We live in the neighborhood of the Abbey, and have watched for years the painstaking reconstruction close-up; the massive project to restore the Baie to an estuary-state, where the approach for visitors is nothing short of sublime.
This has been an ultimate undertaking.
With the old arrangement, you could drive very close in to the Abbey, pay four euros, park in one of the old lots, as long as the tides weren’t in, and walk through the gates.
Now, those lots are gone! Done away with!
A new promenade has been painstakingly erected over the last few years and it is nearly done.
It gives you breathtaking experiences.
The last two seasons on the Mont have been difficult for local merchants, as even with all the deliberation and care, there were kinks in the flows, and generations-long businesses on the Mont suffered greatly.
Things are improving.
Once you park your car, right there at the Welcome/Information Center, is where you wait for the free shuttle bus, instead of walking 20 minutes to a stop somewhere between hither and yon.
The buses pull up every few minutes so there is not a long wait. The ride is about seven minutes long.
If you are staying at the Abbey, on the Mont itself and you drive here, you will park your car in a designated lot for hotel guests, and pay 12 euros a day. The hotel will give you an access code for the gate ahead of time.
If you are staying in what is now called the ‘Caserne’ – where all the close in hotels and b&bs are, the shortest distance TO the Abbey itself (2 km) you will find a little supermarket, lots of variety in restaurants – and you can take the shuttle, or walk from there to the Abbey, though it is a good 30 minutes straight out in front of you.
With that pedestrian approach, you will enjoy the full landscape of the Baie of Mont St Michel, the beauty of the play of light, nature, silence, and the Abbey soaring as you approach.
It is heady.
If you choose to stay here in the area of the Caserne, there is another designated parking area for you as guests there, and your parking fee is reduced to 4 euros per day.
Here is the link for the overall site for Mont St Michel.
Bottom line is, come to exhale. You can create an experience of a lifetime.
