Mont Saint Michel Day Trip from Paris

Long trip worth the drive

Excellent trip, with an excellent guide. It was pouring rain, but still a great trip. Perhaps the rain added to a mood. Saeed was our excellent guide, very knowledgeable and friendly, and a good speaker. Bus seats weren’t very comfortable, for such a long trip, hard to sleep in but all else was a great experience.

Time

We only got 2 hrs there what wasn't enough time to explore the Abbey and to something to eat.

Wonderful Day

Years ago, I saw a picture of a fairytale-looking castle that was built on an island surrounded by water. After doing some research about France, I discovered that this picturesque island is Mont Saint-Michel in Normandy, France. It is so surreal-looking that the Disney movie Tangled modeled their fictional kingdom off of this real life fairytale castle. Being a four hour drive away from downtown Paris, this is definitely pushing the limits of a Paris “day trip.” But I really wanted to see this mythical looking tidal island in person, so we booked a Mont Saint-Michel day trip with The Tour Guy. The coach bus was really comfortable and made the trip seem short. Our guide did a great job explaining France and Mont Saint-Michel’s history on the bus, and we were very thankful to have transportation provided for us because the island feels like it’s in the middle of nowhere! In the abbey, we had an audio guide that explained the church’s history. Throughout the day we learned that Mont Saint-Michel became a place of worship all the way back in 708 AD! Over the centuries, it withstood several sieges and became a prominent place for religious pilgrimages. The island itself is actually an entire village stacked onto a relatively small area. Like most places in medieval times, the working class occupied the lower areas, the knights lived in the middle, and the church was built all the way at the top. It was amazing getting to wander the narrow streets, stroll through the abbey, and walk on the tidal ground surrounding the island. Walking around the grounds, I felt like we were transported back in time. It was an amazing experience getting to see this magical island – I’m so glad The Tour Guy offers a day trip so that we didn’t have to worry about the details of getting there and could just fully enjoy it!