53301NOR
Saumur, St Malo
Routes
Opening days/times, entrance fees, etc. listed on Yellow Pages.
Mont St Michel inside visit of the Abbey & lunch stop
- Cash or Card for Abbey entrances
- Warn groups in advance – there are lots of steps and cobbles so they will need to wear sensible shoes (trainers not sandals)
- 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 when you buy the tickets, or just inside the cathedral when you get to the top. They then do the visit on their own. Audio-guides available at 3€ cost to PAX – available at Ticket Office up to 90 mins prior to Abbey closure. They have to exit through the gift shop and make their way back down the same way as they arrived.
- 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 arrive at a terrace where the group is no longer allowed to go any further and must wait for you to return with the tickets , the last flight of steps will take you under an archway to the ticket checkpoint and right to the ticket office).
- Routes from Mont St Michel to Dinard
If you visit Mont St Michel over lunch time/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)
Access to Mont St Michel HAS CHANGED quite radically since 2013 for it to remain an island. The bus will drop you off in a designated bus park 2,5km from the island and then you take a shuttle bus (6mins journey time). There can often be quite a queue for this. But shuttles come every 5 minutes so it is never too long. You then have a 15 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. Make your RDV point. TM pays for parking – machines opposite (free) toilets at Bus Park Visitor Centre.
There are a couple of ATMs by the paying public toilets at the bottom of the mount to the right of the main entrance.
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.
There is only one street (ahead of you) and it’s usually very crowded. 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 & collect leaflets for English Walking Tour (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. Lead the group straight ahead up a final flight of stairs. At the top you have the Abbey and toilets 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 (model room sometimes closed so proceed directly to 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. Free toilets at the back of the gift shop.
They will pass all the shops/ lunch places on their way back down the hill. Plenty of snack options – sit down options fill up quickly on busy days.
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). If continuing on to Loire, be strict on time – long drive ahead.