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Published: August 8th 2016
Loving our hiking adventures - this time we did the famous Tour de Mont Blanc Trek: 14 to 26 June 2014 Arrived Geneva ex. Sydney before catching a shuttle bus across to Les Houches in France.
Had a rest day in Les Houches (5km from Chamonix) before heading out on Tour de Mont Blanc (TdMB) circuit. NB you can also simply stay in Chamonix (it has more accommodation options, restaurants et al, and then catch the local bus service to Les Houches for $1 Euro / or it is free during certain times).
Weather was largely perfect for our 1wwee1-day multi-day hike covering 170km+ from France to Italy to Switzerland and then returning back into France. Except on one of the hardest hiking days, we experienced gale force winds, heavy snow falling, torrential rain and poor visibility but it was one of the most fun days (afterwards) after a wonderful hot shower and yummy dinner in a converted dairy farmhouse at Refuge des Mottets.
Every day we were surrounded by the snow-capped Alps and breath-taking scenery from our walks but also from our overnight accommodation. We stayed in private
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Day 1 - Les Houches to Les Contaminessuites in Bed and Breakfast hotels with one night in shared accommodation on the beautiful Refuge Lac Blanc, where you wake up directly opposite Mont Blanc and overlooking a glacial lake.
We enjoyed yummy food especially our BYO lunches which consisted of fresh bread, cheeses, ham or salami followed by fresh fruit overlooking the mountain ranges. Most of the villages we stayed in had amazing stores selling locally made cheeses, meats and breads/patisseries (fromagerie, boulangerie and boucherie).
TO NOTE: This trip we did NOT arrange baggage transfers so we carried all our gear!!!! Good incentive to travel light (although room for improvement still)….we have refined that uber-light concept since this trip (refer NZ Trip 2015 post where we had to carry all our food, tent et al for 10+ days supplies).
On our rest day in Chamonix, we went up to the Aiguille du Midi is a 3842m peak in the Mont Blanc massif of the French Alps. This is the closest you can get to the summit of Mont-Blanc without hiking or climbing.
The Aiguille du Midi is the highest mountain peak served
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Day 1 - Les Houches to Les Contamines by an aerial lift system. The name translates literally to "Needle of the Mid-day". We took the cable car trip across to Italy. They were constructing a cable car from Italian side so you can ski either in France or Italy without having to get into a car or bus. The day we spent up there, the weather was absolutely spectacular with heaps of mountain climbers and glacial crossing being made as well as 000’s of visitors just heading up to see the view.
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