Read about Jonas’ 7 Day Tour du Mont Blanc running trip where he encounters snow, sunshine, stunning peaks, and outstanding mountain huts.
How much does it cost to hike the Tour du Mont Blanc?
It costs €826 to plan your own 10-day hike of the Tour du Mont Blanc. This amount comes from our new cost calculator for the Tour du Mont Blanc, which uses over 300 actual customer itineraries and 2023 costs from nearly 100 accommodation and service providers along the trail.
the calculator is for self-guided hikers to estimate how much it will cost them to organise their own hike of the Tour du Mont Blanc based on their preferences. Give it a try!
Hiking Poles: Essential Gear for Long-Distance Hiking in the Alps
Hiking poles are essential gear for long-distance hiking in the Alps. They provide a number of physical benefits that can help you hike more comfortably and efficiently. Read our blog post to learn more about why to use hiking poles, how to use them, where to buy them and how to travel with them on the aeroplane.
The Tour du Mont Blanc Anytime Itinerary
Have you started planning the Tour du Mont Blanc in the usual 11 stages and finding fully booked locations for the dates you want?
You’re not alone!
Accommodation booking anxiety is experienced by most self-guided hikers that book their own accommodation…and a popular conversation topic on the trail :)
introducing THE “TMB ANYTIME” ITINERARY
When accommodation availability becomes scarce, this 11-day itinerary will keep your TMB dreams alive! Staying at villages and using transport provides you a much needed bed.
Average daily stats:
Distance: 16.5km / 10mi
Elevation gain: 1,000m / 3,300ft
Time (steady pace): 6 hours, not including breaks
Accommodation: Staying in villages that have the most accommodation options
This 11-day itinerary for the Tour du Mont Blanc gets around all of the locations that are typically booked out…without needing to do any camping!
The Hiking Club has always championed self-guided hikers who want to stay in control of their itinerary and costs by planning and booking their own trips. We have over 5 years of experience creating itineraries for the Tour du Mont Blanc that are available to book at any time of the year. Our new trip planning app is the 3rd generation of our self-planning product that gives hikers the power to easily create an achievable, inspiring, and available-to-book itinerary in one session.
If you want some assistance in designing an itinerary that is ready for you to book based on your specific dates and requirements, we can do this via our Expert Access package.
The “Tour du Mont Blanc Anytime” itinerary broken down stage-by-stage
Stage 1: Les houches to les contamines
Les Contamines-Montjoie has 6+ hotels/b&bs/refuges and a range of holiday rentals. Hikers rarely have trouble finding accommodation here due to the large number of beds relative to other stages of the trail.
What do you do if you can’t secure accommodation here?
The next best option is staying at the cabins at Le Pontet campground
Click to expand. The trip planning app is included in all self-guided packages.
Stage 2: Les Contamines-Montjoie to Les Chapieux
Vallée des Chapieux, which includes Refuge de la Nova, Les Chambres du Soleil and Refuge des Mottets, is usually the first area of the trail to be fully booked. Although there are quite a few beds here, only about 20% are available for hikers booking their own trips, with tour companies putting holds on the rest.
You’ve got two options to overcome fully booked locations here;
Stay at the French alpine club hut Refuge de la Croix du Bonhomme
Catch the bus (or arrange a taxi) to stay in Bourg Saint Maurice for the night. It takes about 25 mins to reach Bourg Saint Maurice, and there are many accommodation options here.
Click to expand. The trip planning app is included in all self-guided packages.
Stage 3: Les Chapieux to La Visaille Bus stop
Val Veny in Italy, which includes Rifugio Elisabetta and Cabane Combal, is also an area of the trail where it becomes hard to find availability. The next closest accommodation option is actually in Courmayeur…via the direct bus, which departs from La Visaille and takes about 25 mins. We’ve added a little ‘Courmayeur basecamp’ accommodation location in La Visaille which highlights you’re planning to catch the bus to Courmayeur for the night.
The following day, return on the bus to La Visaille and rejoin the main Tour du Mont Blanc trail near Cabane Combal.
Click to expand. The trip planning app is included in all self-guided packages.
Stage 4: La Visaille Bus stop to Courmayuer
Courmayeur has a huge amount of accommodation so finding availability isn’t usually a problem. You can use the bus network to reach properties further south if necessary.
Click to expand. The trip planning app is included in all self-guided packages.
Stage 5: Courmayuer to Arp Nouva bus stop
Most hikers will stay a night between Rifugio Bonatti and Rifugio Elena, however, this area does become booked out. When it does, the next closest accommodation option (once again!) is Courmayeur…via the direct bus, which departs from Arp Nouva and takes about 25 mins. We’ve added a little ‘Courmayeur basecamp’ accommodation location in Arp Nouva, which highlights that you’re planning to catch the bus to Courmayeur for the night.
Click to expand. The trip planning app is included in all self-guided packages.
Stage 6: Arp Nouva bus stop to La Fouly
There is usually a surplus of beds in La Fouly for two reasons;
There is 5+ accommodation options in the area
The next stage is a popular one for hikers to skip so some people don’t end up staying around here at all.
For these reasons, La Fouly is one of the last places I recommend people book.
Click to expand. The trip planning app is included in all self-guided packages.
Stage 7: La Fouly to Champex Lac
There is a reasonable range of accommodation in Champex Lac, which is further boosted by additional properties in Champex Den Haut and Arpette, which are within reach for most hikers. It is a popular stand-alone destination for people to visit and stay at during the summer so can be fully booked, especially on Friday and Saturday nights.
What do you do if you can’t secure accommodation in this area?
The next best option is taking a ~20-minute bus to Orsières in the valley below, where there is a great hotel at the station and further transport links to find other accommodation nearby.
Click to expand. The trip planning app is included in all self-guided packages.
Stage 8: Champex Lac to Trient
The Trient Valley, which includes Auberge la Grande Ourse, Auberge du Mont-Blanc, Refuge Le Peuty, and Hotel Col de la Forclaz, is an area of Mont Blanc where most Tour du Mont Blanc and Walker’s Haute Route hikers need to stay - making it hard to find availability.
What do you do if you can’t secure accommodation in this area?
Refuge Les Grands and Refuge Col de Balme are two locations typically within reach of strong hikers and provide idyllic locations to spend a night (note you need to bring your own food to cook at Refuge Les Grands).
An infrequent bus that takes ~10 mins runs from Trient to Le Châtelard-Frontière during July and August, where there is a hotel. The departure times to reach the hotel are okay in the afternoon; however, based on last year’s timetable, you won’t be able to reach Trient until about 10am the following day.
A bus that takes ~45mins to reach Martigny where there is a large range of accommodation. The bus runs about 5 times per day - allowing you to depart for Martigny a few times during the afternoon and return to Trient by about 8am the following day.
Click to expand. The trip planning app is included in all self-guided packages.
Stage 9: Trient to Argentiere
Tre-le-Champ is the usual stop for hikers in this area of the trail with Gite le Moulin the typical alternative which also books out early.
Argentiere is the next location to look at with a couple of big hotels in the centre of town (including a new 69 property planning to open in June 2024) and another hotel and various vacation rentals on the outskirts.
Click to expand. The trip planning app is included in all self-guided packages.
Stage 10: Argentiere to Plan Praz (Chamonix)
Chamonix has a huge amount of accommodation so finding availability isn’t usually a problem. You can use the train or bus network to reach properties up and down the valley.
Click to expand. The trip planning app is included in all self-guided packages.
Stage 11: Plan Praz (Chamonix) to Les Houches
Les Houches has 4 main accommodation options. However, 3 of them are not in the village center. Hikers can use the bus network to easily reach Chamonix or other locations with accommodation in the valley.
Click to expand. The trip planning app is included in all self-guided packages.
So there you have it. The “TMB Anytime” itinerary for those booking in October, January, March of July. This itinerary will provide you accommodation options so you can make you Tour du Mont Blanc journey a reality!
Oh and if you want the “TMB Anytime” itinerary, it’s available in our itinerary library so all you need to do is buy a self-guided TMB package and this itinerary can be loaded straight into your app for planning, booking, and navigating!
Tour du Mont Blanc: Main, Variant and Alternative Routes
The “main” Tour du Mont Blanc trail is 166 km / 103 mi and travels around Mont Blanc, Europe’s highest mountain at 4,810m (15,781 ft). The trail crosses 10 mountain passes with a total elevation gain of just under 10,000m (32,700ft). Hikers will see alpine lakes, magnificent glaciers and lush meadows. The Tour du Mont Blanc is one of the legendary multi-day hikes in the Alps. Read our detailed blog post which takes a “walk” through all the different sections of the main Tour du Mont Blanc trail, including images, descriptions and trail stats.
Tour du Mont Blanc Refuges: Booking Tips and Tricks
While many of the wonderful Tour du Mont Blanc refuges will feature on your ideal self-guided hiking itinerary, what do you do if they have no availability when you go to book your own trip? In this blog post, I’m going to share accommodation booking tips and my top 4 booking tricks for finding accommodation that will keep your trip alive.
2023 Tour du Mont Blanc Trail Updates
2023 TOUR DU MONT BLANC TRAIL UPDATES
Updated: June 13th 2023
Knowing what the early season trail conditions are like is a really important part of a self guided hikers preparation. It helps with;
Awareness of the challenges
Appropriate gear choices
Review of alternative routes/options
Revision of plan (if necessary)
Our updates are kept up-to-date during the 2023 hiking season by The Hiking Club team and our 20+ Trail Ambassadors.
Key trail updates include:
Our Break The Trail hike
Latest trail updates
Gear recommendations
⛏ BRENDAN’S BREAK THE TRAIL HIKE
From May 30th to June 2nd 2023, Brendan Jones, Founder of The Hiking Club, completed the Tour du Mont Blanc in 5 days. He documented his trip extensively on social media, providing live accounts of snow conditions across the key mountain passes and difficult sections of trails.
Click on below image to see each of the detailed daily trail updates:
On June 4th, 2023, Brendan presented a one hour “Live from the Alps” webcast to share an update of the current trail conditions including snow conditions, route detours and gear recommendation. It also includes a live Q&A session that covers everything from using microspikes, best local weather sources and alternate route choices. Watch the recording below.
Follow our dedicated TMB Instagram page to get latest updates
📸 LATEST IMAGES FROM THE TRAIL
We’ve created a highlights reel on Instagram where you can see the most current live updates from our 20+ trail ambassadors that complete the TMB between June > September.
SPECIFIC TRAIL UPDATES
3rd June, 2023: Bissonnay bridge now installed. 📸 Eliza, THC Trail Ambassador.
6th June, 2023: Bridge between Le Chapieux and Refuge Mottets not yet installed. 📸 Dean, THC Trail Ambassador
10th June, 2023: Tractor has cleared the road from Lex Blanche (below Rifugio Elisabetta). 📸 Raimond, THC Trail Ambassador
8th June, 2023: Mont Farve Spur still lots of snow that requires careful navigation. 📸 Marshall.
11th June, 2023: Col di Tricot now snow free! 📸 Aakash, THC Trail Ambassador.
12th June, 2023: Grand Col Ferret basically snow free on Italian side. Still lots of snow on Swiss side. 📸 Raimonds.
🥾 GEAR RECOMMENDATIONS
As of June 13th, 2023: Microspikes and poles are recommended for anyone hiking in June to support snow crossings. This gear can help with confidence when crossing steeper snowy slopes, even when the snow is soft. Also, although the freezing level has been up over 3,000m for a couple of weeks now and is forecast to stay there for the next week, if it does drop to the level where snow is still lying on the trail then microspikes and poles will be essential.
Creating your own training plan for hiking in the Alps
2023 Trail Updates
We complete a “Break The Trail” journey to provide the first trail report for the key legendary trails in the Alps - Tour du Mont Blanc, Walker’s Haute Route and Tour of Monte Rosa. We share these updates with thousands of hikers that travel to the Alps each year for their epic bucket list hikes. This information is particularly valuable for early-season hikers to understand the latest snow conditions, route detours, and gear recommendations. This year, our program is bigger and better, giving you updates across multiple channels throughout June. Check it out!
Our 2023 TRAIL UPDATE PROGRAM
This year our program will consist of 3 key elements:
2023 Break the trail
Early season conditions can vary dramatically from year to year. June 2019 was a particularly çhallenging season with significant snow on high mountain passes throughout June
~ Col de la Seigne, Italy (Tour du Mont Blanc)
We will kick off our 2023 trail updates from Chamonix, starting at the end of May. Each day we will share updates including snow conditions, route detours, transport updates and gear recommendations. Our focus is on the conditions on the mountain passes, peaks and difficult trail sections, as this is where the most uncertainty exists.
Usually, we would do a continuous journey covering big daily distances and elevations. But this year, we’ve come up with a different format that still takes us to all the necessary places whilst keeping life fun and manageable with our 1 and 3 year old daughters! Therefore, we’ll be taking 3 weeks to complete all 3 trails. Tag teaming, taking transport, and trail running where needed to check out all the passes and key routes. No doubt it will be a comedy :)
Follow us on social to get real-time trail updates
live webcast: chamonix & zermatt
From the start of the Tour du Mont Blanc, to the end of the Walker’s Haute Route and the mid-point of the Tour of Monte Rosa. Join us for live trail updates!
This year, in addition to our daily trail updates on social media, we will be hosting free webcasts live from the Alps throughout June. Join us to learn about the latest trail updates, snow conditions, route detours (if any) and gear recommendations. We will share latest photos and descriptions of key mountain passes and difficult trail sections, for our 3 legendary trails - Tour du Mont Blanc, Walker’s Haute Route and Tour of Monte Rosa.
WATCH Session 1: Sunday June 4th from Chamonix, France
WATCH Session 2: Friday June 23rd from Zermatt, Switzerland
trail ambassadors
Hiking in June or July? Keen to share updates from your epic journey with your fellow hikers? Come on board!
📷: Shout out to Sanna, one of our 2021 trail ambassadors.
UPDATE: APPLICATIONS CLOSED FOR 2023
35 ambassadors took part in our 2023 program.
What will you do?
As a trail ambassador, you will provide “live from the trail” content about trail conditions, route updates, and memorable experiences. This content will be shared with The Hiking Club community to keep fellow hikers up-to-date, including:
In return, you’ll receive exclusive swag to rock on all your hiking (and non-hiking!) adventures!
Who are we looking for?
Hikers who are completing one of the below trails during June and July 2023;
Tour du Mont Blanc
Walker’s Haute Route
Tour of Monte Rosa
Alta Via 1 (Dolomites)
What is the time commitment?
Kick off session: To ensure we set you up for success, there will be a 30 min briefing session in May/June (depending on your start date)
During your hike: Share your trail updates and photos via Whatsapp or email (max 15 mins per day)
Does this sound like you? Get it touch to find out more. We’re excited to bring you on board!
Did you know that we’ve been doing Break The Trail since 2019? Read about how our project has evolved over this time.
2019 Early Season Conditions
In 2019, we completed 486 km / 302 mi, with over 30,000m of elevation gain and loss, over 18 hiking days.
There was significant snow on high mountain passes that resulted in detours, additional gear and the help of transport to complete the journey!
Read the full 2019 trip report
2020 EARLY SEASON CONDITIONS
June was a quiet month due to COVID-19 uncertainty and travel restrictions preventing many early season hikers from reaching the trail. This led to less information being shared online about the trail making it hard to get a sense for how rapidly the snow was melting and conditions improving.
We were able to enter France on 1st July (the day the borders opened!) and quickly got on the trails to check them out.
In general, the conditions were excellent but there was still a few sections with challenging snow cover and accommodation options that were closed for the season.
Read the full 2020 TMB trip report.
2021 EARLY SEASON CONDITIONS
Unfortunately COVID travel restrictions prevented us from travelling to the Alps this year 😭 With the help of our trail ambassadors (Sanna, Alia, Bruno, Alistair and Tui) we were still able to share trail updates to the community.
A cold and snowy May made for some difficult early-season hiking conditions. While a spell of warm weather in early June is causing the snow to rapidly melt, it will still take a few weeks before the trail is completely snow-free. The late snow and warm weather are also causing wet slide avalanches to come down throughout the Alps.
2022 EARLY SEASON CONDITIONS
In general, the conditions for this time of year were exceptional. The amount and depth of snow were much less than in typical years. Most people were saying 4-6 weeks ahead of a typical season. Microspikes and poles are recommended for anyone hiking in June to support snow crossings. There were a number of disruptions to transport this season that may affect hikers, including: Le Tour gondola closed, Le Chable closed in June, and Grimentz cable car closed.
Read the full 2022 trip report.
How long does the Tour du Mont Blanc hike take?
Most people take between 6 and 12 days to hike the Tour du Mont Blanc. Anything quicker requires Olympic speed walking or part trail running; anything longer would allow for frequent breaks and a relaxed trekking pace.
Since 2018, we’ve produced 100’s of personalised hiking itineraries that have helped 1000’s of hikers confidently plan their Tour du Mont Blanc. It all starts with guiding hikers through the following 4 steps to determine how long it will take them to hike the Tour du Mont Blanc.
From couch to chalet
Best Mountain Huts in the Alps
We’ve created a collection of the top mountain huts across Switzerland, France and Italy for hikers. None of these huts require technical gear to reach them - no glacier crossings, no via ferrata, no climbing equipment etc. Most are located in alpine areas and therefore all you need to reach them is good fitness.
Product update: daring to dream
Trail update for September 2022
September is a month of mixed emotions in the Alps. On one hand, hikers setting out can enjoy the fall colours and quieter trails. On the other, it means the hiking season is coming to an end 😢
Rather than share a typical trail update that would benefit very few people at this stage of the year, I’ve pulled together a collection of interesting data points on who is hiking the legendary trails in the Alps and how they customise their trips.
Trail update for August 2022
Trail update for July 2022
July 2022 trail updates from the 3 trails we support. In summary, only the Walker’s Haute Route has changes to report - the Tour du Mont Blanc and Tour of Monte Rosa updates remain the same from June. I’ve also shared some news about summit route closures for anyone interested in staying informed about what’s happening higher up with our mountaineer friends too.
Break the trail 2022 update
I’m en route to the Alps and have revised my Break the Trail hiking plan. The 10 day journey through the Pennine Alps has been designed to spend time on the Tour du Mont Blanc, Walker’s Haute Route, Tour of Monte Rosa, and Tour des Combins.
My revised route still comes in at just over 270 km / 169 mi with an intimidating 19,900 m / 62,000 ft of elevation gain. In this blog, I will share details about the current conditions and my revised route.
Break the trail 2022
As the days get longer and the weather starts to warm up in the Alps, I’m excited to share the draft plan I’ve come up with for my first adventure this hiking season. The 10 day journey through the Pennine Alps has been designed to spend time on the Tour du Mont Blanc, Walker’s Haute Route, Tour of Monte Rosa, Hidden Paradise Tour, and Tour des Combins.
My proposed route comes in at just over 270 km / 169 mi with an intimidating 20,400 m / 67,000 ft of elevation gain. In this blog, I will share details about my proposed route, preparation, and goal for the hike.
Little legs having big adventures
Are you thinking of hiking in the Alps with kids? Read Sara’s story of taking her son to the Alps to complete the Tour du Mont Blanc at the age of 8 and the Walker’s Haute Route at the age of 11. Was it easy going? Not all the time. But the encouragement from others on the trail kept him going, as well as their promise to take him to Disneyland Paris when he was finished. Yes, sometimes a bit of bribery is needed!
Hiking in the Alps: 2021 Season Report
For those who could reach the Alps, COVID-19 restrictions impacted the hiking season for a second year running. At the start of the season, there was much excitement and anticipation about a COVID-19 EU Travel Certificate finally allowing tourism to resume in Europe. The silver lining of a delayed reopening for international hikers was that the conditions were not favorable for early-season hiking. There were new accumulations of snow on the high mountain trails until about the 20th of May…