What to after Tour du Mont Blanc in September

Check out Annecy, France. A beautiful French town close to Chamonix on a lake. Great place to relax after your long hike on the TMB. You could fly out of Geneva which is very close.

Since you will have spent 12 days in the mountains hiking, the Loire Valley would be a beautiful and relaxing end to your trip. However, you will probably need a car to successfully visit all the chateau and gardens. Base yourself in Amboise which has lovely accommodations and dining options. Three full days visiting the chateaus in the countryside should be fine. That allows a travel day on either end to reach Amboise and get to the airport in Paris. Our stay in Amboise several years ago was one of our favorite independent adventures.

If you decide to do Provence, base yourself in either Avignon or Nice, both larger cities with many amenities. In Nice you can take the train to Eze or hop on a bus to Grasse. From Avignon, a car is necessary to visit all the surrounding small villages like Gordes or Les Baux.

If you want more Alps, stay in Grindelwald for the balance of your trip with easy train travel to Zurich. Trains will take you to the start of many beautiful hikes, but this will be similar to what you have already experienced on the Tour du Mont Blanc. However, hiking in this area is wonderful and you have access to Murren and the Lauterbrunen Valley. Alternatively, Wengen is a smaller village where you can stay. My husband and I have stayed in Wengen, Grindelwald, and the Lauterbrunen Valley.

After the TMB, you'll be knackered. Annecy isn't far, and is in very pretty surroundings. You do not need to stay in Annecy proper; anywhere around the lake (especially the eastern side) will do.
I certainly wouldn't have the stamina to tackle sightseeing-heavy destinations like Loire Valley and Provence, which would take a full day to reach leaving you with only 3-ish days on the ground.

Can you fly home from Geneva? I second the suggestion that would be more efficient. Otherwise, plan on spending your last night in Paris (Gare de Lyon area is convenient both upon arrival and for departure to Orly).

I too recommend Annecy followed by Provence. Go to Avignon after Annecy to make the logistics via train easiest.
From Chamonix take a direct bus to Annecy (2h) and sleep there two nights.
From Annecy take a train to Avignon that requires a transfer in Lyon (3h 30m). From Avignon you can take direct trains for the day to: Pont du Gard, Nimes and Arles plus a direct bus to Uzès if you have time. If you fly home from Paris you can take a direct 2h 45m train to Paris.

Switzerland ideas: I was not ready to leave the mountains after our TMB in 2018, but we only did 70 miles and 6 days of hiking. And we had to depart from Frankfurt 3 days later. So we went to Colmar for 2 nights, and that was fun. Then on to Frankfurt for our last night before flying home.

Since you have more time, and have not decided on your departure airport, I will offer some Swiss suggestions. The train from Chamonix over the mountain into Switzerland do Martigny is very scenic. Once at Martigny, there are lots of options, from Lac Leman to the west (Montreux, Vevey, Chateau du Chillon, vineyard walks, etc.) to the Rhône Valley to the east.

One of our favorite places in Switzerland is the car-free village of Bettmeralp, high on a bench above the Rhône valley, reached by train to Betten (15 minutes from Brig) and a cablecar ride up from there. There are easy walks on offer as well as more strenuous hikes, and lift-accessed viewpoints over the huge Aletschgletscher. Also a lake above town that is open for swimming.

https://www.aletscharena.ch/en/aletsch-arena/places/bettmeralp

If you choose to fly out of Zurich, maybe 2-3 nights there and then to Luzern for your last 2 nights before flying home. Or if more relaxation appeals to you, maybe more time at Luzern, to allow for a night up on Rigi for the spa experience and infinity pool:

https://en.hotelrigikaltbad.ch/wellness-spa

I confess I have wanted to return to this place ever since I saw these photos. We stayed at Rigi Kaltbad about 15 years ago, before the spa existed, and found it a sweet and welcoming place—-locals we met on a walk invited us to stop and talk and view their gardens (we do speak a bit of German). I hope it is still like that. . .

Or you could spend time around Lac Leman and fly out of Geneva—-that would be a nice compact trip, without a lot of travel time. The vineyards above the lake should be nice in September. And you can easily reach the airport by train without actually staying in Geneva (we liked Morges, with its Audrey Hepburn connections):

https://www.morges-tourisme.ch/en/V1243/in-the-footsteps-of-audrey-hepburn

Just some suggestions that avoid big cities, since your husband is big-city averse.

Another vote for Annecy! I went to Annecy (and Chambery - another nearby town) before Chamonix a few months ago and I loved both!
Another possible option could be to head into Italy. After Chamonix, I went to Aosta via bus and then onto Turin by train. You’ve got a ton of great options from Chamonix!

We will be doing the TMB in 2023 and face the same decision. Since we start and end in Chamonix, it is easy to bus over to the Val d’Aosta as the previous poster mentioned. From there, it is easy to get to Milan Turin, the Italian lakes or the Piedmont. Flying out of Milan is easy and relatively cheap for us from Denver. We do want to add more time in Italy so this is a priority for us if ticket prices allow.

We are also considering Annency as we have heard such great things about it and Lyon. The Alsace region is about double the travel time from Chamonix as Annency but on the list as well.

Thanks everyone for your responses. I still haven’t made any decisions, except that the recent issues with France and the UK might make flying into and out of France the priority. It’s difficult to determine if there will be border issues in August due to COVID, so I guess it’s probably safest to stick to one airport. Wish I had a crystal ball! Ordinarily I would look for the open jaw option. Even though this trip is in late summer, I think I may have to buy plane tickets and secure lodging fairly soon. I’ve been plugging in various dates and destinations into Google Flights and Kayak, and my head is spinning. I think we are leaning towards Lyon, Chamonix, TMB, and taking a train or bus to Lausanne for a few days, doubling back to Annecy and flying home via Paris. I’ve been studying this group’s posts and RS guidebooks for France and Switzerland and appreciate all of the input, it makes me want to see and do more in both countries…and now the Northern Italy option! I’ll try to post an update when we make up our minds. Thanks again!

Just a bit more about my experience in the area - When I was traveling a few months ago, I went from Basel airport -> train to Lausanne -> boat to Evian les Bains -> train to Chambery -> train to Annecy -> train to Chamonix -> Flixbus to Aosta -> train to Turin and then continued in Italy.
Lausanne is perfectly nice, but because it's Switzerland, everything is quite expensive. If I were to do my trip over again, I probably would have skipped Switzerland completely. (Initially I thought i was going to go to an event in Alsace so that's why I chose to fly into Basel, but I ended up skipping the event due to covid concerns.) Alsace IS lovely, but I found Chambery and Annecy to be really charming! You've got a ton of great options near Chamonix, but personally, I liked the French side of the area better than the Swiss side. For me, finances were a concern so the French side was much better for the budget!