Mont Saint Michel

Very often you see a picture of a fairytale castle among the pictures of France.


In fact, it does not the castle, but an island with a fortified abbey Mont Saint Michel. Today it is one of the main European attractions.

Visiting this place should be very carefully planned, as there are many nuances. We travelled through northern France to be here during low tide, when the water does not reach the walls for 7-10 days, and during the maximum tide (13 and a half meters).

Find tides schedule on the official website. The tables contain only days, when the water reaches the walls.


Next, you need to decide whether you will spend the night and where. There are two options - on the island or on the coast. We spent the night on the island (the cheapest hotel about 150 euros) and can say that it is not the best option. It's cheaper and more convenient. Buses run very frequently and you can get to the gate in 10 minutes at any time. Or you can rent a bike.

Up to 2013 cars came directly under the gate of the abbey. At some point, the number of visitors was so large that it was decided to stop this.


In 2013, a new 2 km bridge for buses and pedestrians was built.


View from above. Near the gate a concrete pad was build in order to avoid mud. On the next photo the tide has begun.


And here the water has reached the height of 13 meters.


The first time we came in the evening when the water did not reach the walls for the few days. The area around has dried up and people could walk freely. In the evenings without tides there are few tourists and this place is very nice.




Such photo is not possible at the time of the tides due to mud.




The second time we came to see the highest tide. Left a car on a huge parking lot, took backpacks and went to the island by free shuttle bus.


In the days of the tides the Abbey is OVERCROWDED. This photo I made early in the morning, as during the day here are thousands of tourists.


We tried to take a walk around the abbey between tides. It was not possible to move futher than 100 meters from the walls due to mud. Tourists were taking barefoot excursions and were walking in the mud. Dubious pleasure.

By the way, be careful and do not walk away from the walls two hours before high tide (video). And watch out for quicksand, do not go into the mud (video).


In the evening, we began to look for a place to watch the tide. Basically, all the people gathered on the walls and towers. As it turned out, there is a huge observation deck at the very top of the abbey. The entrance is through the Abbey and not free, but it's worth it.

We shot a lot of photos and timelapses and went down to visit the evening viewing platform. It is located near one of the bus stops and marked on the map as Dam.

At the gate there was a surprise. Although from the Internet we already knew that the water would go to the abbey at this high tide.


But the people who did not know that, were locked in the abbey for 2 hours. We took off our shoes and pants and went through the gate, where the depth was about 80 centimeters. The height of the tide was 13 meters 55 centimeters.


Outside you still need to get to the bridge, it's not easy if the waves are big. About 500 tourists were gathered on the bridge, they came late and were unable to get to the abbey.


Dam offers the best views of the abbey, but only if you have a zoom lens. If you do not have it, then take pictures from the bridge (photo number 3 in the article).


Getting there: The best of all - by car. The location is in the suburbs and hardly reachable by public transport. A popular way is by train to Rennes and then by bus (schedule). If there is no bus from Rennes, get the train to Pontorson and bus or taxi from there (schedule, 7 km from the Mont Saint Michel). There are also few buses to Pontorson from St Malo. You can easily ride a bike from Pontorson.