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For more information, you can always call 0495-345144 or write to info@expatclub.org.
Mont Saint-Michel is on the bucket list of many Brussels expats. Logically, because this mysterious centuries’ old place of pilgrimage is an absolute 5-star tourist destination. The sea, the dry seabed and rapidly rising water, the island, the abbey with all its history and hidden places, it is just a perfect place to discover. However, since it is far away and without good public transportation connections, basically the only way to get there is by car. Therefore Expat Club regularly organizes a long weekend trip by comfortable bus to this magical place on the border of Normandy and Brittany. We combine it with several other visits in Normandy that are also quite amazing, including the coastal resort town Deauville, Caen and Granville, as well as the lovely town Honfleur and we make a quick stop in Amiens, with its amazing Cathedral. This is a trip you cannot miss!
Overview
Trip price and what is included
The price for this trip is €699, including dinner at Mont Saint-Michel and all the below items. The next items are included:
Transportation by 4* luxury coach
One large suitcase per person
3 nights in an nice 4* hotel in Caen Centre
3x breakfast buffet
3-course dinner at Mont Saint-Michel
Visit to Étretat
Visit to Le Havre (UNESCO World Heritage Site)
Visit to Mont Saint-Michel (UNESCO World Heritage Site)
Visit to Granville
Visit to Caen
Visit to Bayeux (UNESCO Memory of the World)
Visit to Deauville
Visit to Honfleur
Visit to Amiens (UNESCO World Heritage Site)
Entrance fees Château de Caen
Entrance fees Tapestry of Bayeux Museum
Entrance fees for Mont Saint-Michel
Guided tour Château de Caen
Guided audio-tour Tapestry of Bayeux Museum
Guided tour Mont Saint-Michel & Abbey
A great group of international people
A lifetime memory
Optional items
Single room (surcharge €125)
Coach pick-up points
We depart from these four pick-up points. During the reservation you can indicate your preference. About 1 week before departure we will send you all the information about where we expect you, including descriptions and maps.
Place Schuman, Brussels (bus stop next to KBC bank on roundabout)
La Chasse (long bus stop right before the intersection on Avenue d’Auderghem)
Metro Delta (long bus stop on Avenue de Beaulieu, next to metro exit)
Metro Hermann-Debroux (long bus stop next to Loxam and under elevated highway)
Mons, stop near highway (exact spot t.b.c.)
Who can join?
Expat Club is open to welcoming everyone who likes to travel with a group of open-minded international people, including:
Families or small groups are more than welcome on this trip to Mont Saint-Michel. Children will get a discount. However, please contact us before by email or phone, 0495-345144 or info@expatclub.org. This way we can ensure you get the right room and a proper child discount.
– €250 for children 4-11 years old
– €150 for children 12 to 18 years old
Pictures
A picture says more than a thousand words. So the below pictures definitely should give you a great idea of our main destination for this trip, the amazing Mont Saint-Michel. More trip details follow below.
From many kilometers away this pilgrimage destination is visible.
The islands seems close to the main land, but when fully surrounded by water, it is hard to reach. | by Michel Avion Fabos (own work), via Wikimedia Commons
Until just a few years ago a large and broad dike with parking spots of both sides led all the way to the island. It has now been replaced by a bridge to offer more freedom to the sea. Visitors are shuttled back and forth from the mainland by buses.
There are stairs everywhere, and there is no way around them. Without an elevator you can do nothing more than walking up there! Along the way up the hill you will walk by many interesting historic artefacts. It is one big museum.
The closer you get, the more impressive the views of the abbey are becoming.
And suddenly you are standing next to the ultimate destination of our journey, the abbey’s church. | by Itto Ogami (own work), via Wikimedia Commons
The Salle des Hôtes, only one of the many larger rooms in the entire complex.
Program
As with all Expat Club trips, our program for this is carefully designed. Still, the program may still change depending on, for instance, traffic conditions. The below schedule is therefore not definitive, but will not change substantially anymore after the trip is confirmed. Together with our bus driver, hotel staff, restaurants, and welcoming destinations, we will always do our best to still deliver the best possible program.
Thursday 9 June
07h00 – Departure Place Schuman & other stops
09h00 – Highway stop
13h00 – Arrival Étretat
16h00 – Departure to Le Havre
16h30 – Walk through Le Havre
17h15 – Departure to Caen
19h00 – Arrival in Caen & check-in hotel
Friday 10 June
09h00 – Start guided tour Caen
10h00 РCh̢teau de Caen tour
12h00 – Departure to Bayeux
12h30 – Arrival Bayeux & lunch
14h00 – Guided tour
15h00 – Tapestry of Bayeux
16h00 – Free time
17h00 – Departure to Arromanches
17h30 – Arromanches 360Ëš (t.b.c.)
18h00 – Free time & diner
20h00 – Return to Caen
Saturday 11 June
09h00 – Departure to Granville
10h30 – Arrival Granville
13h30 – Departure to Mont Saint-Michel
14h30 – Arrival Mont-Saint Michel
16h00 – Guided village & abbey tour
18h00 – End abbey tour & free time
18h30 – Dinner at Mont Saint-Michel
20h30 – End dinner
21h15 – Departure to Caen
23h00 – Arrival hotel
Sunday 12 June
09h00 – Departure to Deauville
10h00 – Arrival Deauville
12h30 – Departure to Honfleur
13h00 – Arrival Honfleur
15h00 – Departure to Amiens
17h30 – Arrival Amiens
19h00 – Departure to Brussels (1 short stop)
22h30 – Arrival Brussels
Details
Although we only travel for 4 days, this trip has the content of a full week! The number of places you will visit during our weekend adventure is rather astonishing. If you’d only travel to Mont Saint-Michel, it’s definitely worth the effort, but at Expat Club we believe that even if you take Mont Saint-Michel out of the schedule, you would still have a fan-tas-tic weekend. So let’s dive right into the details.
The spectacular cliffs of Étretat | Jean-Luc Faisans (own work), via Wikimedia Commons
Thursday 9 June – Étretat, Le Havre & Caen We depart early in the morning from Place Schuman towards Normandy. We stop once along the highway for a coffee and to stretch our legs before we continue to our first destination in Upper Normandy, namely the lovely coastal village Étretat. A favorite coastal resort for Claude Monet, it is an inspiring place to spend a few hours and to enjoy the views and a fresh sea breeze.
Covered Market | Raphaelhui (own work), via Wikimedia Commons
Étretat is a famous coastal town just above the big harbour city Le Havre. It is known for its magnificent cliffs, among which three arches and a pointed needle. Over the centuries it attracted many famous painters, including Courbet and Monet. We will be spending a few afternoon hours here, so just take your time to explore the village and the famous cliffs. There will also be time for lunch and souvenir hunting before we continue towards Lower Normandy.
From Étretat we travel onward to Caen, but make another short stop in Le Havre. The entire inner center is a Unesco World Heritage Site. In particular the St Joseph church is worth visiting. It may look like an unattractive concrete building from the outside, the inside is just incredible. We won’t show you pictures here and will keep it as a surprise.
After checking in to our 4* hotel in the centre of Caen, you can take some optional time to explore the city and have dinner. Caen is roughly 1.000 year old, although traces have been found from many centuries before that. It really started to grow around 1.025-1.030 thanks to the Dukes of Normandy, with the development of a market, mills, vineyards, churches and other buildings. Since then it went through a rich history with many rulers, wars and sieges. Currently the city has about 110.000 inhabitants, with well over 400.000 in the larger urban area, making it the 21st largest metropolitan area in France.
Friday 10 June Today we visit the two main cities of the Calvados region, namely the city where we are staying, Caen, and that other historic gem, Bayeux. We begin our day with a guided tour in Caen itself. We walk through the old town and see the main sights before we had over to the main tourist attraction, the castle.
Château de Caen is situated in the middle of the Normandy capital Caen. Since we often use this city as our starting point for both the Mont Saint-Michel trip and the D-Day trip, the castle is a regular on our calendar | by Nikater (own work), via Wikimedia Commons
At the end of the morning we take our bus and depart for Bayeux. It’s just a short drive and it’s definitely worth it. Bayeux boasts a stunning historic centre as well as its world-famous, UNESCO-listed tapestry depicting the Norman conquest of England in 1066. The city had the good fortune to be swiftly liberated by the Allies in June 1944, but its war museum and British cemetery recall the sacrifices made in these parts.
Capital of the Bessin area, Bayeux has deep historic roots stretching back to Roman times, although what you see only goes back as far William the Conqueror’s reign – the Duke of Normandy, also King of England by this time, was even present at the cathedral’s consecration in 1077.
The Bayeux Tapestry was probably made in southern England. However, Bayeux, which has long been a wealthy trading town, also has a long tradition in many crafts, including lace and porcelain. This was also an important religious centre, and you will encounter the substantial buildings of former monasteries as you wander around the old town.
Of course we visit the Tapestry museum. You will be able to go through it on your own with an audio guide, after which you can further explore the city’s lovely city center, including its impressive Cathedral.
We end the day on the beach. We visit Arromanches-les-Bains, the historic town where the British built an artificial harbor in the summer of 1944 to speed up the landings of the allied forces to reconquer the European continent. You can optionally join us for the deeply impressive and poignant movie about D-Day in the Arromanches 360Ëš theater, but if you just feel like going for a walk on the beach or some dinner, that’s totally fine.
View from the upper town of Granville | by pinpin (own work), via Wikimedia Commons
Saturday 11 June We leave Caen in the morning to Mont Saint-Michel (about 1,5 hours). However, along the way we will first visit the lovely coastal town Granville. We discovered this place by accident in 2020, when we had to change our schedule due to corona measures at that time. But what a surprise! Stroll along the fishing harbor, visit the lovely inner city, and discover the defense systems on the top of the cliffs. A visit to Granville is a perfect start of our day!
It is a beautiful highway through the Normandy hills. When we get closer to the sea you will have a first spectacular view from the highway. The closer we get, the more impressed you will be with the magic of this centuries-old pilgrimage site. We park the bus a few kilometres from the island on the main parking, and from there we will take the shuttle bus towards the entrance of the village.
We begin our tour of the island with a short free visit to the village. You can go into one of the 4 small museums, have a drink or snack somewhere or find some souvenirs. In the later afternoon you are expected to walk up the hundreds of steps towards the entry gate of the abbey. Here an official guide will wait for us to take us on a tour through the abbey, including the church, the courtyard and the many underground halls and corridors. The guide will tell us about the long history of this mysterious place. You will be amazed with this complex and how old certain parts actually are.
After the guided abbey tours we will spend some more time to enjoy the souvenir shops and stunning views, as well as to drink a glass of local wine (or whatever you prefer) before we go for dinner. Several times in the past we were able to witness the tidal wave coming in and the island actually becoming an island again after the water fully encircles it again. In 2022 the number of super high tides is limited and unfortunately do not take place during a weekend that is convenient (e.g. in the colder months only).
Museums Besides the Abbey, Mont Saint-Michel has 4 small museums that are worth visiting. You can visit them on your own. Each museum takes just about 15-30 minutes. We recommend you buy tickets on the spot. Individual entrance fees (2019 prices) are €9 per museum.
Archeoscope:Â a show to discover the construction of this fabulous monument and its sacred history.
Museum of History: old collections ( weapons, paintings, sculptures, watches), prisons and dungeons, the 19th century periscope which reveals the bay.
Maritime and Ecology Museum:Â discover the tides, the bay and the massive building site to restore the maritime character of the Mont Saint-Michel.
Tiphaine’s House:Â discover the 14th century residence that Bertrand Duguesclin had built in 1365 for his wife Tiphaine (furnitures, paintings, tapestries).
The famous restaurant (and biscuit maker) La Mère Poulard | by ugo3ugo32001 (own work), via Wikimedia Commons
Dinner
We have dinner in one of the famous restaurants on Mont Saint-Michel overlooking the bay. Our group dinners are a great way to meet new people and have fun. Since everybody normally joins, dinner is already included in the trip fee and you can indicate your meal preference during checkout (including vegetarian).
Sunday 12 June
On this final day we unfortunately have to drive home, but we assume you will not mind if we first enjoy a few more wonderful places in Normandy? We propose to see both Deauville and Honfleur, and also plan a quick dinner stop in Amiens, where you can see the beautiful Cathedral, our third Unesco World Heritage Site on this trip.
We depart on Thursday morning 07h00 from Place Schuman. The actual time and departure point(s) will be communicated about one week before the trip. We will be travelling with a 4* luxury bus with reclining comfort seats, foot rests, air-conditioning, an on-board toilet, and a DVD-system with at least three flat screens.Â
Accommodation
Expat Club always selects good hotels for all our trips. For this trip we selected a nice 4* hotel in the centre of Caen. This way we can start the guided tour immediately in the morning, and for those who want you can still explore the Caenish/Caenian/Caenorian (?) nightlife a bit.
We are staying this time the the City’O Apparthotel****. In fact, we stayed there before several years ago, although it then still belonged to another hotel chain. The rooms are not the traditional hotel rooms, they are in fact small apartments where people often stay more than just 1 or 2 nights. Therefore there is a kitchenette as well and a larger seating area. For the rest they rooms offer everything you can expect from a good 4-star hotel. Wifi is available and each morning you will be able to enjoy a nice breakfast buffet. You can choose between a single room, a double room (for couples / parent + child), as well as a twin room. Triple or family rooms are upon request.
Room sharing for solo travelers
If you travel alone you can avoid the single room surcharge by sharing a “twin room” with 2 single beds. We offer male or female rooms and we can introduce you to all the other ladies or gentlemen in our group who are also searching for a room partner. This means we do not assign you to a room, but you choose yourself who you want to share the room with. So if you prefer this option, just select it during checkout. It is a perfect way to lower your costs and to meet another friendly expat. Many of our guests in the past have chosen for this option, sometimes even up to 70% per trip. In other words, you don’t have to worry about finding a room partner, we do this for you. Since our participants are all adults, most between 30 and 60 years, there is always a kind person to share the room with. Note that we offer only 1 male twin sharing.
Comments
The trip will be carried out by one of our trusted coach partners.
This trip is carefully planned. Still, all timings are indicative and may change if required by circumstances.
The trip is sold as a package. You cannot go with your own transportation or arrange your own accommodation. If there are specific things that you do not want in the package, please let us know and we may consider a small discount.
You are personally responsible for getting a good cancellation and travel insurance that covers you for unforeseen emergencies and medical expenses before or during the trip.Â
You are personally responsible for using the hotel room in an appropriate way. Any missing or broken items will be billed after the trip.
Expat Club cannot be held liable for long delays that influence the program (e.g. missed guided tours), neither can Expat Club be held liable for weather-related cancellations or any other unforeseen events that influence the course of the trip, including, but not limited to technical problems with the coach, strikes, weather etc.
Expat Club cannot be held liable for personal injuries during the trip. Joining this trip is safe but still at your own risk.
If you do not find a room partner on your own, we will find one for you (male/male, female/female). During the outbound trip we will connect you with others in the same position. If you decide to take a single room during the trip, then you will have to fully pay for it yourself. If you book this option, you are never forced to pay for a single room.
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