Chamonix

The Aiguille du Midi, the Mer de Glace and Lac Blanc over three days

Plan three mornings in Chamonix around the weather. Use the first clear one for the Aiguille du Midi, at 3,842 m. Ride the Montenvers railway to the Mer de Glace on the second, and hike from the Flégère lift to Lac Blanc on the third, about 1.5 to 2 hours up. Keep the afternoons for the valley.

First clear morning. Mountain weather decides the order, so keep the first cloudless forecast for the Aiguille du Midi. Be at the lift base in Chamonix Sud for the first cabins, change at Plan de l'Aiguille and spend an hour on the terraces at 3,842 m. In summer the Panoramic Mont-Blanc gondola continues over the glacier to Pointe Helbronner on the Italian border. Back down by early afternoon, walk to Place Balmat to see the statue of Balmat and de Saussure, then the Musée Alpin on Avenue Michel Croz.

Second morning. Ride the Montenvers railway to the Mer de Glace and take the stairs down to the ice, passing markers showing where the glacier stood in past decades. Return by the Grand Balcon Nord path to Plan de l'Aiguille if you are fit, or take the train and spend the afternoon at Argentière looking up at its glacier.

Third morning. Take the Flégère lift from Les Praz and walk to Lac Blanc, roughly an hour and a half to two hours up with steady climbing and ladders near the top, for the reflection of the whole range in the water. Bring lunch.

Evenings. Spend one on Rue des Moulins for a drink, and one over a pierrade or fondue. When cloud closes the summits, take the bus through the tunnel to Courmayeur.

Tartiflette, fondue and génépi after a day in the Alps

Cheese sits at the centre of almost every Savoyard meal in Chamonix. Order tartiflette with Reblochon, fondue savoyarde, raclette, diots sausages or crozets. Traditional restaurants cluster around Rue du Docteur Paccard and Place Balmat, and the Saturday morning market sells Tomme and Beaufort for self-catering. Finish with génépi or a beer from the Microbrasserie de Chamonix.

Mountain cooking in Haute-Savoie leans hard on cheese, and after a day at altitude that is no bad thing. Tartiflette layers potatoes, bacon and onion under a whole Reblochon, the soft washed-rind cheese of the Aravis. Fondue savoyarde blends Beaufort, Comté and Emmental with white wine; raclette and pierrade, where slices of meat cook on a hot stone, turn dinner into a long shared event. Look out too for diots, small Savoyard sausages simmered in white wine, and crozets, little square buckwheat pasta baked with cheese.

The traditional places cluster around Rue du Docteur Paccard and the lanes off Place Balmat, while Chamonix Sud has more modest pizzerias and crêperies. Mountain huts serve some of the best simple food in the valley: an omelette or a bowl of soup at a refuge above Montenvers or Planpraz is part of the day.

Restaurants charge resort rates, so many visitors cook in their chalets and shop at the Saturday morning market in the centre for Tomme, Beaufort and cured meats. After dinner, order a small glass of génépi, the herbal liqueur made from alpine wormwood, or a craft beer at the Microbrasserie de Chamonix.

Ski season, summer storms and UTMB week in Chamonix

Snow in Chamonix is most reliable from January to March, when the Vallée Blanche is usually open. Summer is the wettest season, with afternoon thunderstorms, so plan high outings for the mornings. The Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc at the end of August is the busiest week, and in May, October and November most lifts close for maintenance.

Mont Blanc makes its own weather, and the climate figures surprise first-time visitors: the summer months are the wettest, with 120 to 130 mm of rain each in May, June and August, mostly falling as afternoon thunderstorms. Valley highs in July reach about 24C while nights drop to 9C, and it is far colder at the top lifts. Plan high outings for the morning and treat any afternoon above 2,000 m with suspicion.

Winter in the valley is properly cold, with January highs of about 3C and lows near minus 7C. Snow is most dependable from January to March, when the Vallée Blanche is usually open; December depends on the year, and April brings spring snow and long lunches on the terraces.

The calendar has a few fixed peaks. Most winters the World Cup downhill comes to the Verte des Houches, the Kandahar course. Late June brings the Marathon du Mont-Blanc, and mid-August the Fête des Guides, when the Compagnie des Guides de Chamonix blesses ropes and ice axes in a ceremony dating back to the nineteenth century. The busiest week of the year is the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc at the end of August, when runners circle the massif through France, Italy and Switzerland and every bed is taken. Shoulder months are another story: in May, October and November most lifts close for maintenance and the town feels half asleep.