For those of you who have done the Mont Blanc hiking circuit: Trying to decide between tour with just mountain hut stays or hotel stays or mix of both. I am wondering if one chooses just the mountain hut options if this allows one to stay up higher without having to descend as much. I am guessing that the nicer comfort lodgings involve long descents down into the towns and the mountain huts option prevents the unnecessary grueling up and down...is this correct? I am unexcited about hiking long periods in the trees and prefer to spend more of my effort and time above treeline and save my knees too. For the mountain huts: are there showers, laundry and outlets for recharging camera, phone etc? Any stages of tour one would just skip due to boring tree scenery or otherwise? ( Also needing to decide between the highlights of the tour or the entire tour.)
Posted by
PNW
3 posts
Hi marjimorgan,
I went with an 8 days/9 nights guided tour in 2022, staying in hotels. It was mix of walking up or down from lodging, taking the local bus and private transfers. One night involved staying at a hostel just off the circuit but we didn't stay at any mountain huts so I can't answer those questions for you.
It seems the majority of tour companies skip a lot of Italy. Out of our 9 nights, 1 night was in Italy, 2 in Switzerland and the rest in France. Most of companies list what towns they stay in and level of accommodation on their website. Macs Adventures offers self-guided tours with different levels of lodging. One of their offerings is staying in mountain huts so they may have helpful information for you.
The tour I went on was 8 days of hiking in a row to see the highlights. I believe it takes two weeks to do the entire Tour du Mont Blanc. Some in our group took a day or two off due to aches/pains or fatigue. I believe some of the longer guided and self-guided trips include a rest day.
I hope you end up going! It is a challenging but amazing experience!
Posted by
OP
7 posts
Thanks for reply. I was informed that the amount of climbing would be the same whether one stays in the mountain huts or hotels, so I chose the hotel option (sleeping dormitory style is beyond me at this time in my life) and I chose a two week guided trip with rest days built in. Now on to the training :) a million boring hikes up Mt Si will get me there, but the views from Mt Blanc will be so rewarding after that...
Posted by
PNW
3 posts
I'm glad you found something that works for you. Yes, you'll be glad you take the time to do the training. Have a wonderful time!
Posted by
Oregon
304 posts
This is RS blog on his trek around Mont Blanc in 2021, with added hints in the sidebar: https://blog.ricksteves.com/blog/tour-du-mont-blanc/