Reporting back after our wonderful month in France! Chamonix and Annecy were some of our favorite places on our tour around France! Here are some observations to share:
We traveled from Sète to Annecy on Sunday, Sept. 18, planning to then take the Blablabus to Chamonix. Unfortunately, our train had unexpected delays on the tracks, and we arrived too late to catch the bus. Not willing to pay 300 Euros for a taxi to Chamonix, we ended up with an Annecy preview that night. We'd planned to stay in Annecy after Chamonix, then take the TGV to Paris.
Two takeaways: Walk to a nearby hotel when you arrive late and need a last minute reservation, rather than using Booking.com. We were worried we wouldn't have a room, and it was 7 pm on a Sunday - and it was fine. But if we had booked directly, in person, we would have saved 20 Euro. The hotelier couldn't refund that for us bc we'd used Booking. Oh well.
Also, traveling by train on Sundays in France can be tricky. We had trains cancelled at the last minute several times during our stay, on week days as well. But when we went to book the TGV from Annecy to Paris, the prices were very high, and availability was slim...so we moved our date to Monday and paid much less for the tickets. Glad we were flexible!
Chamonix highlights - we LOVED this city, and hope to return some day. Check the dates for the lifts as you plan for spring or fall...we arrived the day after most of the lifts were closed for the summer season. This meant we couldn't do some of the Balcon hikes we were anticipating- hoping to ride up, hike across with great views, and ride back down again.
*Borrowed hiking poles from our hotel - greatly appreciated!
*Cascade du Dard hike to a waterfall was pretty and rated easy - but be careful where you enter. One entrance is a 50 minute hike. The one we took made our hike 4+ hours, and much more moderate than easy, as advertised.
*Chalet la Floria was rated an easy hike, but more like moderately challenging for me with the altitude changes and equivalence of 57+ flights of stairs climbed! So worth it, though, as there was a beautiful refuge there with a delicious menu and spectacular views. We lingered there for a few hours, and highly recommend it.
*Montenvers train to see the Mer de Glace is really worth the ride. Here we were able to have a lovely pause at the restaurant there, with drinks and ice cream, taking in the views. This was the only panoramic restaurant we could access with so many lifts closed. (We chose not to go to the Aiguille de Midi peak.) There's a Glaciorium small museum, and you can hike to trails from there. Friends did descend to the Glacier cave, and it was a grueling 500+ steps back up to the platform! The trains run frequently, and you want to sit on the left side ascending, and the right side descending for best photo ops. They're building a huge expansion and upgrade to be finished in a year or two. We want to go back!
*[1]: http://chamonix.net is an excellent resource for trip planning. We listened to the Montenvers audio guide while sitting in the sun, gazing at the mountains and waterfalls at the restaurant. It was great!
*The Blablabus was not only the cheapest way to get from Annecy to Chamonix, it was also faster than the train would have been. Good experience.
*We bought a hiking trails map from the TI for about 5 Euros, and that was interesting, along with the free brochures they have there.
*There's a free electric bus that circles the town with many stops, and your hotel will also give you a free pass for the city buses that go between the neighboring towns.
*Enjoyed tartiflette at Josephine, and fondue and Cafe Gourmands at Au fer du Cheval
*Beauty everywhere - from abundant flower baskets to cool murals
Annecy next...
Laurie
