Mont-Saint-Michel is a UNESCO World Heritage Site located off the coast of Normandy in France.
According to legend, in the 8th century, the Archangel Michael appeared to the Bishop of Avranches and instructed him to build a sanctuary on the rocky island. Over the centuries, the site evolved into a fortified abbey, an important pilgrimage destination, and even a prison during the French Revolution.
Today, Mont-Saint-Michel is one of France’s most iconic landmarks, known for its medieval architecture and unique geolocation.
My Day Trip from Paris to Mont-Saint-Michel
I visited Mont-Saint-Michel as a day trip from Paris.
- Left my Airbnb at 6:15am to pick up a rental car from CDG at 7:15am.
- Drove 4.5 hours to reach Mont-Saint-Michel, arriving around 12pm.
- Walked ~30 minutes to the island and explored the streets.
- Took a guided Abbey tour at 3pm.
- Walked back from the island and watched sunset at 5:20pm from a viewing platform.
- Drove 4.5 hours back to CDG (with a dinner stop) to return the car, arriving at CDG just before midnight and back to Airbnb (via Uber) at 12:30am.
Is Mont-Saint-Michel Worth It?
Absolutely not. While Mont-Saint-Michel is undeniably beautiful, I’d give my experience a 3/10. For me, it wasn’t worth the time, cost, or effort as a day trip from Paris.
What Was Good
- Sunset over the island. Watching the sunset light up Mont-Saint-Michel was beautiful and easily the highlight of the visit.
- Abbey tour. The Abbey was impressive and the guided tour was a great way to learn about Mont-Saint-Michel’s history and construction.
- Less crowded, scenic areas. Some of the side paths led to nice views of the coast, and were quieter and nice to walk around.
What Was Bad
1. It’s extremely far.
- Mont-Saint-Michel is a 4.5 hour drive each way from Paris (4 hours if you’re willing to pay ~30€ in tolls).
- Doing this as a day trip from Paris meant leaving before sunrise and arriving home after midnight, while spending most of the day in the car.
2. It’s ridiculously expensive.
Going to Mont-Saint-Michel was the most expensive thing I did in France.
- $180 to rent a car for the day.
- $80 for gas.
- $13 for parking.
- $15 for the Abbey Tour.
- $14 for a train to CDG in the morning and $65 for an Uber from CDG to Paris at night (we missed the last train from CDG to Paris by 5 minutes).
$367 USD to get swarmed by crowds and arrive home exhausted.
3. The crowds were horrendous.
The crowds completely ruined the experience for me.
- Movement through the island was extremely slow. You could barely move because the streets were narrow and people were shoulder to shoulder.
- Every restaurant had lines out the door, with wait times of 1 hour or more. Service is highly inefficient and inconsiderate to customers.
- Being surrounded by cigarette smoke in the enclosed streets was absolutely disgusting.
4. It’s a tourist trap (mostly).
- Aside from the Abbey, nearly everything on the island is either a souvenir shop or a restaurant.
- The food was very bad, and the service was even worse (terribly slow and rude to customers).
Final Thoughts
Going to Mont-Saint-Michel was absolutely a mistake that in hindsight, I should’ve been able to prevent. There are dozens of Reddit posts explaining that Mont-Saint-Michel is a tourist trap, that it’s crowded, that it’s not worth the trip from Paris, etc.
Overall, I absolutely regret taking this day trip and would not do it again. It was exhausting, hard to reach, expensive, and ridiculously crowded, and I didn’t enjoy the experience.
ADJENTURING 