Mont Saint-Michel Abbey Entry Ticket

Mont Saint-Michel and its bay

Mont Saint-Michel is a granite island rising about 80 metres out of a vast bay on the border between Normandy and Brittany. The bay has some of the strongest tides in Europe: at low tide the sea retreats for kilometres, leaving shining sand and mudflats, and at the highest spring tides the water races back and briefly turns the Mont into an island again. The site and its bay were listed by UNESCO in 1979.

The village climbs the slopes inside medieval ramparts, along a single main street, the Grande Rue, lined with old houses, small shops and crêperies. A light pedestrian bridge opened in 2014 links the Mont to the mainland. Is Mont Saint-Michel worth visiting? Few places in France combine nature, history and architecture so dramatically, and the abbey at the top is its crowning reason to come.

The abbey church and the Merveille

According to tradition, the first sanctuary was founded in 708 after the archangel Michael appeared in a dream to the local bishop. Benedictine monks settled here in 966, and over the following centuries they built the abbey church at the very summit: a Romanesque nave from the 11th century and a soaring Flamboyant Gothic choir completed in the 16th century. Its spire is topped by a gilded statue of the archangel.

On the north side stands the Merveille, the marvel, a three-storey Gothic masterpiece built in the 13th century. Its top floor holds the cloister, a garden suspended between sky and sea framed by delicate double columns, and the refectory, where tall narrow windows flood the hall with light. Below are the guests' hall, where the abbey received noble pilgrims, and the knights' hall, the monks' workroom.

Crypts, the great wheel and the west terrace

Because the church sits on the point of a rock, its weight is carried by crypts built into the granite: the crypt of the great pillars, with its massive round columns, and the older chapel of Notre-Dame-sous-Terre. After the Revolution the abbey became a prison for more than 70 years, and from that period remains the great wooden treadwheel, turned by prisoners walking inside it to haul supplies up the walls.

The west terrace, in front of the church, is the best viewpoint of the visit. From here you see the whole bay, the islet of Tombelaine, the coasts of Normandy and Brittany and, at the right moment, the tide sweeping in across the sands. Take your time here: the view is one of the most memorable in France.

Planning your visit: visiting hours and getting there

Mont Saint-Michel opening hours for the abbey are 09:30 to 18:00 from September to April and 09:00 to 19:00 from May to August, every day except 1 January, 1 May and 25 December. The abbey entrance is at the top of the Grande Rue, a steep climb of several hundred steps, so allow 20 to 30 minutes from the village gate. Arriving at opening time or in the late afternoon avoids the busiest hours.

How to get to Mont Saint-Michel: visitors park on the mainland and take the shuttle bus or walk about 40 minutes along the causeway. By train, the usual route from Paris is via Rennes, then a direct coach to the Mont. The best time to visit Mont Saint-Michel is spring or autumn, ideally on a day of high tide, when the bay fills with water around the island.