SamuelChamonix is a very popular mountain city in the French Alps region. This pretty town at the foot of Mont Blanc, the tallest summit of Europe, draws visitors in their hundreds of thousands every year. Blessed with such a picturesque setting, it is not hard to see why travelers are enchanted by its allure.
Nestled in the valley north the Mont Blanc massive, Chamonix is populated with skiers in the winter and welcomes hikers in the summer. Being in one of the most beautiful French Alps region, Chamonix can boast wealth of hiking trails in its surroundings.
Although more well known for the legendary long distance trail Tour du Mont Blanc (TMB), Chamonix also offers myriad of amazing shorter routes for those only seeking to tackle an easier day hike.
As a prequel to hiking through the Tour du Mont Blanc in late summer, I explored the mountainous surroundings of Chamonix to walk an incredibly amazing circular day hike around this wonderful Alpine town. Check out also my low budget guide to hiking the TMB.
Getting there:
For international travelers, there are multiple main cities with international airports located at a couple of hours distance. The Swiss city of Geneva offers a direct bus route to Chamonix. Alternatively, there’s also direct bus connection from the Italian city of Turin.
There are plenty of bus operator companies offering the route, such as Swiss Tours, BlaBlaBus, FlixBus, EasyBus to name a few. All buses stop at Chamonix-SUD bus station, very close to the city center. Tickets can be bought online.
Chamonix can also be reached by train, mainly alighting at Chamonix-Mont-Blanc train station. The train schedule can be found in the website of the French national rail operator SNCF. I’d suggest to take the bus though due to the relatively few train service going to Chamonix from other large French cities.
And obviously, Chamonix can also be reached by car at around one, two, and two-and-a-half hour drive from Geneva, Turin, and Lyon, respectively.
Arriving at Chamonix
I headed to Chamonix via the airport of Geneva. My late night arrival forced me to spend a night in Geneva’s airport, which I did not mind too much as I had brought my own sleeping pad and sleeping bag, ensuring a relatively comfortable night in a deserted airport lounge area.
Early next morning after dawn, I hopped on the bus departing from the airport that would take me out of Switzerland, to the heart of French Alps. The brief stop we made in Geneva’s bus station picked up dozens of other travelers, most of them clad with outdoor apparel and equipped with small to large-sized backpacks, giving a clue to the length of their upcoming adventure in the mountain.
As for me, my medium sized pack would have to suffice for a two week trip in the Alps, ready to tackle the famous TMB and all its splendor. Well, that’s for later, as I first have one day to explore Chamonix and its surrounding. A day hike it is!
After nearly two hours of bus ride and a brief border control, I caught a glimpse of the snow-capped peak of Mont Blanc, a signal for me to start preparing to get off the bus. Sooner than later, I alighted at the unassuming Chamonix-SUD bus station.
Chamonix was in a festive mood at that time as it was during the week of Ultra TMB marathon. It’s a race designed to push you to the limit, with over 150 km of trail running with around 10 km of elevation gain, usually completed in 20 hours or more. Anyway, that’s beyond my strength and comprehension.
I immediately walked to the camping site nearby, Les Arolles, to settle in a bit and set up my tent. The very crowded camping site is run by a very friendly old man, who promptly showed me where I could pitch my tent.
After stocking up in one of the supermarket in Chamonix, I then started my day hike. I aimed to do the circular route from Chamonix to Mer de Glace, and then to Lac Bleu above the middle station of Aiguille du Midi cable car station, before descending back to Chamonix. A perfect route for an amazing day hike.
Hike to Mer de Glace
The first leg would take me from Chamonix to Mer de Glace, French for ‘Sea of Ice’. It is literally a vast expanse of glacier in a massive valley a stone’s throw away from Chamonix. A train rides from Chamonix to Montenvers station, right next to the valley of Mer de Glace. I know an alpine train sounds romantic and all, but I’d rather ascend with my legs.
The 6 km route is a perfect opening challenge for my trip. It was not easy by any means, taking at least two hours with over 900 meters of ascend. The lack of proper sleep from spending the night before in the airport started to manifest in the form of light headache.
But as I started to enter the mountain area away from the city, the wonderful view of the Chamonix valley and the surrounding peaks acted as the perfect antidote to my light-headedness. I even encountered the train I mentioned earlier during my hike as it snaked around the rail on the mountain slopes.
When I finally reached Mer de Glace viewpoint area near Refuge du Montenvers around lunch time, the place was already crowded by hordes of tourists and hikers. The bar and restaurant were filled to the brim.
Well, crowd or no crowd, the towering pointy peak of Aiguille Verte and Mer de Glace in the distance surrounded by equally soaring peaks was all too amazing to behold. To soothe my growling stomach, I looked for a relatively quiet corner by the trail to sit down to enjoy my modest sandwich with cheese and tomato while admiring the beauty of nature.
To be frank, I was rather upset to see Mer de Glace was not so, well, Glace-d (iced) anymore. The gigantic valley where the glacier used to sit was mostly empty, exposing its grey rocky surface, devoid of ice. I had to look quite far deeper into the valley to see the remaining trace of the retreating glacier.
One black and white photo hanging near the viewpoint showed how Mer de Glace looked like back then before the grip of global warming has stripped it of its glory. So full of ice. so Glace-d it was. So sobering. It must’ve been twice as impressive to see it back then. Sadly and ironically, the flight emission to take me there had been one of the claw slowly chipping away its ice.
Through the slope above Chamonix to Lac Bleu
Well, time to strike a more cheerful tone now as I left Mer de Glace behind to continue my amazing day hike around Chamonix. This second leg would tread mostly along the slope high above Chamonix, offering a clear view over the town at the base of the valley.
This route of another 6 km is relatively easier with only about 400 meter of elevation gain. This one-and-a-half hour walk was a breeze after the heavy first leg. The path ran through the wooded slope, where the occasional clearing would present me with a complete view of Chamonix and the peaks on the other side of the valley.
As the elevation slowly increased, the tree cover became less dense and eventually the vegetation was reduced to only shrubs growing among the chunks of rock littering the landscape. The towering peaks behind these rocks were clearly visible by now along with its partial snow cover, leaving me in awe admiring their sheer size and.
I could start to see the cable car station in the distance. My destination Lac Bleu, or Blue Lake in English, was located nearby above the station. By the time I reached it, I was quite astonished.
The alpine lake was actually blue. I could not really comprehend it. How could it get its vibrant color while it was completely surrounded by dull grey rocks all around. Surely the dust and dirt from these rocks would taint the lake’s color. But then, no, it simply was not the case.
Anyway, despite the crowd in the cable car station nearby, this lake was relatively quiet. The few that came to this lake just sat there to enjoy the view. No one dared to take a dip in the crystal blue water, not to risk hypothermia in the freezing cold glacial water.
Descending back to Chamonix
The afternoon was drawing to a close and it was time to head back to the valley floor. By this time my headache was getting more profound. And to think that I still had to walk over 7 km with over 1200 meters of descend for another two hours just made my headache even worse.
This was decidedly the most difficult part of the day hike around Chamonix for me. I could literally see the town from up there, but it was still so far away. The meandering downward trail was very steep as well, where every downward step I took shook my head, amplifying the pain.
Good thing I met a Bulgarian hiker on my way to with whom I could talk, distracting me away from the headache. I learned about his trip around Chamonix and that he got the multi-day all inclusive transport pass, quite expensive admittedly at over 100 euros, that he could use for the cable car and train. And he took the cable car to Italy! I think this might be the only cross country cable car in the world.
Eventually we reached Chamonix and I bid him farewell. Funnily enough, I would actually encounter him again the next day during the TMB hike. Anyway, without wasting any more time, I immediately headed back to the camping site.
The long miles accumulated in my legs undoubtedly made me appreciate the comfort of my sleeping bag even more at the end of that long day as I prepared to spend my first night in the Alps.
