Hiking the Tour du Mont Blanc with kids

The Smith family hiked the full circuit of the Tour du Mont Blanc in July 2024, staying in gites, mountain huts, and hotels. They carried everything they needed on their backs (there was no luggage transfer). Read Meggan’s tips about preparing and hiking a multi-day hike with kids.

Hiking the Tour du Mont Blanc with kids

Attempting your first multi-day hike can be intimidating. Doing it with kids adds a layer of complexity. I hope in sharing our experience hiking the Tour du Mont Blanc with our kids (a 10-year-old son and a 12-year-old daughter) that you will have a better idea of what a trekking adventure in the mountains might entail for your family.   

Of course, every child is different, and you know your child(ren) best. Our family was already fairly active, and most family vacations involved some physical activity, especially hiking when exploring the beautiful National Parks across the United States. However, none of us had completed a multi-day hike, and most of our hikes in the Eastern United States did not exceed 1,000 ft elevation gain, so hiking the Tour du Mont Blanc (TMB) in the Alps was going to stretch all of us physically and mentally.  My kids are also good at following directions, so I felt reasonably confident that if we told them to “stop” on the trail, they would do so (we also practiced this on our training hikes).  

Below are tips and lessons from our family’s experience preparing for and hiking the TMB with kids. I hope they are helpful to other families (or individuals) who are considering making the trek. It truly is a trip of a lifetime!  

preparation is key

Although preparation is important for everyone planning to hike the TMB, we were especially intentional as we embarked on this adventure with our kids.  

1. Practice hiking trails, increasing distance and difficulty over time. This seems obvious, but it’s so important to help kids get used to hiking on uneven terrain, not only to strengthen their muscles but also to learn how to navigate technical spots and build their confidence in covering longer distances.  

2. Practice wearing your gear. Runners always say: “Nothing new on race day” and we adopted that same mindset for hiking the TMB. We practiced using ALL our gear from our socks and shoes and undergarments to our outer layers. Rainy day on the weekend? It's the perfect opportunity to test our rain gear and new waterproof socks. A dusting of snow? That sounds like a great opportunity to wear our nano puff jackets and work on our footing in slippery conditions. Sunny and warm? It's time to test our new sunshirts, hats, and sunscreen. Test EVERYTHING – especially on longer hikes. My daughter discovered that a shirt that was fine on short and mid-distance hikes ended up chaffing her on double-digit hikes. Thankfully we had time to find an alternative that worked before setting foot on the TMB.  

3. Practice wearing your backpacks. Our family was hiking hut-to-hut with no luggage transfer, so we needed to get used to carrying our packs with EVERYTHING. We got fitted for our backpacks at our local REI (an outdoor recreation store in the United States) which helped us identify the right size pack that fit each of us.  We started carrying the 10 essentials on our practice hikes; but as we purchased our gear for the trip, we progressively added it to our packs, so we got used to the weight. This also allowed us to figure out before we got on the plane what we truly NEEDED vs what we could leave behind to help shed weight.  

4. Practice hiking on similar terrain. We did not have the luxury of traveling to real mountains with elevation gain comparable to what we would experience on the TMB, but we did our best to simulate the trek. We tried to find hilly trails near us, and once we got comfortable with double-digit hikes, we completed a few back-to-back hikes on the weekends. Over a 3-day weekend six weeks before our trip, we not only tackled three double-digit hikes in a row, but we also stayed at a hostel for hikers along the Appalachian Trail one of the nights to practice sleeping in an unfamiliar location after a long day of hiking. It was a fabulous experience and gave us more confidence that a multi-day hike was achievable and enjoyable.  

5. Practice strengthening your mental game. We found that hard training hikes helped build resilience, and struggles along the way were opportunities to learn what helped our kids push on (we also figured out what did NOT motivate them... ahem, daddy lectures!). We quickly discovered that eating snacks early and often helped keep our kids cheerful and moving. If we waited until they got the hangries, it would take a while for them to recover. We also watched a lot of TMB videos on YouTube so they could see the big climbs and also get a feel for the types of places we would be staying on the trail. While they thought this was boring at the time, knowing what to expect seemed to help a lot once we were on the trail. 

on the trail

Time to put all that preparation to use!

1. Take breaks. Prepare for lots of short breaks. Unless you have terrain and elevation gain similar to the Alps nearby, the TMB will probably still be challenging even with your training. Expect your kids to want/need lots of short breaks. These breaks are a great opportunity to make sure everyone is staying fueled and hydrated, adjust layers, and reapply sunscreen (side note: you’ll need more sunscreen than you might expect!) --- and provide the time to take breathtaking photos while you catch your breath.   

2. Keep everyone fueled. Take advantage of the food on the trail. Have I mentioned that my kids do better when they have snacks? We usually opted to purchase two packed lunches from our accommodation (remember to order them the night before!) and we would either snack on them throughout the day or use them as our main mid-day meal (depending on what the food availability looked like for that section of the trail). This worked well especially when combining our packed picnics with short stops at refuges on the trail for additional food and drink (NOTE: I posted what we spent on the trail in my daily Instagram recaps to give an idea of cost). Another favorite thing we did was buy a baguette from the local boulangerie and tear off hunks of bread to nosh on while hiking.

3. Make adjustments as needed and as soon as identified. If a sock feels weird in your shoe, stop and fix it – don't wait until it becomes a bigger issue. Too warm? Stop and shed a layer. The time spent making adjustments to be as comfortable as possible is well worth it – especially if the change avoids blisters, heat exhaustion, sunburn, etc. Kids, or at least our kids, may recognize an issue but struggle with knowing how to make adjustments. Practice hikes can provide opportunities to learn how to adjust (especially your pack), but it is so important once you’re on the tail. Even small adjustments can make a day on the trail so much more enjoyable; for instance, our daughter quickly got into the habit of dipping a handkerchief in the cool streams that we crossed to cool off her face and neck.  

4. Plan for distractions. While I wish I could say our kids were completely enthralled with the beautiful views of nature the entire time, the truth is, while yes – they had several moments of stopping to take pictures and marveling at the breathtaking landscapes – they also got bored. Our youngest found that he could deal with the hard climbs by having his dad tell him the storylines of various movies (one rainy day we were treated to a recap of the “Back to the Future” trilogy....). That did not work for our tween daughter, however. We figured out halfway through the trip that she was much more pleasant if she could listen to music on the hard climbs. Thankfully I brought my Shokz open-ear headphones. The complaining stopped if she could listen to music on the inclines. We let our son use them to listen to an audiobook during the long descent to Les Houches on our final day, and it added a pep to his step. For our next multi-day trek, I will probably make sure we have two sets of Shokz (I like them because they are open-ear, so you can listen to your audio while still hearing those around you – an important safety measure!) with audiobooks and music pre-downloaded to our devices.  

5. Take note of shortcuts. While we only made use of a few of the shortcuts available, I did take note of the various public transportation, cable cars, and shortcuts ahead of time, so if we had bad weather, were short on time, or someone wasn’t feeling well, we had options. We planned to take the Bellevue Cable Car on the first day and were happy we did so – especially since we did the Col de Tricot variant. Taking the Delone Cable Car was a huge plus for my daughter as we headed down to Courmayeur for a rest day. I will say that this is where customized maps from The Hiking Club combined with the Organic Maps app were super useful – you can see public transportation options – but also alternative routes. On our last two days on the trail, less-than-ideal weather had us adjusting our routes on the fly, and I was so thankful that we could see what options were available to us when we needed to make decisions in the moment.  

6. Staying in accommodations. We were fortunate enough to book private rooms or 4-person dorms for all nights except two on the trail. This worked well for our family, as it allowed the kids to be a little more comfortable after a long day of hiking. We still got the mountain hut experience with the shared meals and (often) shared restrooms. Our two evenings in shared dorm rooms were fine – thankfully we had lovely roommates both times (6-person dorm rooms). But the nice thing about hut-to-hut hiking is that even if you don’t love the place you’re staying at one evening, it is only for one night and you’ll have a new place to look forward to the next night.  

Reflections  

While hiking the TMB is not for everyone, with the proper preparation and a willing attitude, it is possible to complete the trek (or part of the trail) with children. I loved watching my kids grow on the trail. They adapted to trail conditions, problem-solved, tried new food, and met people from all over the world – all while hiking more than 100 miles over 11 days. Was there complaining? Yes. Were there tears? Yes. Were there sore legs? Yes. But there were also memories made, relationships formed, and fears conquered – it was the trip of a lifetime. All of us learned to be more resilient; we pushed through pain and fatigue and learned each day that we could do hard things.  

Upon returning home, we returned to our familiar trails of the AT and started reminiscing about the Alps... My teen daughter started talking about which sections of the TMB she would want to repeat when we return in a few years – as well as what other trails she would like to explore in the Alps. 

Time to start planning our next adventure!

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Follow Meggan on her Instagram for more family hiking content: @mountainsarecalling_wemustgo

Should I get an Alpine Club membership for the Tour du Mont Blanc?

The Tour du Mont Blanc travels through France, Switzerland and Italy.

If you are a member of one of the respective alpine clubs, you get discount on accommodation at their mountain huts. Unless you plan to stay exclusively in alpine club mountain huts, it is not usually worthwhile getting membership only for the hike. Here are the details on each alpine club membership:

FRENCH ALPINE CLUB MEMBERSHIP

The French Alpine Club has a membership program that provides discounts to their mountain huts. Membership is about 100 - 120€ and is open to non-French citizens. For full details click here. The huts along the Tour du Mont Blanc that are owned by the French Alpine Club include Albert Premier (1er), Refuge Croix du Bonhomme and Chalet Des Contamines.

Refuge Croix du Bonhomme

SWISS ALPINE CLUB MEMBERSHIP

The Swiss Alpine Club has a membership program that provides discounts to their mountain huts. Membership is from 80 CHF and is open to non-Swiss citizens. For full details click here. None of the huts along the Tour du Mont Blanc are owned by the Swiss Alpine Club.

ITALIAN ALPINE CLUB MEMBERSHIP

Rifugio Elisabetta

The Italian Alpine Club has a membership program that provides discounts to their mountain huts. Membership is from 45€ and is open to non-Italian citizens. For full details click here. The huts along the Tour du Mont Blanc that are owned by the Italian Alpine Club are Rifugio Elisabetta and Rifugio Monte Bianco (in Val Veny off the TMB trail)

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plan and navigate your ultimate Tour du Mont Blanc adventure

The Tour du Mont Blanc Anytime Itinerary

Have you started planning the Tour du Mont Blanc in the usual 11 stages and finding fully booked locations for the dates you want?

You’re not alone!

Accommodation booking anxiety is experienced by most self-guided hikers that book their own accommodation…and a popular conversation topic on the trail :)

introducing THE “TMB ANYTIME” ITINERARY

When accommodation availability becomes scarce, this 11-day itinerary will keep your TMB dreams alive! Staying at villages and using transport provides you a much needed bed.

Average daily stats:

• Distance: 16.5km / 10mi

• Elevation gain: 1,000m / 3,300ft

• Time (steady pace): 6 hours, not including breaks

• Accommodation: Staying in villages that have the most accommodation options

This 11-day itinerary for the Tour du Mont Blanc gets around all of the locations that are typically booked out…without needing to do any camping!

The Hiking Club has always championed self-guided hikers who want to stay in control of their itinerary and costs by planning and booking their own trips. We have over 5 years of experience creating itineraries for the Tour du Mont Blanc that are available to book at any time of the year. Our new trip planning app is the 3rd generation of our self-planning product that gives hikers the power to easily create an achievable, inspiring, and available-to-book itinerary in one session.

If you want some assistance in designing an itinerary that is ready for you to book based on your specific dates and requirements, we can do this via our Expert Access package.

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The “Tour du Mont Blanc Anytime” itinerary broken down stage-by-stage

Stage 1: Les houches to les contamines

Les Contamines-Montjoie has 6+ hotels/b&bs/refuges and a range of holiday rentals. Hikers rarely have trouble finding accommodation here due to the large number of beds relative to other stages of the trail.

What do you do if you can’t secure accommodation here?

The next best option is staying at the cabins at Le Pontet campground

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Stage 2: Les Contamines-Montjoie to Les Chapieux

Vallée des Chapieux, which includes Refuge de la Nova, Les Chambres du Soleil and Refuge des Mottets, is usually the first area of the trail to be fully booked. Although there are quite a few beds here, only about 20% are available for hikers booking their own trips, with tour companies putting holds on the rest.

You’ve got two options to overcome fully booked locations here;

1. Stay at the French alpine club hut Refuge de la Croix du Bonhomme

2. Catch the bus (or arrange a taxi) to stay in Bourg Saint Maurice for the night. It takes about 25 mins to reach Bourg Saint Maurice, and there are many accommodation options here.

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Stage 3: Les Chapieux to La Visaille Bus stop

Val Veny in Italy, which includes Rifugio Elisabetta and Cabane Combal, is also an area of the trail where it becomes hard to find availability. The next closest accommodation option is actually in Courmayeur…via the direct bus, which departs from La Visaille and takes about 25 mins. We’ve added a little ‘Courmayeur basecamp’ accommodation location in La Visaille which highlights you’re planning to catch the bus to Courmayeur for the night.

The following day, return on the bus to La Visaille and rejoin the main Tour du Mont Blanc trail near Cabane Combal.

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Stage 4: La Visaille Bus stop to Courmayuer

Courmayeur has a huge amount of accommodation so finding availability isn’t usually a problem. You can use the bus network to reach properties further south if necessary.

Click to expand. The trip planning app is included in all self-guided packages.

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Stage 5: Courmayuer to Arp Nouva bus stop

Most hikers will stay a night between Rifugio Bonatti and Rifugio Elena, however, this area does become booked out. When it does, the next closest accommodation option (once again!) is Courmayeur…via the direct bus, which departs from Arp Nouva and takes about 25 mins. We’ve added a little ‘Courmayeur basecamp’ accommodation location in Arp Nouva, which highlights that you’re planning to catch the bus to Courmayeur for the night.

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Stage 6: Arp Nouva bus stop to La Fouly

There is usually a surplus of beds in La Fouly for two reasons;

1. There is 5+ accommodation options in the area

2. The next stage is a popular one for hikers to skip so some people don’t end up staying around here at all.

For these reasons, La Fouly is one of the last places I recommend people book.

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Stage 7: La Fouly to Champex Lac

There is a reasonable range of accommodation in Champex Lac, which is further boosted by additional properties in Champex Den Haut and Arpette, which are within reach for most hikers. It is a popular stand-alone destination for people to visit and stay at during the summer so can be fully booked, especially on Friday and Saturday nights.

What do you do if you can’t secure accommodation in this area?

The next best option is taking a ~20-minute bus to Orsières in the valley below, where there is a great hotel at the station and further transport links to find other accommodation nearby.

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Stage 8: Champex Lac to Trient

The Trient Valley, which includes Auberge la Grande Ourse, Auberge du Mont-Blanc, Refuge Le Peuty, and Hotel Col de la Forclaz, is an area of Mont Blanc where most Tour du Mont Blanc and Walker’s Haute Route hikers need to stay - making it hard to find availability.

What do you do if you can’t secure accommodation in this area?

1. Refuge Les Grands and Refuge Col de Balme are two locations typically within reach of strong hikers and provide idyllic locations to spend a night (note you need to bring your own food to cook at Refuge Les Grands).

2. An infrequent bus that takes ~10 mins runs from Trient to Le Châtelard-Frontière during July and August, where there is a hotel. The departure times to reach the hotel are okay in the afternoon; however, based on last year’s timetable, you won’t be able to reach Trient until about 10am the following day.

3. A bus that takes ~45mins to reach Martigny where there is a large range of accommodation. The bus runs about 5 times per day - allowing you to depart for Martigny a few times during the afternoon and return to Trient by about 8am the following day.

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Stage 9: Trient to Argentiere

Tre-le-Champ is the usual stop for hikers in this area of the trail with Gite le Moulin the typical alternative which also books out early.

Argentiere is the next location to look at with a couple of big hotels in the centre of town and various vacation rentals on the outskirts.

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Stage 10: Argentiere to Plan Praz (Chamonix)

Chamonix has a huge amount of accommodation so finding availability isn’t usually a problem. You can use the train or bus network to reach properties up and down the valley.

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Stage 11: Plan Praz (Chamonix) to Les Houches

Les Houches has 4 main accommodation options. However, 3 of them are not in the village center. Hikers can use the bus network to easily reach Chamonix or other locations with accommodation in the valley.

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So there you have it. The “TMB Anytime” itinerary for those booking in October, January, March of July. This itinerary will provide you accommodation options so you can make you Tour du Mont Blanc journey a reality!

Oh and if you want the “TMB Anytime” itinerary, it’s available in our itinerary library so all you need to do is buy a self-guided TMB package and this itinerary can be loaded straight into your app for planning, booking, and navigating!

2023 Tour du Mont Blanc Trail Updates

2023 TOUR DU MONT BLANC TRAIL UPDATES

Updated: June 13th 2023

Knowing what the early season trail conditions are like is a really important part of a self guided hikers preparation. It helps with;

• Awareness of the challenges

• Appropriate gear choices

• Review of alternative routes/options

• Revision of plan (if necessary)

Our updates are kept up-to-date during the 2023 hiking season by The Hiking Club team and our 20+ Trail Ambassadors.

Key trail updates include:

• Our Break The Trail hike

• Latest trail updates

• Gear recommendations

⛏ BRENDAN’S BREAK THE TRAIL HIKE

From May 30th to June 2nd 2023, Brendan Jones, Founder of The Hiking Club, completed the Tour du Mont Blanc in 5 days. He documented his trip extensively on social media, providing live accounts of snow conditions across the key mountain passes and difficult sections of trails.

Click on below image to see each of the detailed daily trail updates:

On June 4th, 2023, Brendan presented a one hour “Live from the Alps” webcast to share an update of the current trail conditions including snow conditions, route detours and gear recommendation. It also includes a live Q&A session that covers everything from using microspikes, best local weather sources and alternate route choices. Watch the recording below.

Follow our dedicated TMB Instagram page to get latest updates

📸 LATEST IMAGES FROM THE TRAIL

We’ve created a highlights reel on Instagram where you can see the most current live updates from our 20+ trail ambassadors that complete the TMB between June > September.

SPECIFIC TRAIL UPDATES

3rd June, 2023: Bissonnay bridge now installed. 📸 Eliza, THC Trail Ambassador.

6th June, 2023: Bridge between Le Chapieux and Refuge Mottets not yet installed. 📸 Dean, THC Trail Ambassador

10th June, 2023: Tractor has cleared the road from Lex Blanche (below Rifugio Elisabetta). 📸 Raimond, THC Trail Ambassador

8th June, 2023: Mont Farve Spur still lots of snow that requires careful navigation. 📸 Marshall.

11th June, 2023: Col di Tricot now snow free! 📸 Aakash, THC Trail Ambassador.

12th June, 2023: Grand Col Ferret basically snow free on Italian side. Still lots of snow on Swiss side. 📸 Raimonds.

🥾 GEAR RECOMMENDATIONS

As of June 13th, 2023: Microspikes and poles are recommended for anyone hiking in June to support snow crossings. This gear can help with confidence when crossing steeper snowy slopes, even when the snow is soft. Also, although the freezing level has been up over 3,000m for a couple of weeks now and is forecast to stay there for the next week, if it does drop to the level where snow is still lying on the trail then microspikes and poles will be essential.

2023 Trail Updates

We complete a “Break The Trail” journey to provide the first trail report for the key legendary trails in the Alps - Tour du Mont Blanc, Walker’s Haute Route and Tour of Monte Rosa. We share these updates with thousands of hikers that travel to the Alps each year for their epic bucket list hikes. This information is particularly valuable for early-season hikers to understand the latest snow conditions, route detours, and gear recommendations. This year, our program is bigger and better, giving you updates across multiple channels throughout June. Check it out!

Our 2023 TRAIL UPDATE PROGRAM

This year our program will consist of 3 key elements:

• Break The Trail updates via social, website and email

• Live Webcast from Chamonix and Zermatt

• 2023 Trail Ambassadors

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2023 Break the trail

Early season conditions can vary dramatically from year to year. June 2019 was a particularly çhallenging season with significant snow on high mountain passes throughout June

~ Col de la Seigne, Italy (Tour du Mont Blanc)

We will kick off our 2023 trail updates from Chamonix, starting at the end of May. Each day we will share updates including snow conditions, route detours, transport updates and gear recommendations. Our focus is on the conditions on the mountain passes, peaks and difficult trail sections, as this is where the most uncertainty exists.

Usually, we would do a continuous journey covering big daily distances and elevations. But this year, we’ve come up with a different format that still takes us to all the necessary places whilst keeping life fun and manageable with our 1 and 3 year old daughters! Therefore, we’ll be taking 3 weeks to complete all 3 trails. Tag teaming, taking transport, and trail running where needed to check out all the passes and key routes. No doubt it will be a comedy :)

Follow us on social to get real-time trail updates

• Tour du Mont Blanc: Instagram / Facebook

• Walker’s Haute Route: Instagram / Facebook

• Tour of Monte Rosa: Instagram / Facebook

live webcast: chamonix & zermatt

From the start of the Tour du Mont Blanc, to the end of the Walker’s Haute Route and the mid-point of the Tour of Monte Rosa. Join us for live trail updates!

This year, in addition to our daily trail updates on social media, we will be hosting free webcasts live from the Alps throughout June. Join us to learn about the latest trail updates, snow conditions, route detours (if any) and gear recommendations. We will share latest photos and descriptions of key mountain passes and difficult trail sections, for our 3 legendary trails - Tour du Mont Blanc, Walker’s Haute Route and Tour of Monte Rosa.

WATCH Session 1: Sunday June 4th from Chamonix, France

WATCH Session 2: Friday June 23rd from Zermatt, Switzerland

trail ambassadors

Hiking in June or July? Keen to share updates from your epic journey with your fellow hikers? Come on board!

📷: Shout out to Sanna, one of our 2021 trail ambassadors.

UPDATE: APPLICATIONS CLOSED FOR 2023

35 ambassadors took part in our 2023 program.

What will you do?

As a trail ambassador, you will provide “live from the trail” content about trail conditions, route updates, and memorable experiences. This content will be shared with The Hiking Club community to keep fellow hikers up-to-date, including:

• Tour du Mont Blanc (Instagram)

• Walker’s Haute Route (Instagram)

• Tour of Monte Rosa (Instagram)

In return, you’ll receive exclusive swag to rock on all your hiking (and non-hiking!) adventures!

Who are we looking for?

Hikers who are completing one of the below trails during June and July 2023;

• Tour du Mont Blanc

• Walker’s Haute Route

• Tour of Monte Rosa

• Alta Via 1 (Dolomites)

What is the time commitment?

• Kick off session: To ensure we set you up for success, there will be a 30 min briefing session in May/June (depending on your start date)

• During your hike: Share your trail updates and photos via Whatsapp or email (max 15 mins per day)

Does this sound like you? Get it touch to find out more. We’re excited to bring you on board!

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Did you know that we’ve been doing Break The Trail since 2019? Read about how our project has evolved over this time.

2019 Early Season Conditions

In 2019, we completed 486 km / 302 mi, with over 30,000m of elevation gain and loss, over 18 hiking days.

There was significant snow on high mountain passes that resulted in detours, additional gear and the help of transport to complete the journey!

Read the full 2019 trip report

2020 EARLY SEASON CONDITIONS

June was a quiet month due to COVID-19 uncertainty and travel restrictions preventing many early season hikers from reaching the trail. This led to less information being shared online about the trail making it hard to get a sense for how rapidly the snow was melting and conditions improving.

We were able to enter France on 1st July (the day the borders opened!) and quickly got on the trails to check them out.

In general, the conditions were excellent but there was still a few sections with challenging snow cover and accommodation options that were closed for the season.

Read the full 2020 TMB trip report.

2021 EARLY SEASON CONDITIONS

Unfortunately COVID travel restrictions prevented us from travelling to the Alps this year 😭 With the help of our trail ambassadors (Sanna, Alia, Bruno, Alistair and Tui) we were still able to share trail updates to the community.

A cold and snowy May made for some difficult early-season hiking conditions. While a spell of warm weather in early June is causing the snow to rapidly melt, it will still take a few weeks before the trail is completely snow-free. The late snow and warm weather are also causing wet slide avalanches to come down throughout the Alps.

Read the full 2021 trip report for TMB and WHR.

2022 EARLY SEASON CONDITIONS

In general, the conditions for this time of year were exceptional. The amount and depth of snow were much less than in typical years. Most people were saying 4-6 weeks ahead of a typical season. Microspikes and poles are recommended for anyone hiking in June to support snow crossings. There were a number of disruptions to transport this season that may affect hikers, including: Le Tour gondola closed, Le Chable closed in June, and Grimentz cable car closed.

Read the full 2022 trip report.