Mountains · Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes · Altitude 1058 m
Chamonix-Mont-Blanc
The valley where mountaineering was born: Mont Blanc over the rooftops, a glacier by rack railway, and a cable car to nearly 3,850 metres.
Why go
In Paris the horizon is a row of zinc roofs; in Chamonix it is a wall of ice and granite rising more than three and a half kilometres above the high street. This is the town that invented Alpine tourism, and it still runs on mountain time: guides in the square at dawn, climbers at the bakery, hikers coming down at dusk. You do not need to climb anything. A train, a cable car and a pair of decent shoes will take you into the high mountains.
History
Chamonix enters the written record in 1091, when Count Aymon I of Geneva gave the valley to the Piedmontese abbey of Saint-Michel-de-la-Cluse, and Benedictine monks set up a priory by the Arve. For centuries this was a poor, isolated valley of herders growing rye and oats under the glaciers, part of Savoy, and its people spent much of their energy resisting the monks’ authority.
Everything changed in 1741, when two Englishmen, William Windham and Richard Pococke, walked up to the great glacier above the village and published an account of it. Visitors followed. In 1760 the Genevan scientist Horace-Bénédict de Saussure offered a reward to whoever first reached the top of Mont Blanc, and on 8 August 1786 two men of the valley, the crystal-hunter Jacques Balmat and the doctor Michel-Gabriel Paccard, stood on the summit.
Tourism became the valley’s industry. After a fatal accident on Mont Blanc in 1820, the Compagnie des Guides de Chamonix was founded in 1821 to organise and protect the profession. Savoy became French in 1860, the railway arrived at the turn of the twentieth century, and the Montenvers rack railway up to the Mer de Glace opened in full in 1909. In 1921 the commune added Mont-Blanc to its name.
In 1924 Chamonix hosted the first Winter Olympic Games. The Aiguille du Midi cable car, opened in 1955, carried visitors to 3,842 metres, and the Mont Blanc Tunnel to Italy opened in 1965. Today the valley lives with a harder story too: its glaciers are shrinking fast, and the Mer de Glace, the ice that drew those first travellers, is retreating year by year.
What to see
Aiguille du Midi
The cable car climbs from the town centre to a granite spire at 3,842 metres, with Mont Blanc seemingly at arm’s length and the Alps rolling away towards Switzerland and Italy. Go early on a clear morning, and take warm clothes even in August: the change in altitude is brutal.
Montenvers and the Mer de Glace
A red rack railway climbs through the forest to the viewpoint where the eighteenth-century travellers first gazed at the Mer de Glace, the great glacier of the Mont Blanc massif. The signs on the path down show where the ice stood in past decades, and they make the retreat painfully concrete.
Lac Blanc and the Aiguilles Rouges
On the sunny side of the valley, lifts and trails lead into the Aiguilles Rouges nature reserve. The hike to Lac Blanc is the classic: a turquoise lake facing the whole Mont Blanc range. It is a real mountain walk, so check conditions and start early.
Balmat and Saussure statue
In the town centre a bronze Jacques Balmat points Saussure towards the summit. A separate statue nearby honours Dr Paccard, his companion on the summit. Both are worth a look before you head up to see the mountain they climbed.
The Compagnie des Guides
Founded in 1821 and still at work, the guides’ company is where you go if you want to set foot on a glacier or climb with a professional. Even if you don’t, its office in the old town is a living link to two centuries of mountain history.
Climate
Météo-France normals 1991-2020, station Houches (Les) (1004 m, 6.3 km away). Sunshine: Bourg St Maurice station (35.6 km).
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| High °C | 1.2 | 5.0 | 9.8 | 14.0 | 18.0 | 21.8 | 23.9 | 23.4 | 18.8 | 14.1 | 6.9 | 0.7 |
| Low °C | -5.6 | -4.8 | -1.5 | 2.0 | 6.1 | 9.4 | 11.1 | 10.7 | 7.5 | 3.9 | -0.9 | -4.6 |
| Rain (mm) | 97 | 77 | 78 | 87 | 122 | 122 | 121 | 126 | 97 | 101 | 94 | 111 |
| Rain days | 10 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 13 | 12 | 11 | 12 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 10 |
| Sunshine (h) | 110 | 122 | 170 | 176 | 200 | 226 | 249 | 232 | 189 | 142 | 99 | 94 |
Timeline
- 1091 Count Aymon I of Geneva gives the valley to the abbey of Saint-Michel-de-la-Cluse
- 1741 Windham and Pococke visit the glacier above the village
- 1786 Balmat and Paccard make the first ascent of Mont Blanc (8 August)
- 1821 Compagnie des Guides de Chamonix founded
- 1860 Savoy, and Chamonix with it, becomes French
- 1924 First Winter Olympic Games
- 1955 Aiguille du Midi cable car opens
- 1965 Mont Blanc Tunnel opens
Uncertain or disputed
- Sources give 1908 or 1909 for the Montenvers railway: 1909 is when it opened along its whole length.
- The 1741 visitors are described as either the first visitors or the first to publish an account; their account appeared in 1744.
Crowds: Very busy in season. July, August and the February school holidays are packed, with long queues for the Aiguille du Midi; June and September give stable weather with fewer people, and a first-lift start beats the crowds any time. (editorial judgement)
Protected food & drink from here
AOP and IGP products whose official area includes this commune (INAO). Regional food: AOP & IGP →
Cheese
- Abondance AOP · pressed cooked cheese
- Chevrotin AOP · goat's cheese
- Gruyère IGP · pressed cooked cheese
- Raclette de Savoie IGP · pressed uncooked cheese
- Reblochon ou Reblochon de Savoie AOP · pressed uncooked cheese
- Tomme de Savoie IGP · pressed uncooked cheese
Cider & spirits
- Génépi des Alpes IG · liqueur
Festivals within 15 km
From the Ministry of Culture’s national list; it gives a season, not dates.
| Festival | Discipline | Season |
|---|---|---|
| Chamonix Unlimited festival Chamonix-Mont-Blanc | Music | 1 Jan – 20 Jun |
| Cosmojazz festival Chamonix-Mont-Blanc | Music | 21 Jun – 5 Sep |
| Les musicales d'Assy Passy | Music | 21 Jun – 5 Sep |
| Les petits asticots Chamonix-Mont-Blanc | Theatre, dance & street arts | 6 Sep – 31 Dec |
| Magic Mont-Blanc festival Chamonix-Mont-Blanc | Theatre, dance & street arts | 1 Jan – 20 Jun |
| Mont-Blanc d’humour Saint-Gervais-les-Bains | Theatre, dance & street arts | 1 Jan – 20 Jun |
| Musilac Mont-Blanc Chamonix-Mont-Blanc | Music | – |
| Oh 2 Saint-Gervais-les-Bains | Music | 21 Jun – 5 Sep |
| Salon international du livre de montagne Passy | Books & comics | 21 Jun – 5 Sep |
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Sources
- Wikipedia (fr) – Chamonix-Mont-Blanc
- Wikipedia (en) – Chamonix
- Office de tourisme de Chamonix-Mont-Blanc
Original text. Train times computed from SNCF timetables (ODbL); climate Météo-France; products INAO; festivals Ministry of Culture. Methodology.