Right, as Al says, I'll have to do the math. I'm assuming 3 - 4 hours actually there at le Mont should be enough. . .

Just remember to know when the bus departs from Mont St Michel, and be there in plenty of time, since you have a fixed train departure in Rennes.

ELLEN......On the posting I sent you advising of the train to the bus (original posting I think by SFgirl) with a 20 min. wait for the bus they were at the isle by 11 AM. I'll let you figure out the math from there. The die is cast and you are on a very doable trip

So how long should we plan to spend at Mont St. Michel? If we take the train that arrives in Rennes at around 9:00 a.m. would we have enough time there to get the 5:30 p.m. train in Rennes back to Paris? How long will it take by bus (or whatever) to between Rennes and Mont St. Michel?

I looked at your link, and I would guess that you spend little time in either Dinan or St Malo, and both deserve about 4 hours each. Actually, the trip is driven by the proximity of all 3 places and a reasonable drive from Rennes from the TGV station. The vieux ville of both beg for a leisurely walking tour. My wife dropped a bundle in both Dinan and St Malo buying Breton lace stuff and cute baby clothes for our granddaughter. Similarly, if you are in good shape, figure on an hour for a leisurely walk from the Mont St Michel town gates up to the cathedral, at least an hour for a visite conference, another hour for fooling around, getting tickets, potty break, etc. Then another hour back down with at least an hour to eat somewhere. Or, you can reprise the movie "If its Tuesday, it must be Belgium". My last visit to Mont St Michel included my mother-in-law, and it was only 7 months after her hip replacement - needless to say, the climb up and down were very slow.

I know everyone is different, but I found the Normandy beaches pretty depressing, and enjoyed visiting Bayeux, including seeing the Bayeux tapestry. I happened to hit the town on a saturday when they had a market near the cathedral, and bought a lot of stuff. Another place that is recommended by French friends is the Liberation monument and museum in Caen, which I am told takes 3-4 hours to do it justice. Your husband might like that. Also, figure on a rental car for that trip.

Interesting you mention both St. Malo and Dinan. I was considering this trip

http://www.discoverbrittany.com/daytripcream.htm

but my son would rather us go on our own (via train since we won't have a car). I'd love to see more of the area, but as Al says, in one day, Mont St. Michel is probably as much as we can do easily. My husband wants to see the WWII beaches, so I'll save a longer trip for when he's with me.

I was interested in your trip report. Smelling the apples reminds me of when I was in school, walking from our dorm down to the centre ville for classes and smelling the freshly baked bread at every boulangerie and patisserie I passed - there's nothing like it!

Ellen, if you are interested in what a 3 day trip driving to that area is like, I wrote up our November trip in the Folder, "Trip Reports", go to page 2, and titled "Paris, Part II". What I really enjoy about both the Normandie and Bretagne areas is there are so many wonderful country B&B, called Gites.

We were in St Malo last November, and it is a nice place to spend a day shopping at all the little stores. My wife bought a lot of baby stuff at several of the nice stores there. It was heavily damaged during WWII, so many of the buildings there are fairly new, but restored to look like the old town. We bypassed Mont St Michel, as we didn't have time for that. Another nice place about a half-hour drive south of St Malo is Dinan, a lovely old Breton town that wasn't damaged so heavily during WWII. We also stopped there, and it was a lot of fun shopping and maxing out on various crepes (appetizer, main course, dessert), and not horribly expensive. This is less "touristy" than St Malo, but both towns really require a car. At least there is plenty of parking in both towns.

AL 5 eggs is too much for me too, but there is no rule that two people can not order 1 omelet!

BP Chuck

Good to know. I'll save St. Malo for another time - so much to do and so little time!

Talk about biteing more than you can chew ....to do justice to Mont St.Michel and back to Paris in the same day is a feat in itself. I can't imagine anything in St. Malo to detract from your main spot with such a shortage of time.

My son's a big omelette person, so we'll try it and I'll let you know. By the way, would it be worth a side trip to St. Malo when we're there?

I hear they boast of 5 eggs in each omelet. To me that's a real over-kill.

Ellen,
Whether you dine at Pontorson or Mont St Michel, please provide a review of the place you eat at. One of the more famous places on the Ile is to have an omelette at Mere Poulard's, but the places change year after year, and we would appreciate a recent review.

Thanks - that's helpful. I saw the early train to Rennes, but didn't know about the bus. We'll book it at the station in Paris.

My son and I are going to Paris in early June and want to take a day trip to Mont St. Michel. We won't have a car, so need to go by train. Can anyone tell me what the nearest town is with a train station and how we'd get to Mont St. Michel from there?