Planning an alpine vacation for September of next year. We'll be in Chamonix for three nights, our first time there. We've spent quite a bit of time in the Swiss and Italian alps so this time we thought we'd spend a couple of days in France before heading into Switzerland. Any Chamonix hotel and/or restaurant recommendations? Or hotels with good restaurants? Is it worth hiring a local guide? Any special "backdoors" you've discovered? Thanks in advance!
Posted by
4 posts
On the Rick Steves Tour, we stayed at Le Faucigny which was a very central hotel with great rooms. had a skylight about the bed looking up at the mountains. Ive heard many good things about Le Monchu for dinner.
You cannot miss the gondola up to the Aiguille du Midi. We also stood in line for the "Step into the Void" and it was well worth it. There is also a louge ride at the Domaine des Planards amusement park that was really fun to do, great scenery. We did the cog railway up to the Mer de Glace which was very impressive.
have a great trip
Posted by
Granite Bay, CA
95 posts
Stayed at this hotel in 2018 and would highly recommend it. My wife and I enjoyed the scenery/ hiking so much in and around Chamonix that we extended our stay from 5 nights to seven.
https://www.hermitage-paccard.com/fr/
Posted by
Atlanta
5210 posts
We stayed at Hôtel de l’Arve and were very pleased with the facility. Would definitely stay there again. LaCaleche was one of the places we ate and the food was excellent.
Posted by
Michigan
483 posts
We visited Chamonix in September 2022 and had a wonderful time! One thing that surprised us though were that many of the lifts closed around September 15, the day before we got there. This canceled some of the hikes we had planned on taking. So I would advise you to just look into the closures for maintenance before ski season.
One hike that we did was to the Chalet la Floria, and it was really beautiful and memorable. I think it was the equivalent of 58 flights of stairs, but it was manageable and we were not scrambling around rocks as we were on a different hike. It’s a lovely little café there with beautiful views of Mont Blanc. Lunch there remains one of our favorite memories of Chamonix.
Laurie