Tour du Mont Blanc, France

• More about your oliver guide: Courtney Leary
• Trip type: Mountains
• 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.

Where to Eat and Drink

We ate breakfast at the hotels each morning all of which provided buffets of different sizes and qualities. Lunches were taken on the trail in huts that served a couple different options and our dinners were booked by Pollux aside from the one dinner included in our stay at our half board hotel which was served at 7pm to all guests (hikers) staying that night.
– Bizes
– Le Chaudron
– La Petite Verte
– Restaurant au 1465

What to Do

Hike! We started hiking each morning at 9 am and hiked 4-6 hours each day, not including our stop for lunch which made for a full day of hiking. Our last day we had time to enjoy the expansive newly built spa at Club du Alpin which was a much needed treat after 4 days of hiking.

inside scoop

• If you have knee issues, this is not the trip for you! There is a lot of up and down on the trail.
• If you have the luxury of allowing a couple days to adjust to the time difference before starting the trek, I would highly recommend taking them. Waking up tired and climbing mountains is tough!
• HYDRATE! Especially if you start the day after a long flight, it took us a couple days to feel like we were sufficiently hydrated and wished we would have focused more on this pre-trip and on the flight/ day before.

What to Pack

We brought suitcases and carried daypacks/ camelbacks. Pollux arranged for our luggage to be transported to the next hotel each day which I highly recommend. The trails are steep and carrying a heavy backpack would have made the more technical portions really difficult.

• Most people hiked in hiking shoes– rather than big boots. We had boots but on our return trip will invest in shoes.
• Layers– We started the day in a few layers (including lightweight puffy coats) and quickly shed them ending up in a t-shirt and hiking pants/ leggings for most of the day. You are in the mountains so mornings and evenings are cool.
• Lightweight raincoat and rain pants. It did not rain during our trek but was raining the day we left so it is definitely a possibility, Dinners were casual, sweaters and jeans and puffy coats.
• Hat to protect from the sun and beanie to keep warm in the morning.
• Sunscreen
• Camelback- very necessary to stay hydrated
• Hydration packets– LMNT is our favorite

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Our trip was in late September and the weather was perfect. We were told June is also beautiful but July and August are really crowded and the hiking is over once it snows.