Chamonix & Carcassone help!

skunklet1771,
I am unfamiliar with some of your airport abbreviations. We all recognize some of them, but please elucidate.

YUL - Montreal
BOS - Boston
JFK/EWR - NYC

LYS - Lyon
GVA, - Geneva
TLS - Toulouse

Thank you. I don't know Chamonix, but have been to Carcassone three times and always enjoy it. I have no opinion on your travel options, however, as we always have had a car and fly in and out of Paris or Marseille because we have family there. The Toulouse and Lyon options sound good, in either direction.

If this helps you in your research, there are direct YUL→TLS flights every day except Tuesdays with Air Transat or Air Canada.
Toulouse → Carcassonne is an hour by train (or car)

There are also flights every day from Toulouse (Carcassonne) to Geneva or to Lyon (Chamonix)

A train journey from Carcassonne to Chamonix in one direction or another is going to be very long.

I agree that it's probably flights between Toulouse and Geneva/Lyon and shuttles/
taxis/bus/rental car between Toulouse-Carcassone & Geneva/Lyon-Chamonix.
The train between Geneva and Chamonix is definitely doable and scenic but
a fair bit longer than vehicular due to multiple train changes along the way.

I would recommend that you review when the lifts are open in Chamonix and make
sure you don't show up and find everything is closed. The Panoramique across the
glacier from the Aiguille du Midi has a very limited operating season, for starters.
And all the other lifts will close at some point for maintenance before ski season.
You don't want to go all the way there to end up being limited to looking up at the
mountains and not being able to go up them.

@shoeflyer - thanks for the heads up on the dates, I didn't realize they'd be closed during some of that time!

There are plenty of great sights between Carcassonne and Chamonix, according to the time you have, it could make sense to plan for a stopover or two (Nîmes and Lyon are great candidates IMO).

A few years ago we spent two nights in Carcassonne at Hotel Donjon. On the full day we drove to visit some of the Cathar Castles. Carcassonne is magical in the evening or early morning but horribly crowded during the middle of the day. If you don't have a car there are some day tours that leave from Carcassonne and visit the Cathar Castles. Two early mornings and two evenings were plenty of time to actually spend IN Carcassonne.

Earlier on that same September trip we spent one night in Chamonix. Unfortunately, after I planned the entire trip and booked the hotel, the main lift was closed down for maintenance. If you can't get up into the mountains, I would skip Chamonix which is an upscale ski town similar to places like Aspen or Whistler. We did enjoy nearby Annecy.

We flew into Toulouse in Sept. 2022, and took the train to Carcassonne. I really wanted to stay within the walls, and after much frustration of seeking Airbnbs that wouldn’t give exact location without booking, we turned to the RS book and found a sweet place within the walls. “For a splendid value, try $ Chambres le Grand Puits (cash only, 8 Place du Grand Puits, http://legrandpuits.free.fr).” (Excerpt From Rick Steves Best of France) The hostess has developed three of her family’s bedrooms into rooms to rent, and it was charming and much less expensive than the hotels were.

It really made all the difference for us to be there after the hoards of tourists left at the end of the day. We saw the sunset over the ramparts and we had a lovely evening walking around seeing the walls floodlit at night. I also got to see the sunrise…lovely and quiet. We left Carcassonne at about 10 AM just as the tour buses begin arriving.

We then traveled by train to Sète on the Mediterranean, and then took the (long) train to Annecy. From there, we took a BlaBlaBus to Chamonix, which was faster and less expensive than going there by train from Annecy. We really enjoyed both Annecy and Chamonix. We returned by TGV to CDG. But from Annecy or Chamonix, you could easily get to the Geneva airport.

I agree about the tip of checking to see when the lifts stop running. We were there in mid September, and arrived the day after many of the lifts had closed for maintenance in Chamonix. We couldn’t do some of the hikes we wanted to do by riding the lift up, hiking across, and riding the lift back down again. We were still able to do the Montenvers cogwheel train and see the Mer du Glace, and the Aiguille du Midi was running. I would definitely recommend the hike to Chalet La Floria. It’s a lovely small restaurant/refuge with a great view of Mont Blanc.

There’s a free app for the city of Chamonix that you might find helpful.

Laurie

When I went to Chamonix. I did it by flying into Paris, train to Lyon, rental car from there through Annecy to Chamonix.

That particular trip included Provence (drove to Arles from Chamonix with a stop in the Ardeche) and Riviera. Caught an Air France from Nice back to Paris.

Carcassonne was a separate trip. Flew into Paris, an Air France to Toulouse, rental car to Carcassonne, worked my way through Pyrenees, Lot Valley, Dordogne Valley, and Bordeaux before taking a train back to Paris.

I'm not sure how that helps? As a general rule, I'd suggest using Air France flights to cover big distances, train where the routes work and rental car for destinations that don't work well by train.