursion

43304NOR

Mont St. Michel

Excurion

Opening days/times, entrance fees, etc. listed on Yellow Pages.

Inside Visit of the Abbey & Lunch Stop

You can pay entrances for Abbey with cash or card.

Warn groups in advance – there are lots of steps and cobbles so they will need to wear sensible shoes

Guided tours of the Abbey are unsuitable for most groups. If they are running, there may not be an English tour or timing may be unsuitable. Furthermore, tours last well over an hour and are usually too detailed for students. It is best to pick up leaflets in English for everybody on the left-hand side in the room where the Abbey models are at the top of the stairs having shown the entrance tickets. They can also be found just inside the Abbey on the left.

Routes from Mont St Michel to Dinard

If you visit Mont St Michel over lunchtime/early afternoon and are spending the night in Dinard, you may want to include one of the following; a brief stop in St Malo (add 1 ½ to your timings) (see St Malo Excursion for details); on a nice day it is well worth going to the Pointe du Grouin and/or Cancale, where you can try oysters!

NB Make sure you discuss these options with the group as they may prefer to go straight to Dinard and relax (most groups complain that they never spend enough time here)

Route from Dinard to Mont St Michel

If you visit Mont St Michel after spending the night in Dinard it is best to take the most direct route to Mont St Michel (see route march)

MONT SAINT MICHEL

Access to Mont St Michel HAS CHANGED quite radically since 2013 for it to remain an island. Recommend you arrive a minimum of 60 mins prior to timed entrance to Abbey. The bus will drop you off in a designated bus park 2,5km from the island and then you take a shuttle bus (ca. 10 mins journey time). There can often be quite a queue for this. Shuttles come every 5 minutes so it is never too long. From the drop off, you have a 5-10 min walk to get into the Mount proper. Count at least 30 mins to get to the Abbey from the time enter the Mount defence walls and therefore 30 mins to get back. V. busy at Easter and June/July. TM pays for parking on return – machines opposite Visitor Centre Toilets at Shuttle Bus stop free. Take photo/mental note of parking bay so you can locate on return.

Mont St Michel Visitors Centre Bus Parking:

It is best to do the visit first, then give free time for lunch. However, if your group is very keen to eat first, allow 1 hour for lunch and explain to the group how to meet you at the ticket checkpoint for the Abbey (i.e. straight up the

street and all the steps until you can go no further than the last terrace.) The group waits here. When you have gone up under the archway to get the tickets, come back and bring them up past the giant fireplace to show tickets and start visit inside. On busy days, restaurants fill up fast from Midday – plenty of snack options.

If not lunching first, lead the group inside the walls, stop by the Tourist Office/public toilets and arrange a rendezvous for after the visit/lunch at this point or at the return bus stop. Inside walls easier – the only exit and easier to locate any missing pax. Toilets here cost 50 cents.

There is an ATM at the post office just inside the main entrance. Students can also send a postcard from here stamped Mont St Michel.

There is only one street (ahead of you) and it’s usually very crowded. If rushed, it is better to go up onto the ramparts (take the first stairway to the right just after the portcullis near to the point you enter/exit the mount and then left at the top of the stairs through a narrow doorway) and follow the ramparts up the hill. This affords lovely views over the tidal surroundings and the group can visit shops in their own time on the way back down.

Bring your group or send them as far as is possible to climb stairs before you can go no further without tickets. Ask them to wait there while you get their tickets. Climb the staircase. You turn to your right and go to the office

Buy tickets, pick up green English walking tour leaflets (do not distribute) and come back to the group waiting for you at the terrace then show them back up the staircase to the person at the metal gate ticket checkpoint. You need to count your group through. Distribute leaflets here. Lead the group straight ahead up a final flight of stairs. At the top you have the Abbey and toilets (free) on your right and views of the bay on your left. Lead the group through the door into a room displaying models of the Abbey and out onto the terrace. This room is sometimes closed and you go straight to the terrace.

Once out on the terrace ask them to repeat rendezvous place and time. They then enter the Abbey and follow all arrows for direction through the Mont St. Michel, spiralling down though the construction until they arrive with all the other visitors at the gift shop. Route is well marked. Toilets at the back of the gift shop.

They will pass all the shops/ lunch places on their way back down the hill.

Mont St Michel Shuttle Bus Pick Up:

Biscuiterie: if your driver knows of a good biscuiterie (selling butter biscuits) you can do a stop. There are several in the area. The best one for the group is the Biscuiterie de l’ Abbaye. There are free biscuit samples (palets, galettes etc) and no obligation to buy (the biscuits are cheaper than those being sold on the mount). Regional produce is also on sale (cider, pommeau, poireau, butter sweets etc.). There is also a free toilet. Best to stop after your visit to the Mount (allow about 30 minutes for sampling/toilet/purchases).

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