A traveler's guide to Chamonix
Chamonix is a real town that happens to sit under the highest skiing in the Alps. Plan one area per day. The bus is the lift system between them.
Chamonix is the ski resort under Mont Blanc, and it does not ski like a single linked village. The Aiguille du Midi, Le Brévent, La Flégère, Grands Montets, and Les Houches are separate lifts joined by a bus. The Vallée Blanche is a guided glacier route, not a marked piste. Come for that terrain, or pick an easier resort.
When to go
February and March have the most reliable snow and the most people. January is colder and often quieter. Grands Montets and the Aiguille du Midi close in wind more often than the lower areas. Les Houches is the bad-weather day, not an afterthought.
On the hill
Do not try to ski every massif before lunch. Le Brévent and La Flégère face the Mont Blanc range and are the scenic marked-piste day. Grands Montets is the steep one when the cable car is running. The Vallée Blanche starts from the Aiguille du Midi and finishes far down the valley: hire a guide, carry what they tell you to carry, and do not treat it as a groomed run back to a restaurant.
Village and passes
Stay in Chamonix if you want the town, or in Les Houches or Argentière if you want one lift out the door. A car helps early starts. The ski bus works if you are not changing areas at 9 a.m. with everyone else. Lift passes are sold by area and by the valley; buy the valley pass only if you will actually move.
If you only remember this
- The Vallée Blanche is a glacier with crevasses. Go with a guide.
- Wind closures are the week, not a fluke. Keep a lower area in reserve.
- One massif a day. The bus is not a magic carpet at 9 a.m.
- Argentière is the quieter bed if Grands Montets is the point.