Published: September, 2024
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Tour du Mont Blanc, France

— Courtney Leary
  • More about your Oliver Guide:
  • Activity level: high
  • Ideal length of trip: ideally 12 days, but anywhere from 4-12 will do

to & from

From the U.S., easiest is to fly into Geneva and take a car to Chamonix where you can start the tour. The train is also an option from the airport to Mutigny where you can take a taxi to Chamonix or to another town on the trail.

The Tour de Mont Blanc is a little more than 100 miles in total and takes about 10 days to complete. hiking about 10 miles per day. You can hike a portion of the trail or do the whole thing. We were only able to do 4 days but look forward to returning one day to complete the circuit.

Where to Stay

The tour de Mont Blanc is one of the most popular long distance hiking/ walking routes in Europe, circling Mont Blanc with multiple towns and huts to stop in for food and sleep along the way. There are many ways to do this trip from camping to sleeping in huts shared with other hikers to staying in a range of hotels.  The easiest way to plan this out is through an adventure tour company. We used and recommend Pollux. They booked our hotels, ensured that we hit the mountain huts around lunch time and provided us with a great guide, Staffan. Additionally they arranged to have our bags transported each day so we could hike with just a small daypack. With careful detailed planning, one could do this on their own but having someone else handle the logistics made all the difference for us.  (There are also tour companies that will plan the trip for you to do on your own without a guide or to do with a group. )

The hotels we stayed in were:

  • Grand Hotel des Alpes–  Quaint old hotel with pretty rooms and nice breakfast; indoor pool, sauna and steam room, great location in the middle of Chamonix
  • Hotel Grands Montets-  Rustic mountain hotel with cedar paneled small rooms, pretty views and a 10 minute  walk to town (store, dinner)
  • Hotel de Forclaz- The most rustic of our lodging, bordering on a hut with small rooms and older beds but charming in its own way. Dinner  and small breakfast is included in stay
  • Au Club Alpin- Beautiful modern 5 star hotel built in 2020, amazing spa facilities and pretty views of the lake, only 8 rooms total.

These ranged from barely 3 stars to 5 star luxury based on what was available. We enjoyed our stay at the 3 star Hotel de Forclaz with “half-board” as much as the stay at the 5 star Club du Alpin for different reasons– the range of experiences was a highlight for us.

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