Chamonix
France
The town at the foot of Mont Blanc, where alpinism was invented and where the Aiguille du Midi cable car puts you at 3,842 metres in twenty minutes
Photo by Randy Yip on Unsplash
Photos by Tom Podmore, Chris Biron, Hongbin and Jeroen Roegist on Unsplash
Best time to visit all of France
December to April for the snow, and late June to September for the walking — the lifts and much of the town shut in the two shoulder periods between the seasons
Climate month by month
The next sixteen daysOpen-Meteo
Average high and low · °C
Rainfall · mm per month
Best months to visit This month · wettest 135mm in Aug
Where it is
45.92°N, 6.87°E Open in Google Maps
Things to do
Weeks of it- Ride the Aiguille du Midi first thing, before the cloud
- Look at Mont Blanc from Brévent rather than from under it
- Take the rack railway to the Mer de Glace
- Book a guide before thinking about the Vallée Blanche
- Eat in Argentière instead of on the mountain
Chamonix travel tipsthe general rules
Currency budget France
ExpensiveEuro, and cards are taken everywhere on the mountain — lift passes, huts, ski hire. Cash is still worth having for the smallest mountain restaurants, the village bakery and the car park machines. Never change money at the resort exchange desks, whose rate is built for people who have just landed.
ATMs & cards
Use a bank’s own machine in the valley town rather than the ones in the resort centre, which are usually independent and charge for the privilege. Always decline the conversion. Draw before going up: several villages have one machine and it empties over a holiday weekend.
Avoid these
- Euronet
- the independent machines in the resort centre
Use these instead
- Sparkasse
- Raiffeisen
- Crédit Agricole
- Intesa Sanpaolo
Decline the conversion. Draw in the valley town rather than in the resort, where several villages have one machine and it empties over a holiday weekend.
Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.
Safety all of France
Very safeThe town is very comfortable at any hour. The mountain is not a resort mountain: Chamonix’s off-piste is glaciated, crevassed and reached from lifts without any transition, and people die here every season who would have been fine in a ski area built for skiing. Off the marked runs, go with a guide or do not go.
Where to walk, and where to pay attention (5 areas)
Comfortable, including after dark
Worth more attention
- anything off the marked pistes — the terrain here is glaciated and crevassed straight off the lifts
- the Aiguille du Midi without acclimatising — you go from 1,000 to 3,842 metres in twenty minutes and altitude sickness is routine
Our own assessment, not a sourced index.
Entry & visa France visa rules
No visa needed
Freedom of movement — no time limit, and no visa. Bring a passport or national ID card.
Other passports
No visa neededup to 90 days
90 days within any 180-day period, counted across the whole Schengen area, not per country. ETIAS, a paid online authorisation, is being introduced for these passports — check the official link for whether it applies to your travel dates.
Visa required in advance€90 (Schengen short-stay visa)
A Schengen short-stay visa is applied for before travel, at the consulate of your main destination.
How to get it: Apply at the consulate or visa centre of the country you will spend most time in, typically 15 working days ahead and no more than six months before travel.
Entry rules change often and depend on your passport, not where you live — the official page above is the authority, and the airline checks before you board.
Health & emergencies all of France
Excellent and cheapRequired to enter
No vaccinations are required for entry from Europe or North America.
Jabs worth having, and what happens if you need a doctor
Worth having
- Routine vaccinations up to date
Getting treated
EU/EEA and Swiss visitors are treated on the same terms as residents with an EHIC or GHIC card; UK visitors use a GHIC. Everyone else pays, and travel insurance is worth having for the repatriation cover rather than the treatment.
Orientation, not medical advice — entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history. Check with a travel clinic four to six weeks before you go.
Food tip
Very goodSavoyard and unapologetic: fondue, raclette, tartiflette with reblochon, and croziflette, which is the same idea with buckwheat pasta. The mountain restaurants above the town are dearer than the ones in it, and the ones in Argentière, ten minutes up the valley, are cheaper than both.
Nightlife
A real après scene rather than a polite one, and it starts at four in the afternoon at the bottom of the runs and moves into town.
- Rue des Moulins — the strip of bars the town actually drinks in
- Chamonix Sud — the cheaper, younger end near the seasonal workers
Closing: Around 02:00 in season.
Getting around
Easy- UberWorks here
- BoltWorks here
- G7Works here
- FREE NOWWorks here
G7 the taxi fleet, by app
- Against a taxi
- Much the same. The flat airport rate is a taxi rule and the apps price against it.
Time zone and your working day
Europe/Paris — 6 hours ahead of you
2 hours of overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are — 09:00–11:00 your time, 15:00–17:00 theirs.
No overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are. Working from here means one of you keeps odd hours — their day starts at 03:00 on your clock.
office hours both at once night
Their 09:00–17:00 is 03:00–11:00 on yours.
The difference from the UK, Europe, the US and ten more
Worked out against America/New York, which is where this request looks like it came from.
Getting online
Getting online: Airalo or Holafly — a data eSIM for France, installed before you fly and working the moment you land.
Source: Ookla Speedtest Global Index · measured June 2026
Must-see
Nearby day trips
Say a few words
French
- HelloBonjourbon-ZHOOR
- PleaseS'il vous plaîtseel voo PLEH
- Thank youMercimer-SEE
- Yes / NoOui / Nonwee / non
4 more phrases
- Excuse meExcusez-moiex-koo-zay MWA
- How much is it?C'est combien ?say com-BYEN
- The bill, pleaseL'addition, s'il vous plaîtla-dee-SYON
- Cheers!Santé !son-TAY
Open with bonjour before anything else. Launching straight into a question without it reads as rude, and explains a lot of reputed French coldness.
Religion
Catholic, and strictly secular
Laïcité is a constitutional principle: religion is kept out of public institutions, and conspicuous religious symbols are banned in state schools. Cover shoulders in cathedrals.
Do's and don'ts
Do
- Say bonjour before anything else, every single time you enter a shop
- Keep your voice down in restaurants and on public transport
- Keep both hands visible on the table while eating, wrists on the edge
- Dress a notch smarter than you would at home — it changes how you are treated
Don't
- Do not ask for a doggy bag or substitutions; the dish arrives as the kitchen intends
- Do not start with English without at least attempting bonjour, parlez-vous anglais
- Do not tip more than rounding up — service is included by law
- Do not eat while walking; it reads as slightly uncivilised
Where to stay in Chamonix
No Holistay rentals in Chamonix yet — the platform is just opening up. Every listing here will have a video tour and the option to negotiate the nightly price directly with the host.
In the meantime, here is Chamonix on the sites that do have the inventory — each search is already filled in:
- Booking.com hotels, guesthouses and apartments — the widest coverage almost everywhere
- Airbnb whole homes and apartments, and the better option for a week or more
How to get there
Fly into Geneva GVA
1h 15mfrom the airport· 88 km as the crow flies
1h 15 by shared shuttle or private transfer.
Also worth pricing: Lyon Saint-Exupéry LYS — three hours by road, and useful when Geneva is dear.
Google Flights · Rome2Rio for the trains, buses and ferries as well as the flights
