| Access to the island of Mont St-Michel is free and unrestricted, although there's a €3 fee to park on either the causeway or the sands below it (which are submerged by the tides). If you're visiting by car in summer, you might prefer to park on the mainland well short of the Mont, both to enjoy the walk across the causeway and to avoid the dense traffic jams. Between May and September, the abbey is open daily from 9am to 7pm, with last admission at 6pm; from October to April, it's open daily from 9.30am until 6pm, last admission at 5pm. It's closed on Jan 1, May 1, and Dec 25. Paying the standard €7 admission fee – ages 18–25 €4.50, under-18s free – entitles you to wander the generally accessible areas, and to join an expert-led guided tour in the language of your choice. tours last 45 minutes between mid-June and mid-Sept, and a full hour the rest of the year; the daily schedule for each language is displayed at the entrance. There are also a number of more detailed two-hour tours, in French only, which take you both higher and deeper (July & Aug daily 10.30am, 11.30am, 2pm & 4pm; Sept–June Sat & Sun 10.30am & 2pm; €4 extra). In July and August only, the Mont also stays open after hours, both in the early evening for "Les Jardins de la Plaine-mer", when visitors are free to stroll in the gardens (Mon–Sat 7–9pm; free with paid admission for any other time of day), and at night for "D'un Autre Songe", when the abbey itself reopens for musical and video installations (Mon–Sat 9pm–midnight, last admission 11pm; €9, ages 13–24 €6.50).
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