Tour du Mont Blanc

The Tour du Mont Blanc is the Alps' most famous trek — a 170 km loop around the Mont Blanc massif, crossing the borders of France, Italy and Switzerland and climbing a cumulative 10,000 m across roughly 11 days. Hikers leave from Les Houches in the Chamonix valley and circle the highest mountain in Western Europe counterclockwise, threading seven major passes (Col du Bonhomme, Col de la Croix du Bonhomme, Col de la Seigne, Grand Col Ferret, Col de la Forclaz, Col de Balme, Col du Brévent) and dropping into a different valley — and a different language — every day or two. The full length of the Mont Blanc range stays in view for most of the circuit.

The trail's character shifts dramatically with each border. The French opening days lead through pastoral Haute-Savoie villages and the flowered ridges above Les Contamines before rising into the rocky high country at Col de la Seigne. Italy is bigger and balconier — the Val Veny and Val Ferret balcony paths trace 2,000 m contours opposite the Grandes Jorasses and Aiguille Noire, with Rifugio Bonatti's terrace one of the most photographed lunches in the Alps. Switzerland softens again into the Val Ferret pastures and the Lac de Champex, then the trail climbs a final time over Col de Balme back into France and finishes with the Aiguilles Rouges balcony — the great Mont Blanc-facing ridge above Chamonix — past Lac Blanc and Le Brévent before dropping into Les Houches.

The TMB walks late June to mid-September, when the high refuges are open and the passes are clear of snow. Booking is essential: most refuges open their reservations the previous winter, and popular huts (Bonatti, Elisabetta, La Croix du Bonhomme, Flégère) fill within days. Each night runs €60–90 for a half-board dormitory bed; cheaper bivouacs and gîtes exist in the valley towns but the high refuges are how the trip is meant to be walked. No permits or guides are required — the trail is well waymarked with red-and-white GR stripes — but baggage transfer between huts is widely available and worth it for a multi-week hike. Most walkers travel anticlockwise; clockwise is quieter but means meeting the bulk of trail traffic head-on at every pass.