Alps by Design
Signature Route · Trek

Tour du Mont Blanc

The Alps' most famous trek — one mountain, three countries, eleven days.

🇫🇷 France🇮🇹 Italy🇨🇭 SwitzerlandLoop from Les Houches (Chamonix valley)

Distance

170 km / 106 mi

Total ascent

10,000 m / 32,810 ft

Stages

11

Difficulty

Strenuous (4/5)

High point

Grand Col Ferret · 2,537 m

Shape

Loop

The Tour du Mont Blanc circles the highest massif in the Alps through France, Italy, and Switzerland — a 170 km loop over ten high passes, with a different valley, language, and dinner every night. It is the most popular long-distance trek in Europe for good reason: the scenery is relentless, the trail is well-served by refuges and villages, and you can walk it carrying almost nothing. This is the route that turns hikers into trekkers.

Why walk it

  • Cross three countries on foot — France to Italy over the Col de la Seigne, Italy to Switzerland over the Grand Col Ferret
  • Wake up to the Italian side of Mont Blanc from a Val Ferret refuge
  • The ladders and balcony trail of the Aiguilles Rouges, facing the whole massif
  • A rest-day espresso in Courmayeur, exactly halfway round

When to go

Late JuneJulyAugustSeptember

Difficulty

Strenuous

Demanding multi-day walking for experienced, well-conditioned hikers.

Per day
6–8 hrs
Ascent
1,000–1,400 m
Grade
4 / 5

Countries you cross

  • 🇫🇷French Alps
  • 🇮🇹Dolomites
  • 🇨🇭Swiss Alps

Elevation profile

High point 2,584 m

2,584 m
Les HouchesLes Houches

Stage by stage

Every stage with its real specs: distance, ascent, descent, time on foot, and where you sleep.

  1. Day1

    Les Houches Les Contamines-Montjoie

    🇫🇷 FranceValley village
    17 km / 11 mi800 m900 m6 hrs▲ 1,653 m

    A gentle on-ramp over the Col de Voza, with the Bionnassay glacier tumbling off Mont Blanc to your left, down into the long meadow town of Les Contamines.

  2. Day2

    Les Contamines-Montjoie Les Chapieux

    🇫🇷 FranceMountain hamlet
    18 km / 11 mi1,300 m950 m7 hrs▲ 2,479 m

    The first big day: up the old Roman road to the Col du Bonhomme and the Col de la Croix du Bonhomme, then a knee-testing drop into the tiny valley of Les Chapieux.

  3. Day3

    Les Chapieux Rifugio Elisabetta

    🇮🇹 ItalyMountain refuge
    15 km / 9 mi950 m350 m5 hrs▲ 2,516 m

    Over the Col de la Seigne and into Italy, where the Vallée des Glaciers gives way to the wild Val Veny and your first head-on view of Mont Blanc's south face.

  4. Day4

    Rifugio Elisabetta Courmayeur

    🇮🇹 ItalyResort town
    18 km / 11 mi550 m1,650 m6 hrs

    A high balcony traverse above Val Veny with the Italian glaciers across the valley, then down into Courmayeur — espresso, a real bed, and the halfway mark.

  5. Day5

    Courmayeur Rifugio Bonatti

    🇮🇹 ItalyMountain refuge
    13 km / 8 mi1,300 m550 m6 hrs▲ 2,584 m

    A steep climb out of town to the Val Ferret balcony and the legendary Rifugio Bonatti — arguably the finest sunset-on-Mont-Blanc seat on the entire circuit.

  6. Day6

    Rifugio Bonatti La Fouly

    🇨🇭 SwitzerlandValley village
    20 km / 12 mi850 m1,250 m7 hrs▲ 2,537 m

    Over the Grand Col Ferret — the trek's high point and the Italy–Switzerland border — into the green, gentler Swiss Val Ferret and the quiet village of La Fouly.

  7. Day7

    La Fouly Champex-Lac

    🇨🇭 SwitzerlandLakeside village
    15 km / 9 mi600 m750 m5 hrs

    An easier valley day through Swiss hamlets and larch forest, finishing at the little resort lake of Champex — the gentlest stage and a welcome one.

  8. Day8

    Champex-Lac Trient

    🇨🇭 SwitzerlandMountain hamlet
    16 km / 10 mi1,000 m1,100 m6 hrs▲ 2,049 m

    The Alp Bovine farm route (or, for the strong, the spectacular Fenêtre d'Arpette variant) to the green-shuttered hamlet of Trient beneath its glacier.

  9. Day9

    Trient Tré-le-Champ

    🇫🇷 FranceTrailside gîte
    12 km / 7 mi1,000 m900 m6 hrs▲ 2,191 m

    Back into France over the Col de Balme, with the whole Chamonix valley and the Mont Blanc massif laid out ahead of you for the home stretch.

  10. Day10

    Tré-le-Champ La Flégère

    🇫🇷 FranceMountain refuge
    9 km / 6 mi1,000 m450 m5 hrs▲ 2,130 m

    The famous iron ladders up into the Aiguilles Rouges nature reserve, then a balcony traverse facing the entire massif glowing across the valley.

  11. Day11

    La Flégère Les Houches

    🇫🇷 FranceBack at the start
    19 km / 12 mi950 m1,750 m7 hrs▲ 2,525 m

    The grand finale over Le Brévent, the best front-row seat on Mont Blanc anywhere on the tour, before the long descent closes the loop at Les Houches.

The biggest mistake

Booking too few days and turning a dream trek into a forced march. The classic schedule is 11 stages; compressing it to 7 means walking through the views instead of into them — and leaves no slack for the weather day the Alps will eventually hand you.

How it’s done

The same route, packaged for different travelers. Pick the version that fits your time, fitness, and how you like to sleep.

Classic refuges

11 days

Mountain refuges & gîtes, half-board

Purists who want the full circuit and the dormitory camaraderie.

In comfort (hotels)

11 days

3-star hotels & inns, luggage transferred

Walkers who want a private room and a shower every night.

Highlights week

7 days

Best sections, lifts to skip transfer days

Those short on time who want the icons without the full loop.

Twin-centre taster

5 days

Based in Chamonix + Courmayeur, day-walks

First-timers testing the trail before committing to the circuit.

Where to base

Bases & springboards

The towns that work as trailheads, rest stops, and the nights you’ll want a real bed before or after the route.

Haute-Savoie

Chamonix

$$$$

Mont Blanc on your doorstep — the Alps at their most serious.

3–4 nightsCar-free OK
Haute-Savoie

Megève

$$$$

France's most refined alpine village — chic, cozy, and Mont-Blanc-adjacent.

2–3 nightsCar-free OK
Haute-Savoie

Annecy

$$$

The Venice of the Alps — a turquoise lake and a storybook old town.

2–3 nightsCar-free OK
Good to know

Questions, answered

How hard is the Tour du Mont Blanc?
It is strenuous but not technical — no ropes, no scrambling on the main route. Expect 5–7 hours of walking a day with 800–1,300 m of ascent, day after day, often at altitude. The challenge is the cumulative load over 11 days, not any single section. Regular hill-walkers who train beforehand manage it comfortably; the fitter you arrive, the more you'll look up from your boots.
Which direction should I walk the TMB?
Anticlockwise (Les Houches → Les Contamines → Courmayeur → Champex → Chamonix) is the traditional and most popular direction. It eases you in, puts the big Italian and Swiss views ahead of you, and means you're walking with the flow of refuge bookings. Clockwise is quieter but front-loads the hardest climbs and means meeting the crowds head-on.
Do I need to book refuges in advance?
Yes — in July and August the refuges fill months ahead, and turning up without a bed is a real risk. Book as soon as your dates are fixed, ideally in winter for a summer walk. This is the single biggest reason people use a self-guided operator: the accommodation logistics across three countries are the hard part, not the walking.
When is the best time to walk the Tour du Mont Blanc?
Mid-June to mid-September. July and August are warmest and busiest, with every refuge open and long daylight. Early September is the sweet spot — stable weather, thinner crowds, the first autumn colour, but check that refuges are still open for your dates. Avoid the last week of August, when the UTMB trail race takes over the route.

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