Backpack and Snorkel Travel Guide for Miquelon - St. Pierre and Miquelon Purple Travel Guide
Today we are taking a ferry to the French island of Miquelon. We provide detailed information and a self-guided tour with the best things to see and we show lots of photos so you know what you can expect.
Today, we start our trip to the French islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon.
As you are entering France, you will need a passport, unless you are a Canadian citizen, who may enter with a regular Canadian driver’s license or ID card.
Please verify if you need a visa.
Miquelon and St. Pierre don’t have a whole lot of hotels and Airbnb’s. Chances are that everything is booked when you arrive, so make sure to book your accommodation weeks before. If you visit in summer, you want to book it months before you arrive.
Several of the accommodations in St. Pierre now have their own websites but few are on 3rd party booking sites where you can book online. Most booking is still by email or telephone. This is especially true for Miquelon, where almost no hotel is online.
Luckily, the St. Pierre and Miquelon Tourist Center is extremely helpful and easy to deal with. They will be happy to help you with your bookings – see here.
Table of contents
Discovering Miquelon - Day 1 |
Discovering Miquelon |
Discovering St. Pierre |
Trip to St. John’s |
Ferry from Fortune to Miquelon
Please check the ferry schedule as departure days and times vary seasonally and there may not be ferries every day.
Alternatively, there are commercial flights from Halifax (NC), Magdalen Islands (QC), Montreal (QC), St. John’s (NL) and Paris (France) to St. Pierre with Air Saint-Pierre. The Miquelon airport is exclusively served by flights from St. Pierre.
Some flights are seasonal and some are year-round.
The ferries can transport cars – please make sure that your insurance allows you to bring your car on the ferry. If you have a rental car, then your rental car agency may not allow you to drive it on the ferry. This is really no big problem, as you can park your car in Fortune and you don’t really need a car on Miquelon and St. Pierre.
Regardless if you have booked a transfer online or you don’t have a ticket, you will first need to go to the ticket office in Fortune to get your boarding passes.
For that, you enter the blue building and then go through the second door that is 5 ft (1.5 m) behind it.
Once you have your boarding pass, you can exit the office and go through the hallway to your right into the blue building. There is a desk where you can buy a parking permit (at the time of writing: CAD15 per night). Once you have the parking permit, an employee will ask you to follow them in your car to the parking lot, which is close to the Fortune Hotel, and then they will bring you back to the ticket office.
You will then walk to the Canada France Customs Building where you go through customs and sit down in an indoor waiting area. There is free wifi here. If you have luggage, you can check it in the building. When boarding is called, you will walk on the ferry.
If you have a carry-on suitcase, they will ask you to gate-check it – this is basically the same as in an airport.
The ferry ride takes about 90 min, depending on how rough the sea is. You can buy food and drinks on the ferry. The ferry is clean and in good working order and there are 220 V power outlets as in France. So, if you come from the US or Canada, you will need an adapter. The ferry supposedly also has wifi, but it did not work on any of our ferry rides that crossed the border (the Suroit).
On Miquelon, you will debark the ferry and retrieve your checked and gate-checked suitcases near the exit of the ferry dock.
Near the exit is also the customs building where French border patrol will check your passport.
Accommodation in Miquelon
Most hotels are not on any 3rd party booking sites and you will need to contact the hotels directly to find out if they have any vacancies and what their nightly rates are.
Expect most hotels to be fully booked in July and August, so book early - like 6 months prior to arrival.
Some of the hotels, pensions, Bed & Breakfasts and Airbnbs are only open seasonally.
The St. Pierre and Miquelon visitor center (phone: (+508) 41 02 00, email: saint-pierre@spm-tourisme.fr) was super helpful finding available accommodation for us. Do not hesitate to contact them and they will find something for you, possibly even on short notice.
These are the hotels in Miquelon that we are aware of:
- Auberge de l’Île -> see our review here
Phone: (+508) 41 67 00; email: aubergedelile.miquelon@gmail.com - Au P'tit Kakawi
phone: (+508) 55 41 70; email: auptitkakawi@gmail.com - La Passerelle
phone: (+508) 41 66 70; email: lapasserelle@spmnet.com
At the time of writing, there are 2 Airbnbs (full apartments or houses) on Miquelon.
Auberge de l’Île
Auberge de l’Île is an easy 0.4 mile (700 m) walk from the customs building.
Please be advised that the reception is not open 24h per day and that you will likely need to call the owner (Patricia) at (+508) 41 67 00 to let you in. If you are concerned about your cell phone service, then tell her which ferry you are on, so that she can be at the reception when you arrive.
An advantage about staying at Auberge de l’Île is, that the hotel offers lunch and dinner (you will need to tell Patricia in advance) and island tours.
Auberge de l’Île is a nice and clean hotel that is in walking distance to pretty much everything on the island. A simple breakfast is included in the price and Patricia speaks English, but prefers French.
The rooms are spacious and Patricia is nice and good to deal with.
Exploring Miquelon
The town of Miquelon can easily be explored on foot and most sights are within a 0.7-mile (1 km) range south of the Auberge de l’Île hotel.
We like to encourage you to just walk through the few streets in Miquelon and enjoy the quietness and the many beautifully painted houses - even some front yards are very colorful.
Besides the houses, here are some sights in Miquelon that are worth exploring:
- Town Square
The small town square in front of the church has an obelisk which commemorates the locals who gave their lives in WWI. Some of the flower beds are nicely decorated. - Église Notre-Dame-des-Ardilliers de Miquelon
The church was built between 1862 and 1865, replacing an older church that was in disrepair. There are several sea-themed works inside the church – even a canoe is hanging near the entrance. - Post Office
Be advised that the post office has limited opening hours and closes during lunch. - Harbor
The harbor and the beach next to it is a quiet place that only gets a little busy when the ferry arrives. Other than that, it is a nice place to relax and watch people going about their daily business. - Grocery store: Domane S.A.R.L
If you need to buy groceries, this is the place to go. Be advised that the store has limited opening hours and closes during lunch. Credit cards are accepted. - Ship wreck
If you have the time, walk to the southern end of town to the ship wreck and the nearby St. Pierre and Miquelon sign. If you walk a little farther south towards the bridge, you will find some large seashells that fishing boats have unloaded. - Cap Blanc Lighthouse
The guided island tour stops at a spot north of the lighthouse, but typically does not bring you to the lighthouse.
You can get to the lighthouse if you walk from town – it is about 0.9 miles (1.5 km) one way from the Auberge de l’Île. On your way you will pass a farm and may even see some goats.
You cannot enter the lighthouse, only look at it and the beautiful scenery from the outside.
Near the church is a monument that provides more information about the forced migration of the Acadians in French and English.
Also check out the beach south of the harbor.
The busy area to the southwest of the lighthouse where you will see the trucks driving is the landfill.
Entrez-Nous restaurant / Michael's Bar
There are only few restaurants in Miquelon and unlike St. Pierre, it is not necessary to make a reservation, but a reservation can definitely help. See more information about the restaurants here.
Entrez-Nous restaurant / Michael's Bar is the most upscale restaurant in Miquelon. It opens for dinner at 7pm and our server spoke excellent English.
The restaurant exists since 1932 and serves French dishes. We found the food to be delicious and this was our favorite restaurant on Miquelon.
From the window, there is a good view of the island.
This concludes your tour for today.
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