CHAMONIX, FRANCE

I almost feel like a hypocrite for all that I am about to gush about skiing in the French Alps. I was surprisingly skeptical of this trip and last-minute booked a flight and hotel room…and I even came to Spain with my ski clothes. As soon as we landed in Chamonix, I knew that I should have been “on board” for this trip as soon as we started mentioning it. This quaint ski town has an incredible balance of sport, relaxation, partying, and French culture. If you enjoy the mountains and you parlez-vous Francais, I would, without a doubt, spend a weekend in Chamonix, France.

 
Trip narrative below followed by a concise bullet-point recap of what we did, helpful tips + list of helpful links at the bottom

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Our travelers for this trip increased by one: our very own Clayton Mulford joined the girls for a weekend in the Alps, and we were so glad to have him with us. Lilly, Laine, and Clayton booked this trip further in advance than Daisy and I did (once again, yes, I regret this). So they left for Chamonix on Thursday night in order to get two full days on skiing in; Daisy and I left on Friday morning. To get to Chamonix, you need to fly into the airport in Geneva, Switzerland. From there, there are a few transport options to Chamonix: private car, train, or bus. After doing some research, I’ve gathered that the train is “nearly impossible,” so I would opt-in for options one or three. The Thursday night group got into Geneva around 10 PM, so they reserved a private car service since it was so late. This car service had some scheduling issues, so the group had two additional passengers (randos) join them on their ride to Chamonix. It wasn’t a big deal but was slightly annoying since they had paid for a private car service. Regardless, they all got to their hotels safely which is all that matters. Daisy and I had 7:30 AM flight on Friday morning (just like London) and arrived in Geneva around 9:30 AM. We researched shuttles that would take us to Chamonix and booked one using the app Omio that left at 10:45 AM from the Geneva airport. Once we exited baggage claim, we were SUPER confused about where the bus would pick us up. After walking around for a little bit, we finally figured it out. When you exit baggage claim, WALK STRAIGHT. There will be signs that will direct you to walk left towards the train station and bus stop for those traveling only to the center of Geneva. Cross the small street outside of baggage claim (what I like to call “airport carpool”); you’ll pass a small ticket booth that will be on your right, then you will see another street in front of you. THIS CURB IS WHERE THE BUS PICKS YOU UP. Once you get to the curb, look to the right and there will be a bus schedule (this is how you will know you’re in the right spot). Soon, our bus, the Blablacar, arrived in all of its glory and we were Chamonix-bound!

 
Since we arrived after 12:00, Daisy and I decided that scrambling to check-in to the hotel, rent skis, and hit the mountains would be too much of a time crunch. However, we didn’t want to just apres ski in the town. So, when looking into Chamonix earlier in the week, we discovered that France’s largest glacier was just a short train ride away from the center of town. Once the bus dropped us off at the station, we were on a mission: find somewhere to hold our bags ASAP. We went inside a nearby hotel who gave us a firm no since we were not staying there, however, he told us to go “across the river to the Tabco.” A bad language barrier left us clueless. Next try was the Relators office across the street, mainly to just see if they had any advice for us. They were actually very nice and said that we could possibly leave it with them, but that at 6:00 they would be locking up and leaving. Daisy and I weren’t quite sure what time we would be back from the glacier, so we decided to walk around for a little bit longer, and if we couldn’t find anywhere, we would go back to their office. We walked towards the train station and once we were close, I looked up and saw something that resembled “TabCo”—a tobacco shop! We walked towards it and sure enough, there was a sign on the outside that said, “luggage storage here.” We were able to store each bag for 6 euros, but it was cash only (thankfully there was an ATM just around the corner). *I’ll link the location of the Tobacco shop at the bottom.
 
Now that we had our bags taken care of, we walked towards the train station to book a ticket to see the glacier. However, we quickly learned that the main train station does not have this service. If you ever decide to do the trip to the Mer de Glace (the glacier), when you approach Chamonix’s main train station, look to the left. There will be a small staircase with a picture of a red train above. Go that direction and up the stairs, cross the bridge, and you will quickly come across the Mer de Glace train station. We bought two tickets at the kiosk (it’s the same price if you buy them in person or ahead of time online), scanned them inside, then hopped on the charming, vintage-red train around 1:30. The 20-minute ride up the mountain was absolutely breathtaking! Try to grab a window seat on the side of the train’s entrance…you’ll have the best photo-ops without having to lean over other people. 
 

Once we arrived, we exited the train and walked down towards the red gondola that descends to the glacier’s staircase. When we went, it was 520 steps down to the glacier…going down wasn’t bad at all but going back up was a little bit painful (lol). Take your time walking down the stairs; snap some photos and enjoy the unreal views of the surrounding mountains. Also, be on the lookout for signs that show you where the glacier used to be; it has started to melt away drastically since the Industrial Revolution. In fact, around 15 new steps are added on the staircase each year #watchyourwaste. Once you get closer to the bottom of the stairs, you’ll start to notice a blue tint on the ground. This is the glacier! When we got close to the entrance, I was absolutely blown away by how beautiful it was. I had truly never seen anything like this before…honestly I don’t even know how to describe besides “being inside of Elsa’s castle.” There were a lot of cool ice sculptures inside—ice chairs, a castle, benches. It didn’t take long to go through the entire glacier, so once we exited we decided to make a second lap inside. We admired it from the outside once more, watched some of the skiers pass by, then made our way back up to the gondola to head back into Chamonix for a bite to eat.

*TIPS: 1) the last train to the glacier departs at 2:30 PM every day 2) be sure to keep your ticket safe, because you will have to re-scan when you go back down to Chamonix

We decided to head over to Cool Cats around 4:30 PM—an awesome apres ski spot that I went to not once, not twice, but THREE times while I was there (we were only there for 3 days lol). They have artisanal hotdogs, incredible fries, a good vegan menu, and a drink special every day (one day it was 2-euro glasses of prosecco, another it was 2-for-1 mulled wine). Daisy and I enjoyed our late afternoon lunch paired with cider, an elderflower Bellini, live music, and an incredible view of Mount-Blanc.

Post lunch, we began to explore Chamonix as the sun was going down. We did a little bit of shopping, then started to make our way over to the market to buy a bottle of wine to share before dinner. We quickly stopped in our tracks when we saw these extremely large, glowing deer dancing in the street ahead of us. We walked until we caught up with them and proceeded to follow them block-after-block. IT WAS THE COOLEST THING. There were three men dressed in white-and-gold outfits with giant light up deer-puppets on their backs, a woman in front with the best dance moves, and a dude in the back pulling along a speaker that played some music that was quite fitting for the occasion. If you’re into culture, you MUST find the deer people (they were walking around the center of Chamonix around 6:00 on that Friday afternoon).

Once we had our fill of the deer people, we grabbed our wine, headed back to the Tobacco store to pick up our luggage, then left Chamonix's center to check-in to our hotel, The Excelsior Hotel & Spa. We wanted to take the bus to the hotel, however we quickly realized that the Chamonix bus stops and schedules are extremely confusing. We thought that there was a bus stop at the train station (that’s what Apple Maps told us), but that was not the case at all. We decided to just call a cab from the train station since we were tired of walking around with our luggage. It was only about a 10-minute drive from the center of Chamonix, but the price tag on the taxi was THIRTY EUROS. No gracias. Anyway, we made it to the hotel, got settled in our room, reunited with Lilly and Laine, showered, then got ready for our 9:30 reservation at Restaurant Le Cap-Horn. 
 
*there is a bus stop that is really close to Cool Cats. If you are facing the restaurant, you’ll see a set of stairs to the left. Walk up the stairs and go to your right—you’ll see the bus stop right ahead. Bus #2 takes you over to the Excelsior Hotel (get off the Le Tines stop). I’ll also link the bus schedule below.
 
In order to avoid another 30-euro taxi ride, we caught the last bus into town and arrived about 30 minutes before our reservation. Le Cap-Horn was on the same street as Cool Cats and a lot of other good après ski bars. So, we decided to partake in a pre-dinner drink at one of the next-door bars. Our dinner was fantastic and consisted of a bottle of Sancere, edamame, a sushi boat, and post dinner cocktails and desert. This meal was definitely a treat, but I think that it was well worth it. The coolest thing about Le Cap-Horn is that it is connected to the club below the restaurant—you don’t even have to walk outside, just take the stairs in the restaurant all the way down and you’ll soon be in a huge crowd of people with blasting music. We had a lot of fun this night—we bar hopped and made friends with some locals and others traveling for the weekend. After a long night, we called a taxi and made our way back to the Excelsior for a good night’s rest. 
 
One of the best parts of the Excelsior was that there was a ski rental shop in the basement of the hotel. So, the next morning I got dressed, walked downstairs, grabbed some boots and skis (40-euro rental for the day), and made my way to the bus stop. After only two stops, I got off and was at the base of the Le Flegere gondola. I had bought my ski pass earlier in the week on Chamskideals.com for 45 euros; all I had to do was use a self-service kiosk that was OUTSIDE of the entrance to the gondola (not the touch screen ones inside). Getting my ski pass was almost too easy…I just scanned my QR code and the machine promptly printed my pass—no lines at all. And with that, I was ready to take on Mount-Blanc! I was the first one up that morning, and since I hadn’t skied the day before, I wanted to make the most out of my day. So I solo-skied through the French alps for the first half of the day, then met up with Lilly, Laine, and Clayton on the Brevent side of the mountain around noon. While it was unfortunately cloudy during the morning, the sun started to melt away the clouds around 2:00. After doing a few runs together, we decided to head to Le Panoramic, a small bar/shack at the top of the red Brevent gondola. We sat in the chairs outside of the little shed, shared some crepes and beers, then took in the view. It was truly incredible being so close to the clouds!

We skied a few more runs, then made our way to the restaurant near the Brevent gondola for a little pre-Apres-ski glass of vino. This was an incredible spot to relax, watch the paragliders float around, and take photos—especially on a clear afternoon! It was soon approaching 4:30 (when the lifts close), so we put on our skis one last time, took the last lift up the mountain, and ended the ski-day with one more run. We followed the crowd leaving the mountain and took the Plan Praz gondola to go back into the town of Chamonix. If you go down this gondola, be prepared to walk for about 10 minutes with your boots and skis…there was not a nearby bus stop. 

 

*A note on the skiing: We had SO much fun, however European skiing is not the same as American skiing. The trails aren’t marked as clearly and there aren’t as many runs. Also, the skis didn’t feel as sturdy as the ones in the States—the French skis were very light-weight and didn’t exactly feel like they were really “on.” Just be prepared for it to be a little different than what you're used to!

Since we hadn’t had much to eat that day, we decided to drag our skis along for a little bit longer to make it to the holy land: Cool Cats (once again). Lilly, Laine, and I clinked our Aperol Spritzes to a fantastic day and just happily enjoyed each other’s company. 

We took Bus #2 back to The Excelsior, showered and got ready for dinner, then caught the bus back to town to meet back up with Clayton and make our 9:00 reservation at La Petite Cuisine (a restaurant inside of the La Folie Douce Hotel). This dinner was absolutely NOTHING related to the word petite. After about 20 minutes of sitting at the table, these people dressed in pilot outfits walked into the center of the restaurant. I’m not going to lie, at first, we thought these were strippers. Soon after, they started bursting out in song to “Call Me Maybe” and we were quickly corrected (lol). By the end of the night, we had seen a re-enactment of a plane crash, someone using their ponytail as a microphone, a suspended-ring dancer, and so much dancing on top of tables. All from the seats at our table—it was truly dinner and a show. Also, the restaurant had a buffet of desserts, where it is usually 12 euros per person. But when the night started coming to a close, the chef left the table and everyone at the restaurant flocked to the desserts—guess you don’t have to pay when the chef is gone!

After dinner, we made our way back towards the street of bars (where Le Cap Horn and Cool Cats are located) and spent the rest of our night at Bar’D Up. The five of us enjoyed beer or gin and tonics at the outdoor tables in the cold mountain air. When we were feeling like the night would be ending soon, we called the taxi company—which usually takes about 45 minutes to arrive when its late at night—and headed back home for a good night’s rest. 
 
The next morning was slow and entailed “housekeeping items” such as packing, returning skis, and checking out of the hotel. We left the hotel around 11:30, hopped on the bus back to town, and had lunch at….you guessed it, Cool Cats (yes, we are actual bandwagon fans and we are PROUD). Our flights were leaving at 6:00 PM and 6:30 PM, so we all booked the same bus back to the airport. Since they would be boarding around 5:30 and 6:00, we only had the option to take the 1:30 bus out of Chamonix, which got us to the airport around 3:15 PM. While this may seem to be a little overkill, especially since we were traveling within the EU, we were more than happy to have left when we did. The security line was INSANE and if you have to check a bag, those lines looked like a nightmare too. However, we made it inside the airport with time to grab a snack, relax, and make our way to our respective gates.
 
The flight back home was a breeze, and Customs coming back into Madrid was much easier than our last trip since we only traveled in the EU (although we still had to fill out the Passenger Locater Form). We took the Metro back home from the airport, unpacked, and wished that we were spending just one more night in our favorite French ski town. Chamonix was a blast and has something to offer everyone—regardless if you like to ski or not. I will be forever grateful for our time there and if I could go back, I would tell myself not to hesitate on booking the trip…it was more than worth it!
 

Again, thanks for reading & let me know if you have any other Chamonix tips! Happy travels!

<3, Mary Price

List of Places We Went in Chamonix:

• Mer de Glace (attraction)
• Cool Cats (casual restaurant in town...MUST GO)
• Le Cap Horn (nice restaurant in town / connected to a club)
• Le Panoramic (bar / snack shack on the mountain)
• Restaurant at the base of Brevent gondola (best place for views)
• La Petite Restaurant (fun dinner-with-a-show)
• Bar'D Up (bar)

If We Had More Time We Would...

• GO TO LA FOLIE DOUCE HOTEL FOR APRES SKI!!!! heard this was the most fun ever
• Go paragliding!

Tips:

• Book a bus from the airport to Chamonix ahead of time (but don't cut it too close to when your flight lands)
• Le Panoramic is more of a bar / snack shed that is located at the top of the large red Brevent gondola (it's not a restaurant really)
• Bring your vaccine card to restaurants & bars (not necessary to bring while skiing though)
• **Stay in the center of Chamonix
• Helps to avoid expensive taxis as much as possible & is overall more convenient & safe if you are having a late night
• You can rent skis ahead of time or walk-in
• There are plenty of spots to rent in the town…just choose what is more convenient for your hotel (location wise)
• We bought the 1-day ski passes that service only the mountains in Chamonix (Brevent, Flegere, Grands Montets, Domaine de Balme)
• You can buy ahead of time & save a little bit or just purchase at the base of all of the gondolas

Helpful Links:

• Buses
• Bus schedule: https://www.chamonix.net/english/transport/bus
• Bus map: https://chamonix.montblancbus.com/en/bus-network#/
• Ski Trail Map: https://live.skiplan.com/moduleweb/2.0/live.php?resort=chamonix_hiver_brevent_flegere&module=ouvertures
• Address of Tobacco Shop where you can leave your luggage:
• 223 Avenue Michel Croz, 74400 Chamonix-Mont-Blanc, France
• Buy your ski passes ahead of time: https://www.chamskideal.com/en/products/chamskideal-1-day
• Excelsior Hotel & Spa (where we stayed): https://excelsiorchamonixhotel.com-hotel.com