Sunshine Travelers (00:01)
After spending time exploring the D-Day beaches, memorials, and museums around Bayeux, we decided to see a completely different side of Normandy. About an hour and a half away is Mont Saint-Michel. If you've looked at pictures of France, you've almost certainly seen it. It's one of the country's most recognizable landmarks, and it attracts millions of visitors every year. And like a lot of people, we wondered whether it would actually be worth
taking an entire day away from everything else there is to see in Normandy. And so today we are sharing what we experienced, what surprised us, a couple of mistakes that we made,
and some practical tips that we think will help if you're planning your own visit.
Speaker 2 (00:50)
We're Scott and Melissa, The Sunshine Travelers.
Speaker 1 (00:53)
We're all about exploring the world and sharing the journey with you. Whether you're a seasoned traveler, dreaming of your next adventure, or just here for the stories.
Speaker 2 (01:01)
No matter where you are on your travel journey, we've got first-hand experiences, tips, and plenty of inspiration from some of the most amazing places on Earth.
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So buckle up and get ready to travel with us.
Sunshine Travelers (01:21)
We visited Mont Saint Michel while we were staying in Bayeux, and that's exactly how we'd recommend doing it if you only had a few days
And you wanted to visit here and the D-Day sites so that you don't end up having to move around so much. In case you're wondering, could you visit from Paris? Absolutely. There's tours that leave every day, but it would make for a very full day, especially if you're traveling with your group. By the time you factor in transportation, walking, touring the abbey, grabbing something to eat, and making your way back,
You'll spend as much time traveling as you did enjoying the destination.
So for us, staying Bayeux gave us the flexibility to take our time and not feel rushed. And Scott, one of the things that I think we liked most about Normandy in our time here is that because we had a car, we we didn't feel rushed. We had a chance to kind of explore things on our own. We could spend a day at the D-Day beaches. We spent another day exploring Bayeux. We took our time getting to Bayeux and going to Monet's Garden and then to dedicate an entire day.
To Mont Saint Michel without feeling like we were constantly packing and moving. It's just so much easier to get up, get dressed, have your breakfast, get in the car, and go and not like pack up and worry about checking out and checking in and all those different things. So I wanted to say a couple of things before we get into the details. what we learned is it's Mont Saint-Michel in French. it's Mont Saint Michael in English. So we're gonna talk about a tour in a minute.
And the tour guide referred to it as Mont Saint Michael for us because that's how you would say it in English, but you'll probably hear it both ways. So we'll probably end up saying it both ways. I think most people refer to it in a lot of things nowadays, like famous sites in like the native language that it would be in. Well, I'm glad you said that because I was gonna bring it up as well, is that you're most likely going to hear both of those today because I think even in our own discussions.
we would use those interchangeably. And one thing that's worth mentioning is how we plan this trip. this wasn't like we went to Normandy for a one week vacation and this is what we were going to do. This is part of the almost three month trip that we did, traveling through Europe and Africa. And so planning this really took a team effort. Like
Neither one of us could do all of it. And so we had different parts that each of us took on. and so Mont Saint Michel happened to be one of the destinations that Melissa had researched more than I had. I knew that we were gonna go there. I knew that it was famous, but beyond that, I hadn't spent much time looking into it at all.
Sometimes I like arriving somewhere without having already seen every picture and watched every YouTube video. I probably should do a little bit more of that sometimes. But in this case, it was nice seeing it for the first time and not having some expectation of it. And it was just really grand. And so I think for this one, what a lot of people have seen is like quick clips on.
Instagram or TikTok or something like that about how it looks from the outside. but there's never a lot of discussion or content about actually going there. It's just like the view as you sort of approach it. We're gonna talk a little bit more about how do you get that view? How do you see it from that angle? How would you get those pictures in a little bit? So what we're gonna focus on more is how do you see the whole of it? What is there? do you need tickets?
All that kind of stuff.
And so I was definitely the opposite. I had seen pl plenty of pictures and videos, especially recently. And this was a place that had been on my list for a long time. So this little trip for us checked off a lot of things that I wanted to do. Monet's garden at Giverny of course the D Day sites, but then this. And they're all like Scott mentioned, very close driving distance. This was the furthest one, but I mean it wasn't a bad drive.
As a matter of fact, we I don't think we even mentioned this, but we finished up here and then went back to Bayeux for dinner as well. and we still didn't feel rushed, I guess. So it's not like you have to travel far. The other thing I wanted to point out is that Mont Saint-Michel is actually on the border of Normandy and Brittany, but is actually located in Normandy. And they it's funny because I read a lot of things about that.
And then the tour guide even mentioned that. Like right from the beginning, Do you remember that? She said, Does anybody know like where is this located? But and because I've read about that and about the controversy surrounding about who wants to claim it, I immediately knew what she was talking about. And I was like, it's in Normandy. And I think it has to do with where the river flows and stuff.
Something else that kind of stood out during our time in Normandy was the number of camper vans and caravans that we saw. I guess for all of you in the US who are listening, this would be your RVs and motorhomes that we saw in the area. This really seemed to be a very popular area. we had seen them all over the region, but when we got to Mont Saint Michel, we actually saw a caravan park.
place where you could go park your motorhome, stay there for a few days, enjoy it like a a park, if you will, in just a nice natural area. the campground, you walk past it, it's it's really not very far at all from the parking area where if you're driving in in your car for the day, you would park. You're gonna walk right past that campground.
as you're heading to Mont Saint Michel. after we spent a few days exploring Normandy, I think I understand why people would want to bring their campers or caravans to this area. It was really nice. It's a beautiful scenic area, lots of just places that you can go to within a short drive.
So I think this would be a really good way to see Normandy.
So if you're gonna go see D Day, little small towns in Normandy, Mont Saint Michel, Giverny all those in that area around Normandy, that might be a really good way to do it.
So I wanna say if you were gonna have a larger camper van, RV, something like that, you'll definitely wanna pull a small car with you if you plan on going to some of the small towns or you'd need to park probably way outside because they were very small streets. And I think parking would definitely be a challenge as well. But I will say, Scott, we talked about several times. we really ought to come back and do this. Like rent a van, find a way to
to spend some time in in doing that because I think the whole area, we saw them all over. And I think that extends down into Brittany as well. So maybe we can do that. And I think it was a lot of locals too. there there were people from far off who had come and brought their camper vans, but I think the locals do it as well. Yeah. And this was right before the heat wave. We actually had a really, really nice day
and so I would say they probably had ideal weather. it's was about to get really, really hot, but but I think if you did earlier in May, late April, early May, I mean, even if it was a little bit chilly if you dress accordingly, plan accordingly. So as you're driving in, you're gonna see the signs for parking. you have to park on the mainland because private vehicles aren't allowed onto the island. And we'll talk a little bit more about that in a little while.
And from the parking area, you have a couple of options. There's a free shuttle that runs about every 15 minutes or so. And it drops you just outside the entrance into the village. the parking there is paid, but the shuttle is free. Or you could walk it. I wanna say it was like a mile, mile and a half in distance. And then so it'll take you, 30, 40 minutes, depending on how much you stop and
take pictures along the way 'cause you're gonna wanna do that. we had decided that we wanted to walk and like Melissa said, it's a really it was a very beautiful day. We had no rush except for that we did have a timed tour of the Abbey. And I think I really just enjoyed this walk. I think it was one of the the times where we just
I don't know, felt very relaxed in doing this. And the the road that you're gonna walk on is elevated above surrounding like pasture land. So people with their sheep and cows, things like that, graze them out in these pastures. and then every few minutes the view of Mont Saint Michel seems to change as you get closer. at first it's this
almost fairy tale looking things sitting out there on top of a rock. and then as you get closer you can start to see some of the details of the village and the the abbey up top. And so you're gonna want to stop, take a lot of pictures and there are opportunities to get off into those pastures.
People hike through there. And so they do have it open to where you can go into those pastures. and that's a way that you can get some unobstructed views of Mont Saint Michel as well.
For me, this was really my first look at it, besides seeing it, far in the distance at one point as we were driving in in the car and right as we got off the freeway.
It's interesting because you've like I said earlier, you've got this massive rock that rises out of the bay, and then there's this entire medieval village built on top of this rock and the abbey sitting up in the highest point. And we visited a lot of cathedrals over the year. We've walked through plenty of medieval towns, but we had never seen anything laid out quite like this. The geography is really, I think, what makes Mont Saint Michel unique.
standing there looking out across the bay, it's easy to understand why Mont Saint Michel became one of Europe's great pilgrimage destinations. You also start noticing trail markers. so you walk along this path, and then where the road and the path join together, right at that point, you'll see all of these trail markers.
for the different pilgrimage trails. there's several long distance pilgrimage routes that still end here today. And while most visitors tend to arrive by car there are still people walking and making that journey on foot, just as the pilgrims have done for centuries. And that's a pretty neat reminder that Mont Saint Michel wasn't built as a tourist attraction.
People have been coming here for a very long time. I want to say it's about a thousand years. And they came for very different reasons than they do today. Yeah. And you have to remember that that road and that bridge wouldn't have been there. and so people would hire guides to bring them safely because, the tides change. they say that the sand can become quicksand very, very quickly.
So especially in that part, they would hire guides to help them at the last part of this to get across where the water would be safely in order to get to the monastery. and so that was just the really interesting thing about it. So you have to think about too, like this is very different. Like they've set it up to where it's easy to get there. because one thing you realize that if the tides come all the way to the walls, which they do sometimes, there's actually no
entrance and exit during that time because it would be completely blocked off. and so they had to be able to do that safely years and years ago.
Yeah, I think that bridge is really not all that old. 'Cause I remember looking and seeing pictures of modern day people, having to cross the bay by foot to get over to Mont Saint Michel. Yeah, and I had seen pictures, obviously, like I mentioned, but they don't really capture the scale of it. Like you notice it
As Scott mentioned, as we were getting off the interstate before you even turn off onto the side road and pass through a couple of little towns to get there. it's like, my gosh, like you can already see it because it's it is massive. And of course, the closer you get, it gets bigger and bigger. And then you start noticing it's not just like one thing. I guess as you when you're far away, it's like one thing. And then as you start walking closer, you can see the walls, you can see that where the gate would be, you can see the different houses and buildings that are where people.
People can stay in their restaurants and their shops and stuff now. And then that Abbey sits at the very tip top on top of everything else.
And because we were walking along, we could stop whenever we wanted and take pictures, like Scott had mentioned. And it like changes that perspective. And you can also go down the bank a little ways. You don't have to walk on that sidewalk right by the road by the road. And when we say road, it was not, it's not like it's a busy road. There's shuttle buses, there's locals, and there's people riding bikes, there's people running. So a lot of locals or people are camping, like would be using that road. But as far as cars, it's not gonna be like
bad traffic or heavy traffic or anything like that. But you could go down along the bank, and kind of walk it, make it a little bit more of a trail as well. I don't think I remember seeing any local cars. Yeah, I don't either. But lots of bikes. And lots of people riding. No place to park inside the village either. I think there was a couple of vehicles parked outside the gates, but yeah. And if the tide came up, they'd have to move those because they would get they would get washed over.
And so we wandered out into the fields to get a few different angles for the photographs. Like Scott had mentioned, you can go out there. They do have the fences, but it's all like public, wouldn't say public land, but public access land. I guess they let you go on it, but they just they do have signs that are like, please close the gate so the animals don't get out. We did we didn't pass any animals. There was poop out there, but no animals right where we were.
And so we were able to get shots without a lot of other people in them. And so that's what that would allow you to do. Even if there were other people there taking pictures, you could go around a little bit further and have it in the background And so if photography is important to you, I would recommend making that walk. But then also thinking about getting there early so that you have the light or being able to stay late, which the time of year we went in May, it'd been
late, late because the sun didn't set till almost ten o'clock. So just keep that in mind and and look that up. But it also just gives you time to appreciate where you're going instead of just rushing on the shuttle and waiting for the shuttle. Like you just kind of kind of meander on your own. And so I think for us the walk just became part of the visit. And I we had actually planned I had planned for us to walk. I don't know if you had planned to walk, Yeah, we were fresh off of doing our
Tuscany walk. And so I think we were kind of in the in the mood for walking at that point. Well, once you cross the bridge and pass through the gates, you start to feel a little bit of what it must have felt like being those early pilgrims to enter in through those village gates. The main street winds its way up to the Abbey.
It's lined with restaurants, cafes, souvenir shops, and a few small hotels. I doubt they had as many souvenir shops in the early days there, but it was probably things that people would need on their pilgrimage, places to stay and and rest. because many of them had walked a really long way to get there.
One thing that surprised me was that there's actually people who still live on Mont Saint Michel. just looking at it, seeing those logistics of, it's on this island, it's part of this main tourist attraction. and it didn't really feel like a neighborhood, right? And so I think I was shocked to see that people actually live there and we saw it after we came out of the Abbey.
And you could see into these old houses that were on the back side of the island. And you could tell that, just regular people live there. I think most of these people either work in the abbey or in one of the restaurants or shops there on the island. I don't think it's just a place where you would go and look for a house to try to live.
And so even with all the visitors, it definitely doesn't feel like an attraction that was built for visitors. and you really noticed that it was built like more logistically, like how it had to be built, like this the the streets to wind up to the abbey, for example. Or there was other ways you could go, but it was like really steep, narrow staircases, right?
Just for function, I guess I would say. And so you can really start to imagine daily life in a medieval village, of the things like that you've seen there. But all kinds of people were visiting, people like us. There were actually school groups. I mean, I think pretty much everywhere we went were there are school groups, which always think that's so cool. Can you imagine doing a field trip to Mont Saint Michel or any of these other places that we've been? that's like on our bucket list and these kids go for on their school group. We even saw them at the D Day site.
we didn't learn the answer to this question. And so I'm gonna ask it not knowing what the right answer is. But I wonder was the abbey built first and then the village around it, or was the village there and then they built the abbey? No, she said I think part of the tour she said that the abbey
The vi the village came to be in order to support the Abbey. So if they needed, food, bakers and like different services and stuff like that. So that came to be as part of of that. Because the Abbey was built out of, God told me to build this. And so I'm gonna build this abbey here, even though it seems like a crazy impossible place. And then it just became part of that.
Well, as you make your way up through the village, you're constantly climbing. Sometimes it's a gradual incline, sometimes there's some stairs, and every so often you'll come across an opening that gives you a view back across the bay. And so this is somewhere where you just want to take your time, wander down a side street, stop for pictures, look through the shop windows, and I would say that all of that is just part of the experience there at Mont Saint Michelle.
And so I wanna say too, we had planned our day, like not to rush, but our our tour was in the afternoon. And so I had planned our time entry so that we could get inside in time enough to do the tour. And then I was thinking, we would still have time to look around if we needed to see more things after that. So that gave us time to get up and have our breakfast and drive over there and then leisurely walk.
and take pictures and things like that and then grab some lunch. But what I didn't realize is like it would take up every single bit of that time. not having rushed. I mean, yes, we probably could have they had like some more like fast food type things. Like so you could grab, I think what, like a hot dog or a sausage or, pastries or little sandwiches. And then they had other sit down places. but I think once we got in, it just felt very, very busy and very, very touristy.
maybe we should have just grabbed something there and then just wandered around because of then I think by the time we were like, okay, let's find somewhere nice to eat with a view or something like that, we were kind of like, hungry and if they weren't gonna be able to take us, it might have been a problem. So just no. I mean, yes, you could bring snacks and and that kind of thing. but they do have lots of little like fast, fast type options as well. Yeah, you say we were hungry. I say we were getting hangry.
We ended up stopping at the La Lodge Saint Catherine and it's built onto the hillside on the way up towards the Abbey. before we went in, Melissa, you had looked at the menu that was posted outside. It definitely was not an inexpensive place, but considering where we were, it's it was to be expected.
And we also liked the idea of eating there instead of working our way back down through the crowds to try to find some type of takeaway food and to battle all of those other tourists that were looking for a place to sit and eat. So once we were seated though, we looked at the menu that we were handed, and it was very different from the one that you had looked at outside. The prices were even higher.
And the menu was much smaller, the offerings on side of there. And so Melissa, you asked the waiter, if there was a separate lunch menu. And he told us that that menu was the same one that you we had in our hands. Yeah, because I think something had actually caught my eye. I'll order this. Like this would be good. and I want to say the other thing too is that it was pretty crowded when we came in and we saw those little places.
And so We went off to the side and took one of those staircases up, which took us straight to the top instead of winding around the streets. We end up later we ended up coming back down those streets. And so then we would have had to like we've kind of gotten to the top. And then there was the Abbey. It's like, okay, we've passed everything. and so that's kind of why we picked this place, but it looked beautiful. and it had an outdoor seating area. So I was hoping that we could sit outside.
So I did, I just asked him, but and he tried to convince me that the menu outside was the same as what we were looking at. and so it was like, okay, well, we can just find something here anyway. And like I said, the atmosphere was great. It was beautiful, it was a beautiful day. it was even starting, I think that's what was our first, like, it's starting to get warm, but we were under an umbrella and it was in a beautiful courtyard. And so I think we mentioned in the Bayeux episode that local cider was the thing here.
you could buy a bottle of a local cider that was a sparkling cider that was basically like open up, a bottle of wine, but it was cider. so that was nice and very refreshing.
Well, the food was good and it certainly didn't ruin our day, but it was one of those moments where you just don't have the mental energy to try to find something else. And we knew that we were running the risk of running out of time and then we would have to wait till the end of the tour. And with us already being a little bit hangry, that probably was not the best choice.
if we were going to do it again, we'd probably either eat before we went over to Mont Saint-Michel. There are restaurants on the mainland, or waiting till after the tour, like grabbing a snack and then just get something to eat after the tour at the Abbey.
And that would probably have taken a lot of pressure off of us.
Sunshine Travelers (23:57)
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Sunshine Travelers (25:59)
lunch did take a little bit longer than we had planned. So suddenly we realized that we've got to get moving. our timed entry for the Abbey because we had a tour, that time was coming up. and so this next part is something that you really need to know before you visit.
is that walking through the village is uphill almost the entire way. and like I said, you're gonna climb the streets, the ramps, small staircases as you're working your way to the Abbey. But then once you reach the Abbey itself, you've got roughly Yeah. Yeah. You've got roughly another 350 steps to reach the top where the guided tour began. And so remember we had just eaten lunch.
And we were rushing to get up there. So we were kind of running up staircases and things to get to the abbey. And then we get to the abbey and we've got those 350 more steps to climb. so when people say that there's a climb there, there really is. Yeah. And I guess for us,
I had done our ticket time so that we could have time to get in and then the tour like shortly thereafter. But they were basically like, I said, where did we meet this tour? And then you like Scott's saying, you had to go all the way to the very top and to meet them in this certain place to start that. So it was like, we have to like go like right now.
Before we talk about the tour though, I want to talk specifically about the tickets and a couple of things. So you do not have to have a ticket to go to Mont Saint Michel, the the village. Like that is completely free. The only thing you would need a ticket for is to go into the Abbey. But if you have your heart set of going in the Abbey, I wouldn't risk it and not get a ticket. they do the tickets. I thought it was 30 days in advance. but I just looked again. So it's the end of July, and I just looked and
They have August and September already out. So it looks like it's like 60 days. But the tour I'm going to talk about has very limited availability. I think when we went, they had a couple of time slots. The only thing I see now is one time slot, unless the other ones are already gone. and I'm gonna talk about that. But just I would say go on and get those tickets ahead of time. They're not super expensive either.
April 1st to September 30th says the high season and the tickets are like 16 euros a person. And then from October 1st to March 31st is their low season and it's like 13 euros. the hours also vary by sunset, only by like an hour, I think. And the last entry is one hour before they close. But I would give yourself at least a couple of hours. and then, if the tour, you'll have to work around whatever time the the tours are available.
So this is what I didn't, which was very confusing. And their website is very confusing. So first of all, make sure that you go to the official website, which is the Abbey of Mont Saint Michael. it doesn't come up first on Google, like a lot of these sites. a lot of these places that you go, other sites come up first and then you end up buying from a reseller for more. there are times and places where that's a a good okay thing to do.
there's nothing available or, it's a tour that's, something that you want. But that's just something that we have learned. We saw that with Versailles. It's very easy to go to the wrong site and you end up paying more. So just be aware of that. they do have the website in English. So that's a good thing. But it wasn't very clear. It showed tickets and then it shows a tour in French and a tour in English. And then maybe one other thing.
But it's but there's no prices there. So just so the tours are included if you can get one, but you need to definitely book that when you book because the like let's say they have several hundred. I wanna say what I've seen is like three hundred and something per time to go into the Abbey. There might be like 10 or 12 slots for the tour. So we got very lucky that we got them. but
It it doesn't make that super clear. So you would go pick that tour. You would pick the ticket you would need and it would go ahead and book you for that because that's the only thing that's going to show. But if you're listening to this and you're like, but I already have a ticket I didn't know about the tour, that was what I did. You can actually go just to the tour. And then at the bottom, if there are times available, you just say, I already have a ticket. And then you can sign up for that. It's a kind of a strange process, but it's France. so just so that was.
That was my learning experience on their tours and tickets. So in the tour that we did though, there were some people who had walked up right at the last minute and asked if there was another English tour and they added them onto our tour group. okay. So maybe if you didn't know or whatever, you could get lucky if they weren't like super, super busy. And it wasn't a whole lot of people, which was really nice. And I would say because our tour time was like three PM.
that's when most of the big tour groups have left for the day. And so maybe that's why it wasn't as big of a deal. But if you went earlier in the day and tried to hop in, you might have more trouble. Yeah. But unfortunately on their website, they do only offer it in French and in English. which probably applies to you if you're listening to our podcast anyway.
So the tour itself lasted like 30 to 45 minutes. And that gave us a really good overview of the history of the Abbey and explained a lot of the different parts of the complex and how they were used over the centuries. And it really changed with depending on who was, kind of controlling that area as to how it was used. But I'm really glad that we chose that option, especially since it was free.
One thing that I liked was that after the guided portion ended, you're free to continue exploring on your own. So it wasn't like, here's the tour, now leave. You could go back in and any of the parts that you, were particularly interested in and maybe didn't get to spend enough time in on the tour, you could go back and see those afterwards. So there's nobody rushing you through
the abbey there. And the way it was built was like just so impressive. I mean, you're standing inside a building that's been here for centuries, built on top of this rocky island, out in the middle of, I mean, when it's high tide, out in the middle of the ocean, it would look like. And it's so remarkable to think that they accomplished that with the tools that were available at the time. But then just also like
way everything is carved. I mean, it's it's like the other places in Europe that are just absolutely spectacular. And then also the views from the Abbey up at that top are just outstanding as well. So whether you're looking back toward the mainland or just down over the rooftops, and and that's what being up there gives you access to. you'll only be able to go so far if you don't have a ticket to the Abbey.
but you'll be able to kind of go on the backside of that and look out several different ways. And so there's plenty of opportunities to just stop and, take it all in. We watched a lot of people walking, and and many on tours, but walking out in the what do you call it? Just in the sand, as the tide was low and and 'cause they do tours there as well.
Yeah, at low tide, the water pulls back a really long distance and exposes a huge area of sand and mud flats around Mont Saint Michelle. We didn't do one of those walks ourselves, but we did learn quite a bit about them. Yeah. So our tour guide for the Abbey, she said, if that's something you're interested in in doing that you really do need to hire a guide.
there are guided walks that take you around the island and explain the history and the environment and like what you're looking at. It's not illegal to walk out there on your own, but it is strongly discouraged. So you'll notice that the guides would have like a walking stick because there are areas of quicksand that aren't always very obvious. And as we learned from being at Arromanches the tides here change surprisingly fast.
and so I wonder and I bet that a lot of people who like this is their first day and they've never been here, they may go out far and then that tide comes in because it's like there's a river there and then the tide, and if it came in very, very quickly, you could be caught in a very bad situation. So our tour guide said, I don't know exactly how fast she said that it comes in, but she kind of joked that was the speed of a galloping horse.
which, like we'd said, yeah, we saw that at at Arromanches And so whether it's actually that literally true that it's that fast, it does give you an idea about how quickly conditions can change. And we were even afraid, like looking out there, we were like, Are those people gonna get back? There's these people with a dog. so we would recommend doing it with a guide. And like I mentioned before, that's what people the pilgrims would do. And so a local guide is gonna know the safest routes and
obviously keep track of the tides and know exactly how much time you have. And so there were groups out there on these guided tours.
Well, one thing, and this is a matter of practicality that I bring this up, but one thing that we noticed that restrooms were a little harder to find than what you might expect in a tourist attraction. There are facilities near the entrance of the village, but once you're inside the village, they seem to be fairly limited. And we did find one higher up the hill, but it wasn't particularly well maintained. and I think like
I don't know, did it not have a door or it didn't lock, it didn't close. It was right by a little church. Outside the door and but so just keep that in mind is that you probably want to use those restrooms right there as you're coming into the village and or in a restaurant.
Yeah, I will also say the good thing is there is also one at the visitor center. So if you have been driving a long way or whatever, when you park, before you get on the shuttle bus, before you, start walking, there are some in the visitor center that are free and they were actually very nice and a large one. so it's always nice to know where the where the toilets are as well. there is also one in the Abbey.
Unfortunately, I figured there'd be one like down by the gift shop or something like that. So after we had taken the tour and looked around a little bit more, we went like or headed on out. And so I was like, where's the restroom? And she was like, you can't go back in all the way in there. so if you see it as you're walking through the Abbey, just go ahead and stop. So then that was we, I think by that time we both needed to find the one that was not so well maintained. And so that would be tip number one is like where those bathrooms are.
And Scott, don't know if you've ever mentioned, but there is an app called Flush. and so just download the app, it's a free app and it will tell you like where restrooms are. Now we haven't always had a hundred percent success with this, cause some of might be at a restaurant and just depending. but it at least helps you find and it will show you where like paid.
ones are that you can pay for and things like that. So when you're taking a trip like this, download that app called Flush and just have it as a backup. I think you did try to use that, but we were having trouble getting connectivity. And so it wouldn't load. that's right. It was and yes, that's true because then I tried to put after we found that one, I tried to put that in the app and then it wouldn't load. I think you're right. Thank you for that. So maybe that won't work here, so
Good luck finding the restroom. Hopefully, our other tips will help you. another tip is to try to arrive as early in the day as you can. so if you're going in a hotter time of the year, the temperatures will be cooler, but you'll also have a better chance of enjoying the village before it gets really, really busy. So I would say, especially if you're staying close, you could actually enjoy it in the morning and then go take a break when it's really busy and come back or
make sure you can see it for sunset or something like that. And if you're into photography, the morning light is definitely much softer and easier to work with, as is the sunset. So definitely by the middle of the day when we ended up getting there, since we just kind of meandered on our walk, the narrow streets were crowded. And then of course the sun creates a lot of harsh shadows and it's bright on the highlights. So it made it a little bit harder to photograph depending on, where the sun is.
And Scott, actually read that the peak times that people are there, which this makes a hundred percent sense, is ten to three. people are getting there from other places and then if they've got to head out for the tours, they leave after that, which was why I enjoyed having our tour like from three on and then having the rest of the time. Cause honestly, by the time we meandered back down out of the village, there weren't it wasn't didn't feel crowded at all. No, it wasn't so crowded then.
and one thing that I noticed was there was a lot of people coming over the bridge, or on the roadway, and it looked like they were maybe getting there for the sunset. now it's gonna be a long time till sunset, when we were there because like Melissa said earlier, I think the sun set between nine thirty and ten PM and so we weren't gonna stick around and see what the
Mont Saint Michel sunset look like, but there were a lot of people coming bringing lawn chairs and maybe a cooler or something like that. Looked like they were gonna have their evening picnic there and a lot of people coming in with their photography stuff. yeah, we saw those those kids like carrying like a lounge or like a couch. That's true, to do like setting up for photo shoots and stuff like that. But you're right, they did have probably a long time.
wait before the light got good. So Scott, I know the answer for me because this was on my bucket list. But for you, was it worth visiting Mont Saint Michel?
Well, that's the question that we started with, right? And I think absolutely.
I think what's so memorable is number one, just the the way this just rises out of the the water on that island. But you've got all of the history, you've got the village, you've got the abbey, you've got the bay that, we've talked about that you can go out and explore. And I think it's just different from anywhere else that we've ever been.
Like this. yeah. A hundred percent. And I think that's why it's so famous. I actually read that it's like beside like I think Eiffel Tower and going to see Notre Dame of Paris, it's like the next biggest thing to see in France, on people's list. And then what about spending the whole day there? It's gonna take a whole day. I think we talked about that we left right after breakfast.
That morning. We drove there. We parked. We walked. We had lunch. We did the tour of the Abbey. We walked through the village just a little bit. And then by that time, it was getting into the afternoon. So yeah, it takes about a full day. Yeah. And so I think if you're definitely already planning to spend several days in Normandy, and this is on your bucket list, like definitely make this as one of the things to do.
If you have a car, it's completely easy to do on your own as well. And it's, I mean, it's funny because it's also completely different from seeing the D-Day sites, right? And then it's completely different from spending time and Giverny at Monet's Garden or in the little towns. And so it's just a completely different experience as well. And the nice thing about this is yes, the village is there and yes, it's touristy, but you walk so much in
what feels like nature and seeing it from a distance that it doesn't feel that way.
All right, so Scott, let's talk about is there anything that we would have done differently? And we just like to reflect on this. I mean, we're always so grateful of the things that we that we did do. And a lot of times we're like, I'm glad things worked out this way. But if we would have tips for other people, so are there things that we would change?
One thing I'd say is giving yourselves plenty of time to eat. We didn't do that and we were kind of rushed. We probably would have enjoyed because you talked about we had a perfect scenery there. We would have enjoyed the atmosphere of that restaurant better if we weren't having to watch our time and think about are we gonna have time to get up there to our tour? So giving ourselves more time,
would have been good. I think that we also might have made a different choice in food. we we just looked at the crowds in the village and we were like, there's no way that, we're gonna deal with this. But as you go up the village a little bit, there got there started to be more sit down restaurants that we saw later and so I think there was probably places that we could have gone to. They're all gonna be expensive, so
I think, just keep that in mind. You're not gonna find cheap food on Mont Saint Michel. Yeah, and I think that's a good tip. I because we literally just kinda turned and went up those stairs. If we had just followed along the I guess what would you call it? Like the ramped walkway, we would have gotten to a lot more places. And and I probably in hindsight would have just been as happy with something that was like takeaway as well. would have would have been fun as well. I mean, the place we went was fabulous.
I mean, spectacular and they gave us a cute little card and it was great, but it was probably not necessary. And I think that knowing like about the bay and things like that, you would have time to do the the village and the abbey and then do tour of the bay. Because we actually, if we if if that had been a possibility, we could have done the Abbey a little bit earlier or something like that, and then we could have stayed a long time.
in the bay as well. So I think looking up and doing one of the guided walks across the bay so that we can understand more about the tides because it was really just based on our observations at this point. And I think that would have given us a different perspective that would have worked into the pilgrimages and the abbey. And I think you could probably do both of those in a day. Not something that I would change, but something that I would definitely do again is making that walk from the parking area.
to the village. I just thought that was it was great. we enjoyed that. you get to like we said, you you see so many different views of Mont Saint Michel as you're approaching it. And it just seems to change every time you get a little bit closer or you get a little bit of a different angle of it.
And so one thing I should mention, because I know we keep talking about this as a day trip, is that you can spend the night inside the village. So obviously you'll have to bring your things with you. so in that case, you'll probably either want to pack very, very light in a small backpack or use the shuttle for that and probably not bring roller bags. And one suggestion I would have is probably one night is enough, wouldn't you say? So pack just very, very lightly, maybe pack in a backpack or pack things together.
We've done that before in Ireland when we did a ferry to one overnight destination. We just packed what we needed for that night and left everything else in the trunk of the car. and so that would be a suggestion because we did see people like struggling with their suitcases to find the I assume it was an Airbnb so anyway, that would be a suggestion is that like you said, you definitely can stay, but I would just pack very, very lightly for that.
Well, let's go through just a few more suggestions. and we'll do these in kind of rapid fire. I do say stay in Normandy or nearby Brittany if your schedule allows, instead of making a rush day trip from Paris. Give yourself the better part of a day, like you just heard me say. it really took us all day to do it. Walk from the parking lot if you're able. Wear comfortable shoes because there are a lot of hills, stairs, and cobblestones.
inside. give yourself more time than you think you'll need before the Abbey tour so that you're not trying to rush up those three hundred and fifty steps and be out of the breath by the time you get up there. if photography is important to you, make sure that you arrive early. you can't use a drone in this area. It's strictly forbidden and you can be fined. So
you might want to look at something like an Insta360 with a really long pole on it. I think that'll be your best bet. And if you've never used one of those before, the pole disappears. And so it can give you that kind of drone-like view. if you're looking for the famous shot that you may have seen, you can find it by walking from the parking lot towards Mont-Saint-Michel and then
Since all the land around it is that grazing land, you can actually access it. And there are a couple of entrances with gates. respect the property, but go out there, get out into that field, and then you don't have to worry about people in your picture if if you're trying to avoid that. And we'll put the location in the show notes, but keep in mind that things
are gonna look very different depending on the time of day that you're there, what the tide is doing, and then I would take a pair of shoes that you don't mind getting dirty because there's mud, some sheep poop and other types of poop around there that you're gonna be dodging if you go out into those fields. And one other thing really quick, Scott, is that if you have spent the whole day and you've
Eaten inside the village and you want to have dinner, but you do want to stay for sunset. There was also a a small village right outside as well. So you kind of walk. it's kind of where the shuttle buses drive and kind of take you through that village. the other interesting thing is I think there was also like a coffee shop type of a snack shop at the visitor center, but it was also closed by the time we were walking back.
but there is something outside there that's close by that's near the parking lot, where you could go grab something and hang out and then be there for sunset as well, away from the village.
So one of the things we've enjoyed most about traveling has definitely been discovering places that are completely different from one another, even when they're only a short drive apart. And a few days before visiting Mont Saint Michael, we had visited the gardens that inspired Monet. And then the day before we were standing on the beaches where one of the most significant events in World War Two and even modern history unfolded.
Then we spent the day exploring this island that has been welcoming visitors and pilgrims for centuries. And those experiences couldn't be more different. But honestly, put together like that, they made our time in Normandy even more memorable.
So if you're planning a trip to this part of France, we'd encourage you to give yourself enough time to experience it properly. Don't think of Mont Saint-Michel as kind of a stop on the way to somewhere else. you'll want to spend the whole day there. As I said, walk instead of taking the shuttle if the weather cooperates and you're able to do so. Take your time wandering through the village.
even touristy parts of the village. Climb to the top of the abbey. You'll be rewarded for it. Stop and enjoy the views across the bay because depending on when you're there, they may be different and they may change even while you're there. And I think this is just one of those destinations that's best appreciated when you take it at a slower pace. Thanks for joining us for this episode of the Sunshine Travelers Podcast.
If have any questions about visiting Normandy or Mont Saint Michel, we'd love to hear from you. You can find us at sunshine travelers.com, or you can connect with us on social media at Sunshine Travelers Podcast. Or if you're thinking about planning your own trip, we'd be happy to help you. Until next time, thanks for listening and we'll see you on the next adventure.
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