We are traveling in September 2026 to Chamonix to do the Tour De Mont Blanc and will have an additional week after the hike to travel. We were thinking of doing some smaller towns in France or possibly Switzerland. We would love any recommendations as to the best places/routes to cover.
Posted by
Austin TX after living in Boulder CO for 25 years
1190 posts
How far do you wish to travel?
We were just in Chamonix to hike and loved Megeve and Annecy.
The Berner Oberland area - Lauterbrunnen and Murren - are a bit further, but just spectacular. One of our top five regions and we've visited 107 countries.
Posted by
Chicago
9396 posts
Annecy is close to Chamonix -- about an hour by bus and beautiful -- worth a couple of nights. We spent 4 there but we are old and had a balcony overlooking the canal and old prison and enjoyed just sucking up the beauty -- there isn't a lot 'to do'.
Posted by
434 posts
Being a contrarian here but we detested Annency. We visited after the TMB as well.
Perhaps it is because it was a weekend but it was jammed with people; however, our hotel concierge (who was born there) said it has gotten so bad in the summers that she was thinking of moving.
The lakeside bike path was dangerously crowded and we even saw an ambulance responding to a collision between two bikers after having a few near misses ourselves. The two in town restaurants were the worst of our European travels and the waiters did not even care. There was one fantastic place up on the hill outside of town that was spectacular though.
I assume you are starting out of Geneva as most doing the TMB from the states do. Since the TMB is centered around smaller towns, consider doing a loop like Geneva - Lyon - Dijon - Geneva. This tours famous French cities, which are much cheaper than Switzerland.
For different scenery than the mountains you will have just spent 10 days in, maybe hop down to the Med coast. Cassis is wonderful and the Calanques are so beautiful.
If you still need mountains, then the previous posts recommending the Berner Oberland are hard to beat.
Don't forget to give Chamonix a day or two at the end of your trip. We really enjoyed that town.