Alpine hiking week Chamonix, French Alps
Your Alpine Base Camp Adventure
Experience the best of Chamonix hiking on a fully guided week based at a handpicked hotel in the heart of town — no repacking, no rushing, just pure alpine adventure. Each morning, your guide picks the day’s finest route through the Mont Blanc massif based on conditions, leading you past serrated peaks and glittering glaciers. One day takes you across the border for an unforgettable escape into Italy’s Val Ferret.
With moderate to challenging trails through some of the most spectacular scenery in the Alps, this holiday is built around freedom: freedom to chase the best conditions, wander Chamonix’s restaurants and boutiques, or simply sit back and soak in the magic of Mont Blanc.
What’s included:
5 guided hiking days across the Chamonix valley and surrounding Alps, 5 nights at a handpicked Chamonix hotel serving as your alpine base camp, a flexible daily itinerary tailored to weather and group ability, a day hike across the border to Val Ferret, Italy, and evenings free to explore Chamonix’s restaurants and shops.
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This hiking tour leads over mountain and forest hiking trails that can sometimes be rocky. You should be able to walk 10-12km per day for 5 days with elevation gains between 500m and 1000m. You do not need to be a great athlete to do this tour, but being in good shape is highly recommended. Depending on the weather conditions and the group, the guide can adapt the hikes.
After making your own way to Chamonix, settle into your hotel and take your first steps in one of the world’s most iconic alpine towns — with the mighty Mont Blanc massif as your backdrop. In the evening, meet your guide and fellow hikers over a welcome dinner, where we’ll go through the week ahead, share the plan, and get you excited for the adventures to come.
Night: Hotel in Chamonix (welcome dinner included)
Starting right from the hotel, we cross through the lively town of Chamonix and take the gondola up to Plan de l’Aiguille, where the trail begins above the treeline. Here the full drama of the Chamonix granite Aiguilles unfolds around you — jagged towers of rock soaring into the sky as we traverse the legendary Grand Balcon Nord trail beneath them.
We make our way towards Montenvers, pausing at a stunning viewpoint to take in the Mer de Glace — the second-largest glacier in the Alps and one of the most iconic sights in the Mont Blanc region. In 1741, the first visitors were carried up here on the backs of mules to marvel at this vast river of ice. Today, we descend in style aboard the historic red cog train that winds steeply back down into Chamonix.
Distance: 7.2 km | Ascent: +201 m | Descent: −733 m
Night: Hotel in Chamonix (dinner on your own — plenty of great restaurants to explore!)
Just across the valley from Mont Blanc, the Aiguilles Rouges Nature Reserve is a hiker’s paradise — and a téléphérique whisks us swiftly up from the valley floor into a world of deep blue mountain lakes, sweeping ridgelines, and breathtaking views of the entire Mont Blanc massif. Depending on the group’s fitness and the day’s weather, we choose between two spectacular routes: a five-hour adventure up to the wild and remote Lac Cornu, or a scenic three-hour hike to the legendary Lac Blanc, one of the most photographed views in the Alps.
Whichever route we take, the panoramas are simply unforgettable.
Distance: 9.9 km | Ascent: +780 m | Descent: −890 m
Night: Hotel in Chamonix (dinner on your own — Chamonix has no shortage of great options!)
Just a 20-minute drive through the Mont Blanc tunnel transports us to another world — the Italian town of Courmayeur, spectacularly set beneath the Grand Jorasses and the sweeping Brenva Glacier. Here, Mont Blanc reveals a completely different face: raw, vast and Himalayan in scale, rising nearly 10,000 feet in breathtaking abruptness from the Veny Valley. We climb up to a stunning balcony trail above the Val Ferret — a section of the world-famous Tour du Mont Blanc — before continuing to the legendary Refuge Bonatti, perched high with front-row views of the Grandes Jorasses and its iconic granite needles. A well-earned lunch here is one of the highlights of the week. We then continue down the length of the Val Ferret, where a local bus brings us back to Courmayeur before shuttling through the tunnel to Chamonix for the night.
Distance: 11 km | Ascent: +719 m | Descent: −258 m
Night: Hotel in Chamonix (dinner on your own — treat yourself to Italian cuisine before heading back!)
We board the charming Mont Blanc Express train today, following the valley towards the Swiss border and alighting at the quiet village of Le Buet. Our hike begins with a beautiful stroll through the Buet river gorge, passing a cascading waterfall before the trail winds steeply up through lush forest, opening out onto the sun-drenched alpine meadows surrounding Chalet Loriaz. Lunch on the terrace here — with sweeping views across the valley — is a moment to savour. We then make our way down to the pretty village of Vallorcine, where the Mont Blanc Express picks us up and carries us back to Chamonix.
Distance: 10.2 km | Ascent: +582 m | Descent: −628 m
Night: Hotel in Chamonix (group dinner included — a well-deserved celebration of the week!)
We save one of the best for last. Our final hiking day takes us to the Aiguillette des Posettes, perched right on the Swiss border and offering one of the most spectacular panoramic viewpoints over the entire Mont Blanc valley — a truly fitting finale to the week. From here we traverse to the Col de Balme for a relaxed lunch break, soaking in the views one last time. The descent carries us through brilliant fields of alpine roses down to the charming village of Le Tour, where a bus returns us to Chamonix and brings our hiking week to a close.
Distance: 12 km | Ascent: +950 m | Descent: −800 m
Max. 7 hikers per group, Costs can be cheaper depending on the accommodation.
- Expertise and guiding of our certified UIMLA mountain leaders
- All accommodations as noted in the itinerary
- All breakfasts
- Welcome and final dinner in Chamonix
- Park and other entry fees
- Fares for trains, cable cars and other modes of travel as listed in the itinerary
- Select transfers as mentioned in the itinerary
- International airfare, airport taxes, and excess baggage fees
- 3 dinners and all lunches (The guide will help you to make reservations for dinner and can organise picnic lunches and lunches at mountain huts during the hikes)
- Personal insurances (travel, hiking, cancelation etc.)
- Personal expenses
- Single room supplement
- Tipps
Why Choose Us
Insurance
Travel insurance is not included in our adventures.
We strongly recommend that you purchase insurance to cover cancellation, medical expenses, personal accident, personal baggage, money and public liability.
Accident or injury. Unexpected medical expenses. Unplanned incidents are rare but can crop up when you travel.
Gift vouchers
Give the gift of adventure with a Patagoniatiptop GmbH Certificate! Perfect for a mountaineering gift for your son’s birthday, a ski weekend for your best friend or a skitouring trip for your wife. Or … why not invite yourself?
How it works
Contact us and let us know how much you would like to spend. Let us know who is the lucky person to receive the voucher. We will then send the voucher to you or to the address you tell us.
