Cherbourg to Mont st. Michel via rental car practical?

[cwuer]

I have done a search and tried to find out about this but most of the info is related to the La Havre port instead. There are 8 of us interested in seeing Mont St. Michel from the port of Cherbourg. We are in port for 10 hours. 9am to 7pm. (on a Friday in Sept.) I have found a rental car location that is at the Ferry port and I think that is the same port the cruise ships use. The ships tour would cost us over $1500 for the 8 of us. We can rent 2 cars with GPS for under $400 total. Is this a trip that most could navigate without a lot of difficulty? We thought we could pick up a guide to do the abbey itself when we get there, Or arrange to have one meet us there. Does anyone know if this is practical or even a "good idea" or for reasons unknown to myself is this a bad idea? We are well traveled and resonable intelligent;) Any advice or opinions much appreciated.

[Kingsbridge]

As I am sure you know, Cherbourg is quite a distance from Mont St Michel. Our cruise in June stopped in St. Malo and we went from there on a ship's tour. The coach was able to park right at the entrance to the Mont, while the private car parking was farther away. It's hard for me to judge how difficult it would be since we were there on a holiday weekend and the car traffic was horrendous. Do you have a way to get a guide to show you through the monastery? The hike from sea level to the entrance of the monastery is pretty steep and there are many steps and many levels within the monastery itself. You would need to be sure that everyone in your party was reasonably fit and able to complete the climb. There seemed to be no middle ground. There are plenty of very touristy shops along the path to the top but my recollection is that the restaurants were near the bottom. On the day we visited they were all overcrowded and understaffed. Your experience in September might be quite different but the location of the private car parking will be the same. Our feeling was that this was one place where a ship's excursion was the most efficient. If you do go on your own, there is a rather smelly public rest room at the bottom and there were no other facilities available until you entered the monastery.

[John Bull]

Navigation from Cherbourg to MSM is very easy, even without GPS, and the driving is easy too. :)

I don't recall any road tolls on the way, but the route is quite boring - though, subject to time constraints of course, you have the flexibility of your own timetable & stops/diversions on the way.

So yes, hiring a car/cars makes a great deal of sense & despite the time taken to collect the car, you'd almost certainly overtake the coaches on the way.

It's about 110 miles, 2 hours by car.

 

Kingsbridge's point about the steep walk within MSM is very valid, it's not a trip for the physically-challenged. Though plenty of folk have a great day without actually reaching the abbey at the top.

But the parking is no big deal, the walk from the carpark is 2 mins up to 10 mins, depending how far back you are in the carpark. If that's a bit of a problem, then MSM itself is an unsurmountable problem. And there are plenty of eateries & watering holes, with clean rest-rooms, all the way up.

 

By car you'd not have a guide, and I don't know if you can arrange to meet one. But you don't need a guide for the layout - its one path up & the same path down, so a bit of research on what to look for & its background should be good enough.

 

Since you'd be responsible for getting yourselves back to the ship on time, best to give yourselves plenty of wiggle-time for the return journey. If you don't eat into that wiggle-time, stop off at Ste Mere Eglise, about 24 miles / 35 mins from the ship, & look round the village centre & the D-Day US Airborne museum.

 

Have a great day

 

JB :)

[Hlitner]

There are several rental car companies within easy walking distance of the Cherbourg Port (we recently used Hertz) and the one-day rental cost is quite reasonable if you rent relatively small manual shift cars. In your case you might also see if its possible to simply rent a 9 person van. As to getting to Mont St Michael, as had been posted, its a relatively easy 2 hour drive (each way) and there is plenty of parking at Mont St Michael. Having a GPS is helpful, but its also pretty easy to print-out the turn by turn directions (Michelin has a great European web site). Once at your destination it is very easy to walk through the walled city on your own (we have actually heard some guides saying things like "this is a nice gift shop.") and enjoy a nice lunch inside the walls.

 

Hank