The Best Hotels to Book Near Mont-Saint-Michel, France

This 19th-century coaching inn enjoys an atmospheric setting beside the Bay of Mont-Saint-Michel, just 4km (2.5mi) from the famous island abbey – and it has its own helipad, so if you’ve got the machine or the money you can arrive in style. The six accommodations, suavely decorated like the Paris apartment of an opera diva, range from junior suite, with its large living room and private terrace, to the master suite, with its grand salon. Make sure you book a table for dinner at La Table restaurant – the menu of delicious local specialities includes lobster.

It looks like the setting for a rural whodunit, with its half-timbered façade and serene expansive lawns. But don’t worry – it’s hospitality all the way here, in the main-house bedrooms and the gîtes (two- to three-person self-catering cottages) on the grounds of Clerval, a 45-minute drive from Mont-Saint-Michel. The cottages are well-equipped, with added ambience from wood-burning stoves, and a breakfast basket is delivered each morning. What to do when you’re full? You could try the foot crossing (with guide) to the Mont, or laze on the beaches, 2km (1.2mi) away.

Just 2km (1.2km) from Mont-Saint-Michel – an easy 20-minute walk through nature – this place belongs to Accor Hotels’ international Mercure brand. This means reliable standards and comfortable – albeit cookie-cutter-corporate – rooms. You’ll dine well in-house: Le Pré Salé restaurant specialises in fish and in lamb raised on the nearby salt marshes. You’ll be all set up for exploring the tiny streets of the Mont and the majestic abbey that towers above it. Afterwards, you could hire a bike from the hotel and get to know more of this beautiful bucolic region.

With its car park and its motorway-hotel looks, it’s not dripping with local colour, but you can’t beat the price or the location of this hotel, within spitting distance of Mont-Saint-Michel. (You’ll need an access code to pass through the hotel barriers, sent before your arrival.) Comfort levels are reliable, and they do a good all-you-can-eat buffet breakfast of pastries, hams and cereals that’ll set you up for a day’s exploring. You can even advance-buy entry tickets for the Mont, before waiting for the free bus service, which will shuttle you there, 100m (330ft) from the hotel.

This is a fun place to stay, popping with zesty contemporary-art colours – teal and orange predominate – and featuring camp mirrors and eye-catching art on walls. Rooms are comfortable, and some sleep up to five with a mezzanine bedroom that children will love. You can eat your fill at breakfast, buffet-style, with moreish croissants, and there are restaurants, as well as shops, nearby. The Gabriel is one of the closest accommodation options to Mont-Saint-Michel, less than half a kilometre (0.3mi) away, and the free shuttle bus stops right outside.

This four-star golf hotel has a broad client base thanks to its proximity to Mont-Saint-Michel, a 10-minute drive away. Utilitarian on the outside, with its low-slung grey roof, it has nicely spacious rooms, including doubles and family quadruples, some garden-view with private terraces (personally, we’d avoid the interior-views). A peaceful garden has places to sit and relax. There’s a bar, a restaurant and free buffet breakfast (7.30am-10am). The boardwalk to the Mont is close by, or take the free shuttle bus – ask staff to direct you. They’re very friendly and helpful.

Plain and sturdy, this rustic-feel chambre d’hôte (French for furnished rooms in an owner’s home, with breakfast) is super-convenient for Mont-Saint-Michel – the shuttle bus is a short walk away. There are four rooms and one suite, simply furnished with subtly patterned wallpaper and bare parquet flooring. Breakfast is served in a spacious kitchen/dining room, and there’s a garden with fine views. Don’t forget to watch the sheep being herded home across the salt marshes every evening.