A Weekend in Chamonix, France

Bonjour!

Je suis très heureux de partager mon voyage à Chamonix!

Sorry, I just had to whip out a little french for this post (please forgive any errors... I haven't written in french in over two years). While staying in Turin, a group of us decided to take a little weekend trip to the French Alps. From Turin, it was only a three-hour bus ride to Chamonix.

When we arrived, it was overcast and gloomy, a perfect change of pace from hot and humid Turin. We took full advantage of the cooler weather to do a little hiking.

Chalet de la Floria 
We took the Floria hike where up at the top is this little café that serves drinks and small bites, like crepes. This café has a gorgeous overlook of the mountains and Mont Blanc, plus the café is covered in flowers. It was just perfect! After hiking up the fairly steep path, there was something so perfect about sitting and sipping some rosé at such a gorgeous location. The hike is steep, but if you pace yourself and take short breaks, it's not too bad. There were children and grandparents on the path with us, so it definitely was one of the easier hiking paths in Chamonix.

Despite the gloominess all day, right as the sun was setting, the clouds parted for us to see the mountain tops. I'm going to sound repetitive but the only words I have to describe it is breathtaking.

 

Look Out Points
The most popular lookout of the Alps in Chamonix is Aiguille du Midi, a terrace that offers a view of the French, Swiss and Italian Alps. This option was 63 euros... Luckily for us, the weekend we went, the weather wasn't great so Aiguille du Midi was actually closed so we didn't have to feel bad
about missing it.

We ended up taking a cable car up to the Brévent lookout, which cost about 33.50 euros roundtrip. Worth every single penny but still much more affordable than Aiguille du Midi. The view from the top was absolutely stunning! There is a little café at the top where we sat with a café au lait for a while, but beware the prices are a little steep (same goes for most of the town).

But oh that view...photos do not do it justice. When we woke up the second day there was not a cloud in the sky and right as we left Chamonix, it started to storm. It was very serendipitous that we were able to have such clear skies to even see the mountains, let alone make it to a lookout point.

Mont Blanc

Alpine Museum 

Another little must-see is the Alpine Museum. It had climbing gear of very early explorers and memorabilia from the two Olympic games that were held in Chamonix. The very first Winter Olympics were held in Chamonix in 1924. As an Olympic fanatic, especially of the winter sport variety (aka figure skating), I was especially excited by this. 

Oh and most importantly, there are dogs EVERYWHERE in Chamonix. My very favorite part of the town.

I absolutely loved my visit, albeit way too short. If you have the chance to visit, I cannot recommend it enough!

XO,
Chloe