Chamonix ski resort offers some of the world’s best expert skiing, on some of the worlds most spectacular mountains. Chamonix is a traditional Alpine town set against spectacular scenery at the foot of Mont Blanc.
Chamonix’s piste skiing is split into 4 main areas. Brévent/Flégère, offering south-facing slopes and exceptional views of the Mont Blanc chain. The Grands Montets, high altitude north-facing slopes which dominate the village of Argentière. The Balme area, wide open slopes at the top of the Chamonix valley, bordering on Switzerland. Finally, the family friendly resort of Les Houches lies at the bottom end of the valley, famous for the Kandahar downhill run.
Chamonix also has three smaller valley ski areas, ideal for children and beginners. However Chamonix is perhaps better known for its off-piste opprtunities: The Valley Blanche, accessed via the Aiguille du Midi cable car, offers several challenging, high-mountain glacial routes requiring a mountain guide.
The ski areas are separate and connected by ski buses along the 10 miles of the valley floor. These can often be very crowded, especially early in the morning after a dump of fresh snow.
Chamonix, one of the Best Ski Resorts for:
Skiing in Chamonix.
Getting There.
Chamonix is one of the most accessible ski resorts in Europe, being just over an hour from Geneva.
By Plane.
Geneva International Airport has flights from many UK cities, with flight times of around 2 hours or less. The airport itself straddles the French-Swiss border, so some care is required to navigate into the correct country!
Geneva Airport is around 75km from the bottom of the Chamonix valley at Les Houches. Alternative airports include Chambery (145km), Lyon (220km) and Grenoble (220km).
Many package holiday flights land in Chambery, but if you are making your own onward travel arrangements Geneva has, by far, the most options.
By Road.
Driving all the way from the UK is an option via the tunnel or ferry, once in France the drive time is around 9 hours. Charges for French toll roads can mount up, but the alternative routes would add considerable time to the journey. Get a Liber-T tag to allow automatic payment at toll booths. French law requires vehicles to be fitted with Winter tyres and/or to be carrying snow chains between November and March.
Flying to Geneva and hiring a car is a good option for families and groups. Make sure you hire on the French side and the car is Winter-ready. All major hire companies have an office at Geneva; advice is to check prices and book in advance. A car is also useful to have to avoid the ski buses along the valley.
There are also many options for road transfers from Geneva airport. We recommend that you select your option; private taxi, shared taxi, minibus or coach, and book it in advance.
By Rail.
From Paris to St. Gervais via a high-speed TGV service takes up to 7 hours. From here, the Mont Blanc Express goes all the way up the valley, and out the other end, to Martigny in Swtzerland, Vallorcine is the last stop in France. The journey time is around an hour, depending upon where you get off.
