The beautiful town sits on the north west French coast, is cut off by the tide each day and has been a major pilgrimage site for more than a thousand years
A magical island topped by a gravity-defying abbey looks like something from a fairytale.
When approaching the town of Mont-Saint-Michel and its bay it is understandable to wonder if you’ve slipped into the pages of a Grimm’s Brothers book. The north-western coastal town between Normandy and Brittany is inarguably among France’s most stunning sights.
For centuries Mont-Saint-Michel has been one of Europe’s major pilgrimage destinations. Now the holy island and its breath-taking bay have been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The settlement is surrounded by a stone wall that completely encloses the buildings inside, which sit on a 4km/sq patch of land. At its highest point the central abbey rises up to 80m, towering over the sea below and houses on the edge of the island. At the last official count in 2019, just 29 people lived there full-time.
Mont-Saint-Michel lies about 1km off the coast, which means that it becomes surrounded by seawater at high tide. For much of its history the commune’s position made it accessible to the many pilgrims to its abbey when the water was low, and defensible as the incoming tide stranded, drove off, or drowned would-be attackers.
It remained unconquered during the Hundred Years’ War and was later used by the French authorities as a prison. Today a pedestrian bridge elevated above the water means those living on Mont-Saint-Michel can leave and return regardless of the tide level.
The story of how the mount came to be a great Christian pilgrimage site dates back to the early 8th century, when Bishop Aubert said that the Archangel Michael had told him a church must be built atop an island just off the coast. Despite the challenges such a demand entailed, dukes of Normandy and French kings in the 10th century signed up to the project. Throughout the Middle Ages more and more monastic buildings were added to the island.
“The Abbey of the Mont-Saint-Michel became a renowned centre of learning, attracting some of the greatest minds and manuscript illuminators in Europe. Vast numbers of pilgrims visited, despite endless cross-Channel conflict; in fact, the ramparts at the base of the island were built to keep the English forces out. Other fine buildings line the steep village street, now converted into museums, restaurants, hotels and shops for today’s tourists,” writes the Normandy Tourist Board.
Over the last 200 years the Bay of the Mont-Saint-Michel has been prone to silting up – a problem made worse by farming and building in the area. Eight years ago large scale work was carried out to dig the built up material away so it could be officially called an island again.
“With the technical prowess and daring of the master builders, coupled with deep spiritual ambition, the Benedictine abbey dedicated to the Archangel Saint Michael defies the laws of balance and offers a panorama of mediaeval religious architecture, from the Carolingian period to the most elegant forms of flamboyant Gothic art,” the town’s website explains.
If you plan to visit Mont-Saint-Michel now, you’ll have to make the roughly 2km walk from the car park, which has recently been moved inland to preserve the view. Once you have parked, head for the Place des Navettes, where specially devised shuttle buses called passeurs will take you to the mount. The shuttle bus stop is 800m (half a mile) from the car parks and the passeurs stop 450m away from the mount itself. The passeurs operate every day at regular intervals between 7:30am and midnight.
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