Mont-Saint-Michel Nears 2.8 Million Visitors: Free Shuttle, Paid Parking and No Cap Yet

Mont-Saint-Michel had 2,793,985 visitors in 2025, up 3.1% on the year before. On the busiest days more than 30,000 people squeeze up one narrow street on a granite rock in the bay. The abbey at the top took about 1.62 million of them, up from 1.48 million in 2024.

For all that, there's no entry fee to the island and no daily cap. Not this year, anyway. The question gets reviewed this autumn.

The road and footbridge leading to Mont-Saint-Michel with visitors walking toward the abbey under a grey sky

This is how most people arrive. The bridge-walkway by Dietmar Feichtinger is 760 metres long and opened to walkers in July 2014. It replaced the old causeway, which had sat in the bay for about 135 years and silted up the sands around the mount. With the bridge in place the tide can flow around the rock again, and on the highest tides it's an island once more.

Getting there

You park on the mainland. Car parks charge per 24 hours: €9.80 from April to September and €5.10 from October to March, according to the official site, and you can book ahead online. Long summer stays cost more than they used to.

From the car parks a free shuttle, le Passeur, runs from 7:30 to midnight and takes about 12 minutes. Walking takes 40 to 50 minutes, and it's the better choice if the weather holds. The mount grows in front of you the whole way.

Getting in

The village and ramparts are free. The abbey costs €13 on the official site, with free entry for EU residents under 26. Some reports give €15 in high season. A higher price for visitors from outside the European Economic Area is under consideration for 2027.

The local advice to beat the crowds is to arrive before 10am or after 4pm. That's sound. Day coaches unload mid-morning and leave by late afternoon, and the light on the bay at the end of the day is the reason to come anyway. Stay in one of the hotels on the island or in the village at the foot of the bridge, and you get the mount almost to yourself after dinner.

If a cap does come, expect it to work through car park bookings rather than a turnstile. The parking reservation system is already there.