Hello everyone!
I'm a LONG TIME Rick Steves evangelist and fan (MNT, guidebooks, the PBS shows), but FIRST TIME poster in the Travel Forum, so thanks in advance for any feedback you can give.
[PS: So excited to actually see Rick live tonight at his "On the Hippie Trail" book signing at the Barnes & Noble in Union Square, NYC. If anybody else is going to be there, feel free to private message me!]
Anyway, my husband and I plan to hike the Tour du Mont Blanc (TMB) this July/August 2025 (after having been inspired by Rick!). We are 48 and 46, respectively, in relatively good shape (though the elevation factor is what we will need to train for this spring). I have done lots of research on various companies that can book your accommodation/luggage transfer, but for a variety of reasons we really would like to go on a guided tour, as it'll be our first time long-distance trekking.
With that in mind, I've researched almost all of the guided tour recs on both this forum and Reddit, but would love a fresh set of eyes if anybody has any specific thoughts on the tours I'll link below, or the tour companies (good or bad).
To recap, we are NOT interested in self-guided at this time. Only guided tours. Thank you! Given our schedule, we would like a tour that is 7-9 max days in length, so this will mean a version of the tour that includes shuttles over the more "boring parts," as Rick puts it. We want luggage transfer from place to place, and are fine with going clockwise instead of anti-clockwise (the more popular route). We prefer private rooms/bathrooms, which means likely hotels, but we are fine with refuges as well if the room is private. I feel like we have moved on from the "dorm hut" time of our lives, though who knows! :)
We are leaning towards one of these two tours, but I'm trying to wrap my head around the price differences between them. Does anybody have any specific experience with either company?
- Kandoo Adventures: https://www.kandooadventures.com/destination-france/trip-best-of-the-tour-du-mont-blanc-lite/FRTOTM
- Altitude Mont Blanc: https://www.altitude-montblanc.com/gb/traveling-trekking-hike/tour-of-mont-blanc-7-days-comfort-hotel-106.html
Kandoo seems more reputable/more of a global footprint, and I spent about 30 min talking to someone in their UK office today who kindly answered many of my questions, though someone from Altitude did reply to one of my emails. They definitely have a smaller footprint and offering list, but they are local to the Alps, whereas lots of Kandoo's offerings are based in Kilimanjaro, etc. Kandoo did say they are part of the Altai Travel Group network (which, incidentally, I can book directly with as well on a slightly different type of trip: (https://france.altaibasecamp.com/en/trip/32/the-very-best-of-tour-du-mont-blanc)
We were also looking at:
- Alpine Hikers: https://alpinehikers.com/tours/guided-group/guided-best-of-the-tour-du-mont-blanc/#full-itinerary
- Cairn Trekking: https://www.cairntrekking.co.uk/holidays/tour-mont-blanc-comfort/
- Chamonix Guides: https://www.chamonix-guides.com/en/activities/details/hiking-luxury-tour-du-mont-blanc
- MT Sobek (hard to justify this price, though): https://www.mtsobek.com/trips/europe/the-alps/alps-tour-du-mont-blanc-express-hiking/
Thanks for reading and for providing any thoughts, feedback on the above, or new suggestions/ideas I may not have even considered. The goal would be for us to book this trip within the next 1-2 weeks so we can plan the rest of our time in Europe around it.