Tour du Mont Blanc: 7-Day Extra Comfort Guided Trek

Intermediate. Between 5 and 7 hours of walking and/or 650 to 1300m of ascent and 750 to 1500m of descent per day. Few technical sections, with a mix of tracks and trails. Suitable for motivated children who are strong walkers, aged 12 and over (accompanied by their parents). You should be able to comfortably walk 15km on flat terrain in no more than 3 hours.

The Tour du Mont Blanc is a long-distance mountain walking route accessible to anyone in good overall physical condition. Although it presents no particular technical difficulties (no steep, exposed sections, well-marked trails, etc.), it is still a physically demanding walk that requires you to manage almost 1000metres of ascent per day for a full week. Recommended preparation: regular endurance exercise (walking, jogging, cycling, etc.), with 3 to 4 hours of exercise per week.

No heavy bags to carry: you carry only a small daypack with your belongings for the day and your picnic lunch. Your luggage will be waiting for you every evening at the end of the day’s walk. Luggage is transferred by vehicle. A support vehicle takes your bag from one overnight stop to the next. Your changes of clothes must be packed in 1 soft-sided bag weighing no more than 10 kg!

6 to 14 people

Guide gratuities are optional and at your discretion. To reward outstanding service, a suggested guideline is 5–10% of the total trip cost. Local currency is preferred.

7 days, 6 nights, 7 days of walking

Trips run from Sunday to Saturday. Departures from June to September

Guiding

Led by a French mountain walking guide with a state-recognised qualification

4 nights in hotel rooms sleeping 2 people. 2 nights in rooms sleeping 2 people in a very comfortable guesthouse with private bathrooms. A room sleeping 3 may be used for travellers booking individually if there is an odd number of people in the group. Only one single room is available per departure, for a supplement of €370 per person. All accommodation has hot showers (included in the trip price).

Full board: picnic lunches, with hot breakfasts and dinners.

Please let us know when you book if you have any food allergies or special dietary requirements; we will do our best to adapt your meals.

Meeting point / End of the trip

On Day 1 at 09:45 outside the Flégère cable car station.

On Day 7 at around 16:00 at the bottom of the Prarion gondola in Les Houches (74).

Around two weeks before departure, you will receive joining instructions specifying the meeting time and place, your guide’s name and contact details, and the address of your first accommodation.

For example, you can stay at:

Hôtel Du Bois in Les Houches, tel. +33(0)450545035

Chalet Alpin, Village du Tour, tel. +33(0)450540416

Geneva, Lyon and Paris airports are possible arrival points. Check current connections and onward transport to Chamonix before booking flights.

For rail travel, check current timetables to Montroc-Le Planet and from Les Houches on SNCF Connect. Confirm local transfers to the meeting point in your joining instructions.

If driving, check current road conditions and parking availability in the Chamonix valley before departure.

A number of our trips offer opportunities to swim during a day’s walk or at the end of the day. It would be a shame to miss out. However, we emphasise that you alone must decide whether swimming is appropriate; you therefore swim under your own responsibility and at your own risk.

Responsible tourism

Acting for Responsible Tourism – ATR certification

Grand Angle is an active member of the ATR association, « Agir pour un Tourisme Responsable » (Acting for Responsible Tourism), whose compliance with the label’s standards has been verified by Ecocert Environnement. The label’s core values, shared by all its members, are transparency (between the customer and the travel agency), partnership (between local service providers and the travel agency) and consistency (meaning good communication within the travel agency’s team). As a member of ATR, we are committed to: - Promoting quality tourism - Respecting the environment, heritage and local communities - Raising travellers' awareness of local customs - Providing travellers with transparent information about their travel arrangements For more information about the ATR association.

To help you prepare for your trip, we invite you to read the traveller’s ethical charter.

The European Charter for Sustainable Tourism in Protected Areas

In 2014, Grand Angle became one of the first tour operators to be certified under the European Charter for Sustainable Tourism, created and developed by Europarc, the federation of European protected areas, which brings together regional nature parks, national parks and nature reserves. The European Charter aims to develop quality, sustainable and responsible tourism in protected areas, with respect for people and their environment. Certification under the Charter recognises our commitment to tourism and sustainable development rooted in local areas, across economic, social and environmental dimensions.

The certification demonstrates the trust that the parks place in our company and its approach. Grand Angle’s partner for this certification is the Vercors Regional Nature Park. Find out more about the European Charter for Sustainable Tourism.

For carrying your belongings - A comfortable small backpack with a capacity of 35 to 45 L and a hip belt, to carry your personal belongings and picnic lunch during the day - A bag for luggage transfers: a backpack or a soft travel bag in good condition. One bag per person, with a weight limit of 10 kg

For hiking - Waterproof hiking boots with ankle support, a sturdy heel counter and soles with good grip - Comfortable hiking socks (at least 3 pairs) - A fleece - Comfortable walking trousers (quick-drying technical fabric) - Shorts, T-shirts and technical underwear (quick-drying fabric) - A long-sleeved shirt (quick-drying technical fabric) - Trekking poles (telescopic), very important for making walking easier - Gloves and a warm hat

Note: synthetic technical clothing performs very well. New merino wool garments are also available; they perform very well, are comfortable to wear and have the advantage of resisting sweat odours! (Brands include Icebreaker, Ruka, etc.). As a general rule, avoid cotton, which makes you cold when wet.

For your lunchtime picnic - Airtight plastic container for picnics and a cup - Cutlery (spoon, fork, knife) - Water bottle with a capacity of at least one and a half litres (mandatory)

Protection from sun and rain - Sunscreen (high protection) and sunglasses - Hat, cap or bucket hat - A rain poncho or Gore-Tex jacket, and optionally Gore-Tex trousers

After your walk - A pair of running shoes for the evening - A change of clothes and underwear - Toiletry bag - Quick-drying towel - A head torch - A small first-aid kit: personal medication, Elastoplast, Biogaze or “2nd skin”, gauze, antiseptic, arnica granules and aspirin for minor aches and injuries … (quite a list! But rest assured, your first-aid kit often comes home untouched after your week of hiking)

France, Italy and Switzerland

Remember to bring your valid passport or national identity card, as well as your European Health Insurance Card

French and Italian

Chamonix Tourist Office

www.chamonix.com

Tel: 0450530024

If you book a night at a hotel in the Chamonix valley, you can ask your hotelier for a guest card, which gives you free public transport in the Chamonix valley https://chamonix.montblancbus.com/fr/ligne-de-bus

IGN Top 25 - 3630 OT - Chamonix and Top 25 - 3531 ET - Saint Gervais (1/25000)

There is plenty to choose from, so don’t hesitate to browse through old books! We can wholeheartedly recommend Éditions Guérin in Chamonix, which publishes beautiful hardback books about the mountains, with lovely red covers