Hi. We will be in the vicinity of Mont St Michel on Sat. August 25 and Sun Aug 26. We are staying at Chateau de Bouceel which is about 18 km from MSM. I know it is a weekend in August and it will be crowded, but it%26#39;s our only opportunity for a visit. I%26#39;m looking for any suggestions for avoiding the crowds as much as we can, even though we won%26#39;t be staying on the mont. What time do the tour buses arrive and leave on the weekend? Also can anyone suggest a place to have a drink and/or dinner that would give us a good view of Mont St. MIchel, and where we could see the tide come in? I checked the tide chart and on Mon Aug 27 high tide is at 7:22 am and 1:41 pm. August 25 and 26th aren%26#39;t on the chart, but I assume that the tide must come in and out on those days as well, but presumably a little earlier that on Aug. 27th. Also we would love to go to a vespers service or a mass or anything else where we could see and hear the monks chanting. Is it impossibly crowded to do so? Is there any way to arrange this in advance? How do we go about attending a service? Thanks for your suggestions
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Your best bet is to go early or go late.
The day before Easter, we were touring the abbey (on our own) and there was a service going on in the chapel (up at the top, the tour naturally funnels through here). It was just a luck of the draw for us, but we sat through part of the service, with the nuns and monks kneeling on the floor, standing and chanting, ringing the big bell...... I%26#39;m sure there must be a list of time for services SOMEWHERE on the website. Once you enter the abbey (not the mont, but once you are past the ticket booth in the abbey itself) you can easily be at the chapel within 15 minutes.
Good luck figuring out the tide chart. Being from Boston, you probably understand tide charts better than I do here in Michigan, but I consulted the tide chart, and THOUGHT we would be there at hide tide, but it was rapidly receding when we got there. Either I was reading it wrong, or else once it hits maximum high tide it immediately starts to recede VERY rapidly. We arrived about 1 hour after the %26quot;high tide%26quot; time and the water was already a good way out from the Mont, and by the time we left there were only channels of water to be seen. And the high tide that day was a very HIGH high tide. So good luck figuring it out! Of course, I worried endlessly about whether it was best to be there at high tide or low tide or as the tide was changing, when the truth was it didn%26#39;t really matter. It was fun to walk out across the mud before we left, but boy is it wet, sloppy, SLIPPERY mud.
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We arrived at 4pm and while there were crowds most of them were on their way out. We were there on a Tuesday. My son and I took the tour of the Abbaye about 5:30- they recommend an hour for the self tour and thats about what it took us and we were able to return to the Cathedral for the 6:30 vespers which lasted about 45 min. When we came out the streets were almost deserted. Most of the shops also closed, but the restaurants were still open and one or two shops closed later. Since it was near Summer Solstice the light lasted till almost 11pm and was light again about 5am
www.ot-montsaintmichel.com/lieuxvisite_gb.htm states that services are held 7am (8 on weekends) 1200 and 6:30 (not on Sun). And that you must be at the entrance 15 min before. There were only about 10 of us present. I can%26#39;t imagine that would change much even on a weekend in August and there is PLENTY of room. We came to it before we had actually finished the tour so I don%26#39;t know if you would have to pay to attend services, but I expect not unless you attended the 1200 one. And YES it was wonderful, with the chants filling up the space and reverbrating around us. The service was in French and it is a real service and not a show, still one of the highlights of our trip.
I wouldn%26#39;t trust the tide charts online (on the site listed above). We experienced the same thing as DrDebi, what we saw and what the charts online stated were not consistent, nor did it match what was listed on the board just inside the gate. Maybe you could find a more reliable chart somewhere, but that one is not right.
The buses began arriving at 8 am but it still was not very crowded until about 9 or 10 when we left. I%26#39;d find out sunset and sunrise times if you are not staying on the island to know when it will still be light enough to visit. But be sure to come see it at night too when the flood lights are on.
I%26#39;m glad we were able to stay on the island for the fact that we experienced it without the crowds. The gate to the town is open and you are welcome to come anytime, it is just the abbaye and shops that have closing times, but the streets and ramparts are magically medieval and fun to explore.
Hope that helps.
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Regarding the tide schedule, this information is useful and accurate (as much as anything in Nature can be codified, indexed, and %26quot;scheduled%26quot;). However, it is VERY different from what most folks on the U.S. coastlines experience.
For one thing, you must be at the Mont 1 1/2 to 2 hours BEFORE the high tide listed on the chart in order to see ANY sort of change.
Also, not all %26quot;high%26quot; tides are equal at the Mont.... In referencing the chart, you will notice that not all days of the month are listed ... there will be no discernable difference between high and low tides visible from the Mont. (In other words, the water coming in from the bay doesn%26#39;t really make an impact to the Mont.)
Then there%26#39;s the column marked %26quot;Range%26quot;..... Anything 95 or above will show some movement and you should be able to see a change in the tides.
So, Mollykeene, checking the schedule for the days you mention in your post, you%26#39;ll see that there%26#39;s no tidal information given, but it does start up again on the 27th, with a tidal range of 107!!! A big tide, indeed! Since you%26#39;ll be there the day just before then, you MAY experience a decent high tide.
Just FYI, the highest tides are at the equinoxes (March/Sept), so you%26#39;re in prime position to hit upon the beginning of a good show.
I%26#39;ll be there in a few weeks myself, so will try to report back what I experience.
Hope you%26#39;re having fun planning .... that%26#39;s the best part of the trip (well, that and actually BEING there!! ;-)
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%26lt;%26lt;Also, not all %26quot;high%26quot; tides are equal at the Mont.... In referencing the chart, you will notice that not all days of the month are listed ... there will be no discernable difference between high and low tides visible from the Mont. (In other words, the water coming in from the bay doesn%26#39;t really make an impact to the Mont.)
Then there%26#39;s the column marked %26quot;Range%26quot;..... Anything 95 or above will show some movement and you should be able to see a change in the tides.%26gt;%26gt;
There was supposed to be over a 100 range the morning we were there. I was there 1 1/2 hr early and watched till there were no more sand bars and an hour later it was all gone again. It looked about the same as the afternoon before which was not listed on the chart. All I can say is that if that is the best you%26#39;ve got then the only tides worth watching are the spring and fall ones. And hopefully they will be able to finish the work to allow the water to flush out the silt so it will be better.
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kbecjeans: %26lt;%26lt;There was supposed to be over a 100 range the morning we were there%26gt;%26gt;
Not that I don%26#39;t doubt your information, but for the time period you were there (at least according to the date you gave in your posting about the Versailles gallery of glass), for the month of June 2007, the %26quot;range%26quot; goes from 74 to 89 to 72, at least according to the Mont St. Michel website%26#39;s tidal chart..... Not enough for you to have seen the change in tides. (ot-montsaintmichel.com/horaires_juin07_gb.htm)
Sorry that you weren%26#39;t able to witness the phenomenon.
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We have a B%26amp;B about 50 minutes from MSM and just about all of our guests visit. Sundays are always by far the worst days to go but almost any day in August is as bad as the next. For an example, we once had two French ladies who left the house at 9am and said they were going to visit MSM and have dinner on their way home. When they weren%26#39;t back by midnight we started to worry but they finally appeared at 1am. They said that they had decided to leave the Mont at about 5 (worst possible time!) and sat in a traffic queue to get out of the car park, for two and a half hours.
The coaches are there most of the day but all leave at about 5 ish so early evening is a good time to visit. It will get dark at about 8.30 to 9pm at the end of August so if you aim to get there about 5 you will be going against all the crowds and they also usuall have music in the abbey from 7pm most of the summer.
Have a good time.
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