Bed and breakfast accommodation in Le Mont Saint Michel Monasteries

Getting into Mont Saint-Michel is free and you could spend the day just taking in the village and its surrounding views. However, there are many things to see and do including museums, churches and of course, the spectacular Abbey perched on top. 

The climb up to the Mont Saint-Michel is considerable: the pathway leading to the top is steep, narrow and cobblestoned. There are also a good amount of stairs you need to climb, especially when venturing up to the Abbey. 

From the Grande Rue on the way up to the Abbey, keep an eye out for the parish church of Saint-Pierre, surrounded by a cemetery where the grave of Mère Poulard can be found and a silver statue dedicated to Saint-Michel. There’s also the Maritime Museum, which offers insight into the surrounding environment of the island and its ecology.

How to get around? 

Once at Le-Mont-Saint-Michel, it will be easy to get around the village, make sure you have the right shoes as there are many steps across the island.

The simplest way to get to Mont Saint-Michel from Paris is to take a direct train to Rennes. From there, you can then take a direct shuttle coach bus to Mont Saint Michel. The closest train station from other directions is Pontorson. A direct shuttle bus will take you from there to the island.

All visitors, whether arriving by bus or car, have to either walk (40 minutes) or take the free shuttle buses (10 minutes), or a horse-drawn carriage, on the last 3 km to Mont St Michel. 

The Mont-Saint-Michel Abbey is an abbey located within the medieval village and island of Mont-Saint-Michel in Lower Normandy.

The abbey is an essential part of the structural composition of the town the feudal society constructed. On top, God, the Abbey, and Monastery; below this, the Great halls, then stores and housing, and at the bottom fishermen and farmer’s housing.

The very picturesque island is just a few hundred meters from the mainland, most of the time it is surrounded by vast sandbanks and becomes an island only when the tides are very high. It is accessible to all pilgrims and visitors at low tide. 

The Abbey was founded by benedictine monks in the 10th century, and features some architectural marvels, and is divided in two parts, the Abbey, established at the summit of the rock and the Merveille which rises on three levels on the rock side. 

Since the Middle Ages, pilgrims from all over the world have come to the Abbey to pay their respects to Saint-Michel. The first Benedictine monks settled on Mont Saint-Michel in 966. During the French Revolution, the abbey became less popular and eventually uninhabited. It was closed and used as a prison until 1864. Since 2001, 14 monks and nuns from the Monastic Fraternities of Jerusalem have lived in Mont Saint-Michel Abbey and deal with the running of the Abbey and daily services.

Mont-Saint-Michel and its bay are the most visited monuments in France, it is listed on the UNESCO World Heritage Site.