Mont-Saint-Michel, an abbey on an islet that the tide surrounds.

How do you get to the Mont?

You can't drive there. You park on the mainland, in the big car park of about 4,000 spaces 2.5 km from the islet, and from there you have three options. The free shuttle Le Passeur leaves next to the tourist information centre, runs every day from 7:30 until at least 23:00 and drops you about 350 m from the gate in the ramparts. The second is to walk: about 40 minutes along the road and the footbridge, with the Mont growing in front of you the whole way. The third, take the shuttle and walk back, which is the combination that works best.

The footbridge, about 760 m long, replaced the old causeway of 1879, which had been filling the bay with sand. Together with the Couesnon dam, it is part of the works that gave the Mont back its island character.

What can you see on foot?

The village is free and always open. You cross three fortified gates and enter the Grande Rue, a steep street of about 200 m with half-timbered houses, souvenir shops and restaurants, which climbs to the abbey. It is the busiest part: if by mid-morning it is impossible, go up by the ramparts walkway, parallel to the street, with views of the bay.

At the top is the abbey, the reason for the trip. Admission costs €13 from October to March and €16 from April to September, is free for under-18s and for young people from the European Union up to 25, and is bought online on the national monuments website. You tour the abbey church at the top of the rock, the cloister hanging over the void, the refectory and the Gothic rooms of La Merveille, and go down through the crypts that support the whole complex. Allow an hour and a half or two, and a lot of stairs.

When does the tide come in?

The bay has some of the biggest tides in Europe: at spring tides the difference between low and high water exceeds 14 metres, and the sea retreats for kilometres. With coefficients above 110, a few days a year, the water surrounds the Mont completely for a few hours and the footbridge is cut off. Check the tide table at the tourist office before you go: watching the water rise from the ramparts or from the bridge, at a spring tide, is the spectacle of the place.

Can you cross the bay on foot?

Yes, but never on your own. The water rises very fast, there is quicksand and the rivers change course. Crossings are done with guides who know the bay, on foot and barefoot. From the Maison du Guide at Genêts, on the Norman shore, the company Découverte de la Baie leaves all year with routes of up to 13 km there and back to the Mont, with 2026 prices from €15 to €34 per adult depending on the itinerary: the walking crossing from late March to early November and, all year, a two-hour walk on the sand that leaves from the foot of the ramparts.

Where to sleep and eat?

To have the village at night, sleep inside the ramparts, at the Auberge Saint-Pierre, on the Grande Rue. On the mainland, next to the shuttle, the Hotel Gabriel has rooms for up to five, and in the polders, La Jacotière is a guesthouse with the Mont at the bottom of the garden. For eating, the omelette at La Mère Poulard at the entrance to the village; at La Caserne, La Ferme Saint-Michel, open every day, and the crêperie L'Hippocampe from April to October.

How do you get there from Spain?

By car it is about 750 km from Irún: toll motorway as far as Nantes and from there free dual carriageways via Rennes. If you go without a car, the nearest station is Pontorson, 9 km away, with buses to the Mont, and there is a daily Kéolis bus from Rennes railway station. Line 308 of the Normandy Nomad network comes from Granville and Avranches. Saint-Malo and Cancale are less than an hour away and combine well in the same trip.