Paris to Mont Saint-Michel by Train

(AKA How to do it as a day-trip)

Caution: We are not (repeat NOT) advocating day-tripping to Mont Saint-Michel from Paris. Our time schedule was created months in advance and we wanted to spend the majority of our time elsewhere, so we devised a day-trip schedule that allowed us to explore the island quickly & efficiently.

We researched train schedules to see if they would be faster and found that if we departed Paris in the early morning, that we could arrive at Mont Saint-Michel with enough time to do everything that we wanted to see there and get back to Paris on the same day. This was all because the TGV trains operate at 300 kilometers per hour and I doubt that anyone could match that speed if they drove!

We came up with the following transportation plan, based upon using the Train schedule information found online;

1. We rode the Paris Metro from the Saint Paul Metro Station (nearest to our VRBO rental) to the Gare Montparnasse train station. Keep in mind that the Metro starts at 5:30AM each weekday and 2AM on Friday & Saturday.
2. We boarded the 6:52AM TGV train to Rennes.
3. At Rennes, we switched to a regional (TER) train to Pontorson.
4. In Pontorson, we boarded a local bus to Mont Saint-Michel.
5. The Pontorson Tour Bus meets every arriving train, no need for reservations. You will be taken directly to the island causeway, and dropped off next to the main gate.
6. Our return trip to Paris was dictated by the Train schedule from Rennes to Paris, so we picked a 3PM train from Pontorson, so that we would arrive in Rennes in time for the Paris train. We were back in Paris by 7PM and ate dinner on the way back to our VRBO rental.
7. This schedule provided us with a total of over five hours to explore the island and have lunch. This is more than enough time to do a thorough walk through the entire structure, taking pictures & enjoying everything there is to see.

If you do decide to drive to Mont Saint-Michel from Paris, note that the public parking lots are 2.5 kilometers away from the Abbey. From the parking area a free shuttle bus is available to visitors: called the Passeur. It starts from the shuttle hub, located next to the Tourist Information Centre, right next to the parking area. The Passeur will take you to the Mont Saint-Michel end stop, located 350 metres away from the city walls and it runs non-stop from 7.30am to 12.00am. It takes about 12 minutes for the shuttle to drive from the shuttle hub to the end stop.

 Travel Warning 

There is a lot of mis-information on the Internet about how to make this sort of day trip, some of it is mis-leading, the method we utilized is simple and allowed us to do this as a "day trip" which is what we required. If you have more time to spend in Mont Saint-Michel, you might want to follow another type of plan.

Exploring the Island

When you enter the main gate, it is not immediately clear that there are two routes to the top. We took the Porte Eschaugette route by turning left and going up the stairs. If you turn right and follow the crowds, you will be entering the village area and it is slow movement due to the very narrow (and steep) street and dense crowds.
The advantage of heading to the top on the route we selected, is that you are going to be able to get to the top without the crowds and visit the Abbey then you can see the village as you descend, so you will have as much time as you have to visit the little shops.
You should also keep in mind that taking the Porte Eschaugette route will require you to ascend a very steep trail and then steps at the top. The trail is a switch-back, so the ascent varies in steepness. Once you reach the top, you will be able to enter various areas of the Abbey that require you to traverse more steps.
Abbey entrance tickets are available, we purchased ours (€10 per person) in the visitors center on the left side of the main entrance. They check tickets at the Abbey entrance, so you need to have one or you will not be able to enter. Getting the tickets down below allowed us to skip the line at the top.
The following images & text, will show you our exploration of the entire island, the Abbey as well as the restaurant where we had lunch.

Here we are

This was our initial view of the island after getting off the bus, the buses leave passengers off at approximately 100 meters from the main gate.

Various Methods of Transport

Besides the buses, there were horse drawn carriages, other tour buses, etc. It is about a two kilometer hike to the closest parking area.

The Closer we get

The island and Abbey are amazing, and as you can see, occupy the entire island. These views just made us even more eager to begin our trek through the Abbey.

What a background for a Picture!

With the Abbey so picturesque, we just had to stop and take a set of pictures!
The Pontorson bus from the train station, dropped us off on the causeway that leads out to the Abbey, so this was our first closeup view of this magnificent structure. The bus drop-off stop was perhaps 100 yards from the entrance.
See how the water has not quite completely receded? In less than an hour, it was nothing but sand and the water had departed for the English Channel. When you first learn that the water depth around the island (when the tide is in) can reach 15+ meters, you realize that a receding tide is a gigantic amount of water!

Main entrance area of Mont Saint-Michel

The stairs in the background of this picture show you the route that we took. This method allowed us to not have to walk through the village and the crowds that were already gathering. This is a rather steep way to get to the top of the Abbey, but the views were well worth the effort.
The little building in the background, just above the stairs, is where we purchased our Abbey entrance tickets - do not forget to acquire those tickets, or you will be denied entrance !

View from the Top

A view of the area around the Abbey from the very top of the Abbey structure. You can see how the tide has almost completely receded, tidal variation here can be 15 meters or higher.

The Mont Saint-Michel Structure

It is comprised of a church, several museums, and numerous areas where various church functions were carried out. These areas include places where the monks lived, ate and performed church functions.

Tidal Flats Tours

You can see a tour group setting out for a walk about the sandy area exposed during low tide. Although you do not need to be in a tour group to walk about, one must be aware of when the tide comes back, as well as being able to avoid the quicksand areas.

This is what happens to Boats when the tide is out

It is apparently "normal" for boats to be left at anchor when the tide goes out, obviously that boat is not going to move until the tide returns and refloats it!.

It is a Steep Walk to the Top

Did I mention that the route to the Abbey is steep? The steepness is continuous all the way from the main entrance to the top of the island! Fortunately for the walker, the trail has to keep switching back & forth in order to ascend to the top.

Occasional "flat spots" on the way up

It is fortunate that the route we followed would occasionally "flatten out" as it looped back and forth! We paused here and took this picture of people descending back towards the The Center for National Monuments.
Many of the websites that talk about Mont Saint-Michel, describe that the total walking distance to tour the entire island is approximately 2 kilometers. Because the island is relatively small, the 2 kilometer description gives you some idea of how the trail loops back and forth.

As you ascend the Trail

You have to keep looking up & around you, or you will miss these incredible views!
See the gargoyles sticking out from the building on the left? They are actually there to prevent rainwater from running down the masonry wall and slowly erode the mortar between the stones, thereby weakening the structure. By "sticking out" away from the building, the rainwater is forced away from the building, on it's way down.
For a more complete discussion of gargoyles (and some great pictures) found on French buildings, click here.

This mechanism (called the Treadwheel crane) is how they hoisted heavy objects from the lower levels to the upper floors of the Abbey.
The Treadwheel crane served as a windlass and was installed when Mont Saint-Michel was a prison, to bring supplies to the prisoners. Some prisoners would walk inside the wheel to rotate it.
The abbey was closed in 1791 and converted into a prison, initially to hold clerical opponents of the republican regime (up to 300 priests at one point). The abbey was then nicknamed 'bastille des mers' (Bastille of the sea). It remained a prison until 1863.

La Mere Poulard History

The restaurant was founded by Anne "Annette" Boutiaut (1851-1931), who married Victor Poulard on 14 January 1873 and founded the Hostellerie de la Tête d'Or, finding that customers came and went quickly with the tide, giving them the idea of cooking giant omelettes in a wooden hearth to make them stay.
There are a number of places to eat in the village, see our "eateries list" at the bottom of this page.

Omelet Preparation

This is the La Mere Poulard restaurant Kitchen. These omelets are quite large, and I would imagine that the restaurant uses a lot of eggs each business day!
Notice how the large doors are open to the kitchen? Those doors open to the village street and the cooks preparing omelets draw quite a crowd, who enjoy watching the cooking activities!
A very good French friend of ours told us about this famous restaurant in the village area of Mont Saint-Michel. He told us to be sure and visit La Mere Poulard and that we would enjoy the omelets! However, this restaurant is pricey so be prepared - however - the omelettes are very good!
By the time we had hiked the Porte Eschaugette route, walked through the Abbey and visited every nook of the entire structure, we were very hungry. Touristy? Yes... Pricey? Yes - but very filling and very tasty!

 Quick History 

Constructed in 1524 by the lieutenant of the King of France, Gabriel Dupuy. He completed the defensive structures with a tower called “Tour Gabriel” (Gabriel Tower). The round shape allowed soldiers to react rapidly, shooting in all directions from three levels which were built to house cannons.

The above information was extracted from Wikipedia.

If you take the Porte Eschaugette route, you will walk very close to this area, which is on the western side of the island.

Crypt of the Massive Pillars: has long been a source of fascination for researchers. “In 1421 the choir of the Roman church collapsed and, with it, a part of its supporting crypt,” Yves Gallet (professor of medieval art history at the Université Bordeaux-Montaigne) recounts. “Later in that century, both the chancel and what we call the Crypt of the Massive Pillars were rebuilt in the purest Gothic style.” However, the Roman remnants in the crypt led the historian to question the actual age of the granite columns. “The form and appearance of the Gothic choir just above it got me thinking,” he says. “Although it is in the flamboyant style typical of the 15th century, it has the layout of older Rayonnant churches, like Évreux Cathedral, which is 200 years older.”

Gallet surmises that some of the pillars of the Romanesque choir withstood the collapse and were “sheathed” (reinforced) to bear the weight of the Gothic chancel, whose walls rise higher than the previous Roman structure. In order to align the church’s colonnades with those of the crypt, its layout was modeled after an older building. This hypothesis was corroborated by a GPR study in the autumn of 2016: “The probes revealed the presence of a core of different stone inside the Gothic pillars,” Gallet reports.

Cloister Garden: At one point several hundred years ago, they actually grew food in this area.

This area is on top of the Knight’s room, and the water for the garden continually leaked into the that room below. After repeated attempts to stop the water leaks, use of this area as a garden was eventually abandoned.

Contrary to tradition, this cloister was not built at the centre of the monastery and thus does not link with all the other buildings. Nonetheless, as in every monastery, it is a place of contemplation, a promenade uniquely for the monks. It also used to serve as an open air library as monks were usually copying books or simply reading. In order to build this space, the northern part of the Abbey’s transept had to be partially reduced. The western, gallery was supposed open onto another building, mentioned before, and the three bay windows would have been the doors.

The Nave and Gothic Choir area

Everything on the island (Interior & exterior of all buildings) is granite stone, and as you can see here, it is not only very pretty, but it is in excellent condition for as old as it is.
All of the stones were transported here from nearby quarries in boats, then hauled up the steep slope by ropes and sheer human strength.
A substantial amount of the granite was quarried from the Chausey Islands, and the granite extracted there was brought to the island by barges during high tide. The Chausey Islands belonged to the monks, as they were given to them by the Duke of Normandy in 1022.
The rough granite was finished at the island after it was delivered, which allowed the stone masons to create stones for specific construction areas of the island's structures.
The Abbey was entirely constructed between 1203 and 1228, but has undergone a number of enhancements and changes over the years.

Monk's Refectory

Located in the monks living area of the Abbey and it is adjacent to the cloister area. The refectory is covered by a wooden vault, far lighter than stone.
The refectory is where the monks ate their meals in silence. To provide light to this large room, the side walls are pierced with narrow windows invisible from the entrance.

 Quick Facts 

The Mont-Saint-Michel abbey is divided in two parts: the church-abbey and the "Merveille". The "Merveille" was the monk living area. Seen from outside, it has a gothic front, on the North side, has three levels and was built over 25 years.

The "Merveille" can be subdivided into two parts: the East and the West sides. The East side was built first (from 1211 to 1218) and has three rooms: the chaplaincy, the hosts room and the dining-hall (from bottom to top). The West side was built seven years later and has three rooms: the wine cellar, the Knights room and the cloister.

The above information was extracted from Wikipedia.

Town or Parking Lot Transportation: The horse carraige is the more leisurely way to get back to the parking lots and there are other methods including; walking, buses, taxis, etc. You may want to keep in mind that the parking lots are over 2 kilometers from the Abbey gates.

 Transportation Notes 

All visitors to Mont Saint-Michel, 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, the last 3 km to Mont St Michel. (Cycling is only allowed at quiet times.) The views are obviously better walking towards Mont St Michel than back towards the parking lots.

Free shuttle buses (Passeur navettes) transport visitors with high frequency from the parking lots to Mont Saint-Michel. The buses stop en route at La Caserne / Grand’rue (the hotel and shopping complex on the mainland) and at Le Barrage (the dam), which offer some of the best views of Mont St Michel. (From here, it is a ten-minute walk back to the parking lot should the buses arriving from the island be too crowded.)

Buses to Mont Saint-Michel coordinate with train times at Pontorson, which is used by local (TER) trains. The bus journey is only around 15 minutes (€3).

The horse-drawn carraige (the 'Maringote') cost is 5.30 Euros per person one way & children under 4 are free.

Most of the shops and restaurants in the village, or at least the ones that are on the east side of the island's only street, have doors that open onto a stone rampart that allows a great view of the tidal area below the wall.

 Quick Facts 

Typical of the medieval era, the island is surrounded by ancient walls (ramparts) that protected against invasions. Tourists can take a walk around the "Chemin des Remparts" (Ramparts Pathway) to enjoy the scenic views. The immense stone ramparts circle the edge of the island and feature battlements that were used to fight off invaders. From many points along the Chemin des Remparts," there are sweeping panoramas of the Bay of Saint-Michel.

The above information was extracted from Wikipedia.

Eastern side of the Island

The village is located only on the eastern side of the island, facing towards the bay & the mainland. There are a number of shops, creperies and restaurants here in the village.

Approaching Village from the Top

This is the village view you get as you walk down from the Abbey, you can see the trail continuing in the center of this image.

Abbey North Face

As we were walking up the trail, we noticed this ramp leading up to the building. We learned later, that this ramp was used to haul cargo into the Abbey using the Treadwheel Crane. You can see how steep that ramp is, I would imagine that hauling anything up that ramp would be physically challenging.
If you go back to the top of this page, the large image shows this ramp (left center of the large image) and where it can be found on the side of the structure.

Treadwheel Crane pulley & chain system

Looking down the ramp from the upper level of the Abbey. You can see the "cargo cart" used to hold the items being hauled in place until the cart arrived at the top.

English Channel side of the Abbey

We came into the Abbey with the intention of walking around this side on our way to the highest part of the Abbey. Due to the steep walk ways on this side, the crowds were not as large as they were on the bay side of the island.
At the top of this picture, you can see the top of the spire that is on the very top of the Abbey. This is the "back side" of it, the earlier picture showed it from the front side.
To see the Abbey like we did, turn left (the Porte Eschaugette route) at the main gate because it is the least crowded route up to the top, and make sure you get your camera ready! Do not turn right (after the main gate) and enter the village, as this will have you walking along with the crowd.

Mont Saint-Michel Village

If you had not turned left and followed the Porte Eschaugette route, you would have to wind your way through the village area shown in this image. The later in the day you arrive, the thicker the crowds are going to be.
I have to admit though, there were a lot of interesting shops in the village. I am glad that we took the Porte Eschaugette route and saw the village after the Abbey.