We are starting a trip to Italy on the 25th of September and staying through 7 October. Our current itinerary has us in Rome for the first 3 days then in Florence for 3 days then Venice for 2 days ending in Stressa for the last 2 days leaving for home from Milan. We have a car while we are in Stresa. We are considering traveling over and taking the cable car over Mount Blanc. Would it be better to go to courmayer or chamonix to make the trip? Reading website can do either but not sure can go over from one side to the other in October. If we can only do one side which should we do? Thanks. Kelly
Posted by
Tilburg, Netherlands
2829 posts
If the cable cars are opened (one of them was under reconstruction/modernization), you can all the way from the French and Italian access points, though that is more expensive. Since you will be on the Italian side already, it makes sense to start and finish the trip there. If the crossing is blocked, I prefer the French side (Chamonix) because you can then gain access to the highlight of the area, the observation platform at Aiguille du Midi. It's extremely easy to go from Courmayeur to Chamonix by car, it's essentially a long, straight tunnel and a couple twisting turns (well signed, ample space to maneuver) on each side. Caveat: it's the most expensive piece of toll road in Europe, a return ticket costs € 52 for a car (one-way is € 31 if I remember it correctly). Contrary to every other major Alpine tunnel in Europe, for the Mont Blanc there is no alternate scenic mountain road you could detour.
Posted by
Minneapolis, MN, USA
8700 posts
According to the official Chamonix site, the cable car from Hellbronner in Italy to l'Aiguille du Midi doesn't run beyond 2 September.
Posted by
Elk Grove, CA, USA
6898 posts
Technicaly, you really won't be going "over" Mt. Blanc in any cable car. It's 15,744'. However, you can get to Auiguille du Midi at 12,600'. Here's a PICTURE of it (give it 5 seconds to load). It's best reached from Chamonix. From Auiguille du Midi, you take a second smaller cable car to Helbronner and then you descend into Italy. However, this longer cable car journey from Auiguille du Midi to Helbronner will most likely be closed in October. We were there in early October last year and did take the big gondola up to Auiguille du Midi. One of the best views on the planet in our opinion. But, the run to Helbronner closed on Sept 18. You can probably check the web page to see when the longer run will close this year. Here's a LINK to an article describing the journey from the Italy side. Click on the "map" link in the article to see a really good map of the entire run.
Posted by
OP
Avon, Indiana, USA
19 posts
Thanks all. I saw the same on the website. Since we will be there in oct I will look at using the tunnel to get to the french side.
Posted by
Tilburg, Netherlands
2829 posts
Kelly, Be SURE to ask for a round-trip toll ticket. Is saves you a reasonable amount of Euros.