Microlight Flight Over Mont Saint-Michel

During my latest road trip to the French region of Normandy, I visited the ancient city of Mont Saint-Michel. This place being so unique, I wanted to fly my drone to capture some aerial shots of the abbey. Unfortunately, flying a drone in this area is completely prohibited by law. I thus found myself looking for an alternative since I really wanted to get an aerial point of view over Mont Saint-Michel.

I then started looking for hot air balloon flights over the tiny island, since this is the first idea that popped into my mind. It quickly seemed like this wasn’t something available there (and it makes sense as it can be very windy). Alternatively, Google suggested microlight aviation, something I had never really heard of before that moment. I became intrigued and started looking for information about safety and pricing. It turns out there isn’t so much information out there about microlight aircrafts, and it didn’t seem to be something very popular amongst the Instagram community (yet) so it made the whole thing even more attractive and unique.

Tip: book in advance! There aren’t that many aircrafts in the area, and it is a popular tourist activity so spots tend to go fast.

I got lucky and was able to secure two flights for my friend and I only two weeks in advance, but I tried several pilots before I was able to find some availability. I ended up booking with Didier Hulin who has been doing this professionally for over 30 years now. He’s a passionate human who ended his health career to live off of his passion for aviation! Now let me tell you a bit more about the experience itself: it was simply unbelievable! I didn’t expect to enjoy it that much. First of all, it wasn’t scary at all; the whole flight went really smoothly. We booked a 20-min flight for €100, which was more than enough to admire Mont Saint-Michel from all angles. Second of all, when you’re up in the air you get a very special feeling of peace and you forget everything else that might be happening in your life. You just contemplate the view, and feel lucky to be able to experience this bird’s eye view.