45.92° N · 6.87° E
Cable cars that rise to 3,842 m, a rack railway to the Mer de Glace and balcony trails facing Mont Blanc. Allow three to five nights.
Part of Tour du Mont BlancAlps
What to do
Each plan says how long it takes, who it's for and whether you can book.
Two-stage cable car from Chamonix to 3,842 m, facing Mont Blanc, with the Step into the Void · half a day · from €60.20 with booking.
20-minute rack railway to Montenvers, at 1,913 m, then a gondola and steps down to the ice cave · half a day · €51.30.
Mountain walk from the Flégère cable car to Lac Blanc, in the Aiguilles Rouges reserve · 3 h round trip · 7 km · +500 m.
Itineraries
Days and weekends already planned out, with how to get between each stop and who to book with.
Plan the trip
Each choice narrows the next: the season shapes how best to travel, and how you travel decides where you stay and where you eat.
When to go
From June to September for walking, with the cable cars and the Montenvers train open; July and August are the busiest months. From January to March, for skiing. November is the dead month: almost all the lifts close until mid-December.
How you travel
The ways of travelling that suit Chamonix-Mont-Blanc. We are writing a guide to each one: where to stay, how to get around and which services you will need.
By carCar-freeOn footCampingBy campervanBackpacking
Where to stay
Why we like it: Five-star hotel run by the Carrier family since 1903, with rooms, a farmhouse, chalets, a spa with pool and two restaurants, five minutes from the centre.
Why we like it: Mountain hotel from 1880 at 1,913 m, beside the Mer de Glace, with 18 rooms and a dormitory; reached by the Montenvers train, with half-board stays.
Why we like it: HI network hostel in Les Pèlerins, south of the town, with 120 beds in rooms for 2, 4 and 6, meals and a bar; open from December to September.
Where to eat
From set lunch menus to Michelin stars. We mark the price level and what to order at each place.
What to order: the raclette galette or the reblochon Breizh Roll, and for dessert the chocolate crêpe flambéed with Chartreuse.
What to order: the house boudin, the Savoyard fondue and, for dessert, the Vré, the homemade tart trolley.
What to order: the Savoy diot with polenta or the croûte with Beaufort and mushrooms; for dessert, the bilberry tart.
Nearby
The closest places, whichever country they are in.
45.61° N · 7.36° E
By carBy campervanCampingOn footBackpacking
45.92° N · 6.13° E
By planeCar-freeBy carLuxury
46.49° N · 6.75° E
Car-freeLuxuryOn footBy bikeBy car
46.02° N · 7.75° E
Car-freeLuxuryOn footBy plane
Tips
In cloud you can't see anything and the ticket is expensive. Book for the first clear day and leave the other plans for the grey days.
The first cabins have less of a wait and more visibility, before the afternoon clouds form.
Your accommodation gives it to you and with it the valley train is free.
In the village it is hot in July and at 3,842 m it can freeze. Hat, gloves and sunglasses.
Do the Aiguille du Midi on the first clear day, even if it wasn't the plan. In Chamonix it is the weather that decides the order, not you.
The cable cars, the Montenvers train and the ice cave close for maintenance and there is not yet snow for skiing. It is the worst time to go.
Chamonix is a mountain village in a narrow valley, with the Mont Blanc massif on one side and the Aiguilles Rouges range on the other. What you come to do is up above, and to get up there are cable cars, gondolas and a rack railway. The village, at 1,035 m, serves as a base: pedestrian streets, the River Arve running grey from the glaciers and mountain shops on every corner.
The essentials fit into three days. One for the Aiguille du Midi, the cable car that rises from the village to 3,842 m, into the high mountains. Another for the Montenvers train and the Mer de Glace. And another for walking the balconies of the Aiguilles Rouges, on the other side of the valley, from where you see Mont Blanc head-on. With five nights you add a stage of the Tour du Mont Blanc or a rest day when the weather doesn't cooperate, which happens in the mountains.
The cable car leaves from the south of the village and climbs in two sections to the summit terraces, at 3,842 m, facing the north face of Mont Blanc. There is the Step into the Void, a glass box glazed on five sides hanging over more than a thousand metres of empty space. The return trip to the summit costs from €60.20 to €83 per adult depending on the date, and you need to book: besides the ticket you need a boarding number, which you request free of charge on the website. Go first thing, when the sky is usually clearer.
At that altitude the air has much less oxygen. The company does not admit children under 3, advises against the ascent for under-5s and asks older people and anyone with heart problems or a heavy cold to seek medical advice. Bring winter clothing even in August: it can be below freezing at the top.
Yes, although the glacier is no longer what it was. A little red rack train climbs in about 20 minutes from Chamonix to Montenvers station, at 1,913 m, with views over the tongue of ice and the Aiguille du Dru. At the top there is a mountain hut, the Glaciorium, a room devoted to the glacier and climate change, and a gondola that goes down towards the ice. From it there are some 170 steps left to the ice cave, at 1,760 m, which is carved out anew every year. The combined ticket for train, gondola and cave costs €51.30. On the way down, signs mark how far the glacier reached in different years: it is the most striking part.
On the Aiguilles Rouges side. The Brévent cable car, which leaves from the village itself, rises to a balcony facing Mont Blanc at over 2,500 m, and from the intermediate stations on this side start the balcony trails and the climb to Lac Blanc, the best-known excursion in the valley. Check beforehand which lifts are running that day on the tourist office website: timetables change with the season and there are works and closures.
The Tour du Mont Blanc goes right round the massif on foot, about 170 km through France, Italy and Switzerland, and many start it here or at Les Houches. If you don't have ten days, you can do one or two stages and come back by bus or train.
The most practical way from Spain is to fly to Geneva, which has direct flights from several Spanish cities, and continue by road a little over an hour; there are airport shuttles that can be booked online. By car from the La Jonquera border it is about 750 km on toll motorway, via Lyon.
There is everything for sleeping. The Hameau Albert 1er is the Carrier family's five-star, with a spa and chalets, five minutes from the centre. The Refuge du Montenvers, from 1880, lets you sleep at 1,913 m beside the Mer de Glace, half board. And the HI hostel at Les Pèlerins is the cheap option, with the bus at the door.
For eating, buckwheat galettes all day at the Breizh Café, Savoyard cooking at the farm of the Maison Carrier and diots facing the glacier at the Restaurant du Montenvers. In winter, if you don't ski, head out with snowshoes and a guide from the Compagnie des Guides.
Within the valley you don't need a car. If you sleep in Chamonix, your accommodation gives you the Carte d'hôte, with which you travel free on the SNCF train between Servoz and Vallorcine, which runs the length of the valley, and you get a discount on bus passes. The Mont-Blanc Express train continues to Saint-Gervais on one side and to Switzerland on the other.
Questions
From €60.20 to €83 return to the summit, depending on the date. You must book and request a boarding number.
Not under 3, and the company advises against it up to 5 because of the altitude.
Three for the Aiguille du Midi, Montenvers and a walk. Five if you want to walk more or the weather fails.
No. With the Carte d'hôte the train between Servoz and Vallorcine is free and there are buses throughout the valley.
By plane to Geneva and from there a little over an hour by road, or by car via Lyon, about 750 km from La Jonquera.
You go into a cave carved in the ice, after going down by gondola and some 170 steps. Outside the cave, the glacier is high-mountain terrain.
Geocaliahttps://www.geocalia.com/en/france/auvergne-rhone-alpes/chamonix
