On holiday in Chamonix? Four excursion ideas for you
In summer, Chamonix is a very popular destination for walkers. It’s also a good base for exploring the surrounding area. Here are four day-trips by public transport that my family and I enjoyed – and one that I suggest is no longer worth your while.
Brevent
I’m fond of saying that the view of the mountain is better than the view from it. So here’s the exception: seeing other mountains at altitude from the top of the one you’re currently on takes some beating. This was my experience on the first day of our stay, when we took a cable car up Le Brévent, which offers a fantastic view of the Mont Blanc range.
A paraglider in the skies over Chamonix enjoying crystal-clear views of the Mont-Blanc massif.
Looking north-east along the Chamonix Valley from Brévent
Looking north-west from Brévent into the lower Arve valley
L’Aiguille du Midi
Like an eagle’s nest next to Mont Blanc, this is reached by two cable cars. The second isn’t for the faint-hearted.
A cable car nears the second-leg base station of the Téléphérique de L’Aiguille du Midi after a long and truly vertiginous descent.
Under clear skies, the 360° views are fantastic. The air was also noticeably thinner.
-
- Mountaineers traverse a narrow, snowy ridge just below the summit of the Aiguille du Midi.
-
- Gondolas set off from L’Aiguille du Midi across the Glacier du Géant to the Pointe Helbronner in Italy as three mointaineers complete their ascent of a ridge of icy snow.
-
- Looking north-west from the Aiguille du Midi down the hill towards the Chamonix valley and the moutains beyond.
-
- Looking west along the Mont Blanc massif with the Glacier des Bossons and landscape beyond spread out beneath
-
- A girl strikes the classic Titannic movie pose for her Instragram account, looking out at Mont Blanc from the Aiguille du Midi
-
- Momentarily revealed, the snow-capped summit of Mont appears through a gap in high cloud.
Martigny by train
Martigny is a town situated at the crook of a 90° bend in the River Rhône. There isn’t too much to see there, but the journey by train is very enjoyable. Our hotel provided us with the Chamonix Valley Carte d’hôte (guest card), which gave us free train and bus travel as far east as Vallorcine. The onward return journey aboard the Mont Blanc Express, costs €36 to travel about 25km, including a vertiginous rack-and-pinion final descent into the Rhône Valley.
A road hugs the side of the Trient gorge, Switzerland
Roads, a railway line and the river curve around the Rhône Valley near Vernayaz, Switzerland
Mont Blanc Express website (only provided in French)
Vertic’Alp d’Emosson
This is a three-stage ascent to a dam in the mountains, right on the Franco-Swiss border. It would be the ideal location for an action sequence in a spy movie. The first was a funicular railway that made a near-vertical 700-metre ascent:
Carriages pass on the funicular railway –
the steepest in the world – that’s the first stage of Verticalp d’Emosson.
The second was a mile-long train journey:
The miniature railway that snakes around a mountain to the base of the Barrage d’Emosson.
The third was quirkier still:
‘Le Minifunic’, the third stage of the climb to the Barrage d’Emosson, high above the Vallée du Trient, on the Franco-Swiss border.
From the top, the views were stunning:
Looking across the Vallée du Trient towards Mont Blanc.
The 180-metre high Barrage d’Emosson, right up in the mountains on the border between France and Switzerland.
At €40 for an adult to get up and down the mountain, it wasn’t cheap but we very much enjoyed it as the final treat in our week-long stay.
Mer de Glace
And so to the trip I don’t recommend if you’re expecting a stunning view of a huge glacier. The sea of ice is now barely a sorry trickle as viewed from the station at Montenvers. The Glacier de Bossons, clearly visible from Chamonix, is more impressive.
The much-shrunken Mer de Glace, from Montenvers
The journey is worth taking only if a walk in the Alps is your plan or if you have the Mont Blanc MultiPass. We used this to visit Brevent and L’Aiguille du Midi, as well as the Mer de Glace. Although expensive, it was much better value for money than paying individually for each attraction.
I hope you find my suggestions useful. In my next post, I’ll tell you about where we stayed. If you’ve visited any of these attractions, or you’d like to share your own suggestions, please do so in the comments below. I look forward to hearing from you.