Mont Saint Michel

Mont Saint Michel is France’s premier tourist attraction, and although it is wonderful, we think it best to warn our readers that in high season, the effort of pushing your way uphill through teeming crowds, past souvenir shops, to reach the abbey at the summit is not enjoyable. The appearance of the town is that of a child’s sand castle, with narrow, cobblestoned streets winding up to the 12th-century abbey and lovely Romanesque church, dedicated to Archangel Michael. Depending on the tide, the mount is either almost surrounded by water or by marshland and quicksand. Drive across the paved causeway that joins the mount to the mainland, park in the car park, and explore on foot.