Tour of the Vanoise

Our popular 5-stage trip allows a complete circular hike of the Julian Alps without unduly long days and with plenty of time to explore to the side. Please ask if you would like more details of any adaptation of our trip. Thank you.

Make the trip shorter
Due to the short length of some of the stages, walking the trail over 4 days is a great option and we would suggest combining stages 3 and 4. Thus you walk the full route but merge the days between the Koca na Dolicu and the Dom na Komni. Please ask us for details if you’d like to follow this shorter schedule.

Climb Triglav
Triglav (2,864m) is the highest peak in Slovenia and an element of Slovenian national culture. Slovenes aspire to climb Triglav at least once in their lifetime. The summit is reached by the easiest route from Dom Planika (on our route) by a steep scramble, aided by steps and chains, to the summit ridge and then an airy traverse with drops on both sides. It could not be part of our main trip as it’s at a higher level of difficulty than any of our other hikes, and we don’t include a detailed route description, but it is within the realm of experienced walkers able to consider the equipment needed. We discuss the difficulties and considerations in our info pack.

It’s possible to climb Triglav as a detour on your otherwise short day from Vodnikov Dom to Koca na Dolicu; this is the reason for this short stage. Or, you might prefer us to book an extra night, at Dom Planika, so that you can climb Triglav and return only as far as Planika, then continue to Dolicu the next day. (This would be a short day. Equally you could take the short day first, to Planika, then climb Triglav the next morning and walk on to Dolicu.) Please ask us about Triglav and about adding a hut night. Thank you.

Make the trip longer
Whether for Triglav or for general ease of pace and relaxation, please let us know if you’d like us to book an additional hut night along the trail. Similarly, if you would like an additional night in Bohinj before or after your trek, please let us know. We can also book our hotel in Bled, along the valley by bus and on the way to Ljubljana. (Generally we feel that Bled is overrated and that we would prefer to be either in Bohinj for proper mountains, or Ljubljana for a proper city. We like Ljubljana a lot.)

Hike with a leader
Hike with confidence in the company of our fully qualified International Mountain Leaders (IMLs), with the navigation, accommodation and arrangements taken care of. You’re welcome to walk on any date within our season and we can adjust your group’s schedule to suit your needs. Please ask for more details.

Where we stay
Our classic mix of accommodation aims to give the best of both worlds; rustic huts in the mountains and friendly hotels and 1 guesthouse in the towns. As standard our classic trip includes 7 nights in huts, 4 nights in 2* and 3* hotels, and 1 night in a lovely guesthouse in Bonneval-sur-Arc. Please note that Modane is more of a practical place to start the trip, rather than a quaint Alpine town.

Huts
Dormitory are standard on this trip and as such you will be sleeping in shared rooms on 7 nights of the trip. Dorm rooms vary from 4-person to 12-person rooms depending on the hut. Refuge Plan Sec has a limited number of private rooms available which you can request upon check-in. These rooms cost an extra 12 euros payable to the hut warden. It is not possible to book these rooms in advance.

This is predominently a hut-to-hut trip, and we find the refuges contribute to the overall Alpine experience. They are the natural stopping points along the route and they offer a wonderful communal spirit as you get to share the hiking experience with others in some fantastic locations.

Hutty
Our trip is already quite ‘hutty’, meaning we do not have a dedicated hutty option for the Vanoise. It might be possible in the towns and villages to swap hotels for auberges or to book a more basic hotel. Please ask us if you’d like to explore the more basic accommodation options and we can take a look for you.

Single Supplement
The single supplement covers the higher cost of single rooms at the hotels (4 on our normal trip). The huts do not offer single rooms, or dorms for single occupancy.

Solo Travel
We do not take bookings for solo walkers on self-guided trips. If you are still interested in this trip, we do have availability on our guided trips.

Rest days
In terms of rest days, we suggest Bonneval-sur-Arc as a quiet resting spot. Enjoy an rest day from the trail resting up in the quaint village of Bonneval-Sur-Arc or hike to nearby villages and lakes. We recommend a visit to the Le Lac du Grand Mean and its glacier, or the traditional mountain village of L’Ecot. Your hosts in Bonneval will have plenty of suggestions for local trips. For a more lively rest-day, the resort town of Val d’Isere works well too if you’d prefer to enjoy the many restaurants and cafes on offer during your day-off from hiking.

Our approach to the Tour of the Vanoise
The most popular trek in the Vanoise National Park is the 7-stage Tour des Glaciers de la Vanoise. While this is a fantastic trip in its own right, we like to add the Northern sections of the National Park to make our complete Tour of the Vanoise. Our routecards stick to the generally accepted Tour of the Vanoise route. We don’t include a rest day as standard, but you are welcome to add some in the towns if you wish.

Latest research on the Tour of the Vanoise South by Alpine Exploratory’s Claire.

The Terrain
The Tour of the Vanoise is a popular trail in Summer, more so with French people than international hikers. The trail is made up of sections of the GR5 and GR55 long distance trails; the result is solid conditions underfoot for the most part. The terrain on the higher sections of the trail is sometimes steep and rocky, such as the rocky ascent to the Col de Chaviere on the final stage. This is complemented by the more relaxing sections of contouring hillside paths and tracks with some rockier sections to keep you entertained.

There are some small sections of steep, loose ground requiring care and also short sections of exposed ground with chains to hold. These should not present a problem to most mountain walkers, and there are no via ferrata or climbing sections. In early or late Summer, there is a good chance of snow patches lying on the higher paths which will require care, but the lower paths are likely to be snow-free. We provide as much information as we can in our Season Update each July.

Is it for me?
The Tour of the Vanoise is a wonderful trail and often cited as one of the best multi-day hiking trails in the Alps. It provides outstanding views throughout and is less busy than the neighbouring trails of the Tour du Mont Blanc to the North and the Tour de l’Oisans (Ecrins) to the South. The trail is a mix of challenging days on rough mountain paths and easier days on solid tracks and valley paths. The route also includes a great mix of accommodation with 7 characterful mountain huts giving a remote mountain feel to the trail and 5 comfy hotels in the towns allowing for rest and relaxation.

This route suits those with good overall fitness and experience of multi-day hikes in the mountains. You will also need the ability to walk for up to 8 hours per day over rocky ground. If you are very fit and active day-to-day, then the Vanoise can also be suitable for those relatively new to multi-day trekking, although previous mountain walking experience is still necessary. The main challenge of the Vanoise, aside from the daily distance, is the amount of ascent and descent with around 7,000m of ascent over 11-stages.

The route is generally well signposted and waymarked, aiding navigation, although a map and compass is needed for navigation in case of bad weather such as low cloud. This is particularly important on the higher rockier sections such the Col de Chavière on Stage 11. It is important that at least 1 person in each group can navigate with a map and compass. We provide you with our routecards, providing detailed descriptions of each days’ walk, along with the topographical maps for the full route.

The route passes through a number of key mountain towns and villages: Val d’Isere, Tignes and Pralognan-la-Vanoise. These three are well-known as ski resorts and come with good hotels and shopping.

Difficulty
We grade the Tour of the Vanoise as a Purple. This trail is first and foremost a walk and there are no glacier crossings, via ferrata or rock climbing. There are however a few sections of steep and rocky ground which require steady foot placement and, at times, an ability to cope with narrow and exposed paths. In a few sections the path is a little exposed and chains are provided to aid progress, such as sections approaching Pont de la Neige on Stage 7. There are also a number of sections such as the Col de Chavière on Stage 11 where the route becomes rocky and crosses a number of scree slopes requiring steady foot placement.

 Walking Guide to the Tour of the Vanoise – our detailed guide

How to get there

Your holiday starts and ends in Modane, which is a medium-size working town in a major valley linking France and Italy. It has solid road and rail links and is situated right in the middle of the Paris-Milan train line. The most convenient airports to fly into would be Lyon and Turin; Geneva has many more Summer flights but is a longer rail or coach journey. Be prepared to travel 2-4 hours to reach Modane depending on the route. Train and bus connections are also possible from Chambery, Milan, Grenoble and Paris. We describe the various options in our Joining Notes which will be sent to you upon booking.

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 ask us for advice and we’ll be happy to help!