If you’re deciding whether to camp within sight of Mont Saint-Michel or push on to a hotel in town, here’s what it actually costs and which pitch to take.
We stayed two nights at La Bidonnière with our four kids. This covers what we paid, which spot to grab first, what didn’t work, and what showed up on Sunday.
What does it cost for a family of six
We paid €15.30 per adult for 24 hours. That includes water and electricity, no extra hookup fee. Under-18s are free. For the two adults, that was €34.50 a night. With four kids along, our total didn’t move — the whole family camped for what a couple would pay elsewhere. We’d planned one night and stretched it to two on the spot, because nobody else was there to take the good pitch first.
Which pitch to take
The layout is cobbled parking bays ringed by grass, with room for a table and chairs. Vehicles can’t drive onto the grass, so kids run loose without anyone watching for cars. We took the front row on the Mont Saint-Michel side. It was open when we arrived and stayed open the whole time we were there.
I kept wondering why nobody else had grabbed a spot that good.
If you’re arriving with a large van or towing anything, that front row also has the easiest turn-in — no squeezing between other rigs. Get there before mid-afternoon on a weekday and it’s usually still free.
Can you actually find the laundry and showers
The site lists laundry and shower facilities. We went looking for both and came up short — either they were somewhere we never located, or they weren’t in use during our stay. If clean laundry is part of your plan, don’t build the day around doing it here. Bring a backup, or plan to find a launderette in Pontorson.
What happens on Sunday
On Sunday, vans pull up at the site selling pizza, beer, and bakery items. It’s a small, local thing — no signage warning you in advance, no fixed schedule you can look up. If your visit lines up with a Sunday, you don’t need to cook that night.
What the kids actually did
They ran. That’s the honest answer. No cars on the grass meant we didn’t have to track them constantly, and the space between pitches was wide enough for a ball game without bothering neighbours. There’s no playground and no pool — the draw is open ground and the Mont sitting on the horizon while they play.
This is for families with kids who need room to move and don’t want to pay hotel prices to sleep within sight of Mont Saint-Michel. It’s not for anyone who needs the laundry to work, a fixed shower schedule, or a booked pitch guarantee — we got lucky on an empty week, and that empty front row won’t stay empty in peak season.
