Tour du Mont Blanc Guided walking holiday

Please join one of our guided Tour du Mont Blanc trips:

TMBg1 5 to 18 July 2025
led by Rob GaleBook (3 spaces available)

TMBg2 2 to 15 August 2025
led by Rob GaleBook (Fully booked)

TMBg3 7 to 20 September 2025
led by Rob GaleBook (4 Spaces available)

TMBg1 5 to 13 July 2026
Mountain Leader to be confirmedBook (Spaces)

TMBg2 1 to 14 August 2026
Mountain Leader to be confirmedBook (Spaces)

TMBg3 5 to 18 September 2025
Mountain Leader to be confirmedBook (Spaces)

Where we stay
On our scheduled guided trips, we book our Classic mix of accommodation which aims to give a broad taste of Alpine life, from friendly family-run hotels in the towns and villages with the auberges and huts that best fit the route. As standard, our Tour du Mont Blanc guided trip includes 3 nights in huts, 2 or 3 nights in auberges and the remaining nights in comfortable family-run hotels. We have known the huts and hotels for many years, and have come to know some very friendly and memorable places to stay.

Dormitory rooms at the huts and auberges
On our scheduled guided trips, we book beds in shared dormitory rooms on 5 nights, at the 3 mountain huts and the 2 auberges in Les Chapieux and Trient. The huts form an exciting aspect of the trip and give a great flavour of Alpine hut-to-hut hiking, whilst splitting the distances on the trail nicely. On occassion, we need to add 1 extra night in dormitory accommodation due to lack of availability at other accommodations. We will keep you updated if this is the case.

Sleeping platforms
It’s important to note that the large dormitory room at Rifugio Elisabetta, Rifugio Bonatti and Auberge du Mont Blanc in Trient offer sleeping platforms in their dormitories instead of individual bunk beds. Sleeping platforms are shared with other travellers outside of your group (see photo). We try our best to avoid the sleeping platforms when possible, but this is of course dependent on availability at the time of booking.

Single Room Supplement
If you are a solo hiker, or if you would like to stay in single rooms rather than sharing a double, twin or triple room we add our single room supplement. This covers the additional cost of booking single occupancy rooms. The single supplement is only applied to nights where single rooms are available.

Private guided trips only
On our private guided trips, we can customise your trip to make the accommodation more hutty or more comfy to suit your preferences. We can also add an extra rest day if you’d like to spend more time on the trails. Please just let us know your preferences!

Please note we cannot customise our scheduled guided trips.

Our approach to the Tour du Mont Blanc
Our guided route sticks to the generally accepted Tour du Mont Blanc trail, with a few optional variants and detours along the way. Your guide will discuss the route options with the group each day, and will decide which option will best suit the group. As standard, we build in a rest day in Courmayeur after a tough first 4 stages to allow the group to rest and relax before the Northern part of the tour. This is where our TMB South trip finishes and our TMB North trip begins. Our route covers every step of the TMB, from Les Houches back to Les Houches, without the need to use public transport under normal circumstances. We walk the Tour in the classic anti-clockwise direction.

The Terrain
The Tour du Mont Blanc is a very popular trail in Summer and the good solid footpaths reflect this. The terrain in these parts of the French, Swiss and Italian Alps is sometimes steep and rocky, but mostly the uphill sections are long gradual tests of stamina on good trails. This is complemented by the more relaxing sections of wide tracks through forests, country lanes and zig-zagging hillside paths with some rockier sections to keep you entertained.

There are some small sections of steep, loose ground requiring care, and in a small number of places on the trail you meet with ladders and other aids, such as fixed chains. The ladders fall on the Northern part of the trail and should not present a problem to regular mountain walkers, as they are not via ferrata or climbing sections. Your guide, of course, will be there to provide advice and help you through these sections. All such areas can be avoided by following alternative routes. In early or late summer, there is a good chance of snow patches lying on the higher paths which will require care, however again your guide will be there for your safety and enjoyment so don’t worry! We will provide as much information as we can on this in our pre-season update.

Is it for me?
The Tour du Mont Blanc has something for everyone; great views, high mountain cols, pretty villages, tasty food and pleasant walking across the trip. This is a fantastic hike for fit walkers who are happy to walk for up to 8 hours a day over rocky and sometimes exposed ground. We highly recommend that you approach this guided hike with experience of walking in the mountains, however previous hut-to-hut trekking experience in the Alps is not essential. The main challenge of the TMB, aside from the distance each day, is the amount ascent and descent. Most days comprise of a steady uphill ascent to a col, followed by a descent to the valley bottom and your home for the night.

Your guide will take care of the logistics and navigation so you can relax and enjoy the scenery! The mix of mountain huts and hotels in small towns and villages gives for a fantastic flavour of hiking in the Alps. It’s an extremely memorable, and inspiring, walking holiday.

A level of self-sufficiency on the TMB is necessary as transfer bags cannot be delivered to the huts. On the hut nights you’ll need to carry with you everything you need for the hike. But with plenty of huts along the way, delicious food and drinks are easy to come by, and your guide will advise where these are.

Difficulty
The TMB is first and foremost a walk! There are no glacier crossings, via ferrata or rock climbing, however there are a few sections of steep and rocky ground. This is reflected in its grade of Red 3. In particular there are three sections on the standard route, all on the two stages above the Chamonix valley (Full TMB and TMB North), where metal ladders or steps have been installed to make the route easier across rocky ground. These do not generally pose a difficulty for the average hillwalker and your guide will be on hand to help manage these sections. Please do ask us for more details if you have any concerns.

 Tour du Mont Blanc Walking Guide – more about the trail

 The making of our Tour du Mont Blanc – photos from our research trips

How to get there

Our full TMB and TMB South holidays start and end in the major Alpine resort of Chamonix, one of the best-linked in the Alps. The most convenient airport is Geneva with several transfer options available by minibus, coach or scenic Swiss train. Zurich and Basel airports also work but with longer transfer times. Our TMB North holiday starts in Courmayeur, and there are regular buses through the Mont Blanc Tunnel from Chamonix, taking around 45 minutes. It is also possible, though somewhat lengthy, to reach Courmayeur from Milan or Turin in Italy.

Travel to and from the trip is not included in the holiday price, and we leave you to arrange your transfers individually. We do however take care to give the most useful notes possible about all travel options. We supply these both on booking in your Trip Notes, and in your info pack which we send out prior to your trip. We also offer personalised tips based on our extensive travels across Europe; please do just ask us for advice and we’ll be happy to help!