4 Spots to Admire the Majesty of Mont Blanc
Without pretending to be mountaineers.
From Le Brévent: the VIP balcony
You don’t need the stamina of a champion to climb to an altitude of 2,525 meters. Starting from Chamonix, your “sherpa” is the gondola to Planpraz at 2,000 meters, followed by the cable car to reach the valley’s most cinematic terraces. Once you arrive, grab a café crème at the snack bar to take in the view: the mountain range in all its splendor, glaciers, and eternal snow. You’ll feel tiny, and you’ll find yourself saying, “It’s unreal”—and that’s perfectly normal.
From the Aiguille du Midi: a vertical thrill and a 360° view
It’s via the world’s most famous cable car that you ascend to 3,842 meters from the center of Chamonix. For 20 minutes, the ride is just as thrilling as the beauty grows with every meter of elevation gain. At the top, the 360° view of the French, Swiss, and Italian Alps is one of a kind. The light is harsher, the air is thinner, and it might take your breath away if you dare to try the “Pas dans le vide” (Step into the Void): a glass box suspended 1,000 meters above the abyss where you can walk (and force a smile for the photo). Does just reading this make you dizzy? Opt for the “Tube” instead—a 32-meter-long steel gallery encircling the central peak of the Aiguille du Midi. And yes, you’ll be able to say with complete confidence that you’ve gone all the way around the massif.
View of the Aiguille du Midi
From the Mer de Glace: A Journey to the Heart of Winter
We swap the cable cars for one of the retro cars of the legendary little red Montenvers rack-and-pinion train. The journey from Chamonix, winding through pine forests and scree fields along the mountainside, is as charming as it is idyllic and leads gently to another legend of the Valley: the Mer de Glace, on the northern slope of the Mont Blanc massif. So no, at the terminus at 1,913 meters, don’t look for the schedule of the next boat departure—yes, really, we’ve been asked that before… However, what you can plan ahead of time are your tickets for the three on-site experiences. The Ice Cave, a shimmering blue tunnel carved each year from the glacier itself. The Glaciorium, a vital witness to the climate changes of our time. And the Temple of Nature, now a museum, considered the oldest refuge in the Alps.
From the Valley’s villages: Mont Blanc in everyday life
Seeing big without climbing high—that’s everyday life for the valley’s residents, who have Mont Blanc as their neighbor. From Chamonix to Vallorcine, via Les Praz and Argentière, whether reflected in shop windows or glimpsed around a corner, it’s everywhere. This colossus must be earned through crampons and athletic feats, but it also knows how to simply let itself be admired, with hands in your pockets and your nose in the wind.
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