We show you what you can see on a guided walk through the bay of Mont Saint Michel. Do not miss it during your trip to France.
To have another perspective of Mont Saint Michel, and learn more about the area, we embarked on a walk around the bay. But to take a more in-depth tour, we decided to do it with a guide. In this article, you will see what is on this visit.
What does a walk around the bay of Mont Saint Michel consist of?
On this excursion, we will have a view of Mont Saint Michel different from the one we have when visiting it, walking through its streets and its ramparts or when visiting the abbey. On this walk, we will be able to see it from “the sea”, although to do so we need the tide to be low or null.
If you want to venture on your own, you have to consider that you cannot walk very far from Mont Saint-Michel, we saw some people do it, and you really should not go far. The reason: later you will see it, but the terrain can become difficult, and the tides can change rapidly. We would not realize it if we did not know the terrain, but the guides who do the walk several times a day every day know what to do.
On the guided excursion, we will go around Mont Saint Michel, learning about the terrain that surrounds this famous monument during an hour and a half walk in which, on many occasions, we will have our feet underwater.
Necessary equipment that you must consider
To make this walk, it is better to go well-prepared.
- As for footwear, preferably you have to go barefoot. In my case, it is very difficult for me, so I put on some neoprene socks (which are the ones I use to snorkel). Vincent brought some shoes for the sea, the sole is not hard, and they are not made for walking in the street.
- Bring short pants.
- You have to bring a hat and a bottle of water, just in case.
- Before arriving, put on sunscreen 🙂
- You must bring a towel to be able to clean your feet at the end of the walk. If you didn’t drink the water from the bottle, you can use it to clean off the mud.
How can you book?
These excursions to the bay can be booked on the site of the Mont Saint Michel Tourist Office, here. The price is 18 euros per person, for the walk we took. Most of the tours are in French, but seems that there are some in English. The other option is to book the ride directly at the Mont Saint Michel physical tourist office.
Get your flight to France at the best price
Our tour of the bay of Mont Saint Michel
We arrived punctually at the time indicated in our reservation. Something important: you have to take the time to get to the entrance of the starting point of the excursion, since it can take half an hour from the parking lot. Once the guide says that we are going to start, we will walk to the area where we can already take off our shoes.
We will be able to distinguish the guides, since they all bring a canvas in their backpack. What I do not know is who certifies them as guides, but they all work with the Tourist Office.
The quicksand
We begin to walk, for a while, the ground feels between dry and muddy at times, but always with a normal tread. But there comes a point where we approach an area, where the guide shows us what the terrain is like, it seems like a water mattress, it’s very strange.
You have to follow their instructions to be able to step on without sinking. A man from the group, by the way, sank to below his knees (you can see it in the bottom of the photo) then he struggled to get out. That’s when I began to understand the importance of having a guide if we want to go that far.
The landscapes of Mont Saint Michel
On the tour, we had the opportunity to see Mont Saint Michel from another perspective. The sun was conspicuous by its absence, but we were still able to enjoy a beautiful landscape. Of course, you have to be careful not to let yourself be distracted by the views, since I was about to fall several times.
And this happened because I was lost with my eyes and looking to take photos, the thing is that the ground was quite muddy and slippery already at the point where we were.
In addition, we were able to see up close the colonies of young seagulls that live around Mont Saint Michel. In the monument you can only see the adults, the young ones stay quite far away and when doing this walk we can see them up close, speaking of the seagulls, do not miss the Gallery – The gulls of Mont Saint Michel.
To the water
We arrived at an area where the water rises quite a bit, if we did not understand the reason for the shorts before, here it is already clear to us that no matter what, we have to bring them. I have to be honest, at this point I was afraid of falling because there was a lot of water, and it was still slippery. And I know that the clothes dry, the truth is that what scared me the most that it would get wet was my camera.
The islet of Tombelaine
We could see in the distance the islet of Tombelaine, which is currently a bird reserve and is not to be visited. The guide told us that during the 100 Years’ War, there was a fortification made by the English, but it was later destroyed. The island is 250 meters by 150 meters and 45 meters high.
Finishing the visit
And we ended up going around the island of Mont Saint Michel, a good walk around the bay, but I was glad it was over as my feet were so cold. Still, it was a visit we thoroughly enjoyed.
And to finish, we found a muskrat, it caught my attention to see that it didn’t move at all, poor thing, maybe it was sick.
A recommended visit
If you have time to make this visit, we recommend it, so you will have another view of Mont Saint Michel from the bay.
Some of the links in this article include affiliate links. This means that if you buy a product listed here by following these links, we'll receive a commission. The use of this link does not increase the final price for you and thus helps us to keep our blog alive.
