A circular route — you start and finish in the same area — around the Mont Blanc massif, the highest mountain in the Western Alps. It passes through France, Italy and Switzerland in a single sequence, and its roughly 170 kilometres are usually covered in seven to eleven days.
In three places on the route the guides disagree with one another. Instead of picking one number, we show the range and who said what. Why we don't pick "the right one" ↓
The base route (without variants) is relatively accessible for a first mountain trek: most days fall within 5–6 hours of walking (day 2, to Les Chapieux, is longer: about 7 hours), with developed accommodation and food infrastructure all the way. The variants — Fenêtre d'Arpette, Col des Fours, Lac Blanc and others — are an entirely separate layer, with a significantly different level of risk and technique from the standard route.
A professional mountain guide we found in the sources (Robin, Altimood) put it exactly: the decision between the standard route and the hard variant depends on that day's weather and fitness — not on a fixed experience certificate.
A hiker who did the route with his family in 2023, Angelo Gianni, describes exactly what happens when you get wrong advice and enter a hard variant (Col des Fours) in unsuitable gear in snow conditions — "one of the scariest things I've ever been part of". The full story is in the chapter What hikers say.
A circular route around the Mont Blanc massif, the highest mountain in the Alps — through France, Italy and Switzerland in a single sequence. Unlike the Alta Via 1 or Carros de Foc, Mont Blanc has no fixed official split into "days" — it is usually marketed as a trip of seven, ten or eleven walking days, depending on pace.
Along the route there are more than 110 accommodation options — classic mountain huts, but also rural guesthouses, village hotels and private lodging. There is no single booking provider: some are booked through major platforms, and many only through their own website, phone or email.
In three places on the route the guides don't agree with each other. Instead of picking one number and presenting it as fact, we show the full range and who said what — so you can plan by your own pace and not by our assumption.
Three independent guides measured the same section and got three answers. That is not a sign that anyone was wrong — it is the real gap between a fast walker and a careful one on a technical section. Plan by the upper end if you are unsure.
Here it is not a question of measurement but of assessment, and two official commercial sources disagree head-on. What tips the balance: hikers who actually went through there describe it as hard and snow-dependent. That is why we show the stricter version as the default.
A second source gives a much wider range, which was probably measured between different start and end points. We chose the more detailed source as the figure we show, and kept the other as context rather than deleting it.
Our rule: every day in the plan rests on a measured section with a source. When sources disagree, we show the range and explain which figure we chose and why.
This is the plan we built ourselves, from sources we checked one by one. It is at a balanced pace. Seven-day and eleven-day versions are also common: the first joins days, the second splits the long ones.
You go up by the Bellevue cable car from Les Houches and continue via Col de Tricot, as in TMB Guide's plan. The time and ascent are measured from the upper station — without the cable car the day is much longer.
Refuge de la Croix du Bonhomme is closed for renovation from 17.8.2026 until summer 2029, so the overnight stop on this day is in the village of Les Chapieux, as in TMB Guide's ten-day plan. In the morning there is a short shuttle to Notre-Dame de la Gorge, and the roughly 7 hours of walking are measured from there: you climb to the pass by the closed hut and descend to the village.
You cross into Italy via Col de la Seigne. In summer there is a public shuttle from Les Chapieux to Ville des Glaciers, which shortens the start of the day.
A cable car to the Glacier Valley, hot springs, and the option of a short day trip to Mont Chétif.
In the morning you take a seasonal bus from Courmayeur to the end of Val Ferret (Arnouvaz). The time and ascent are for the walk from there to La Fouly via Grand Col Ferret (2,537 m), the high point of the classic route. Rifugio Bonatti is not on this route.
The standard route goes via Col de Bovine. This day also has a harder variant, in the chapter The variants.
Via Aiguillette des Posettes — the current official route.
Includes a secured ladder section of about half an hour, and there is a bypass for those who don't want it. From La Flégère you descend by cable car to Chamonix, and here our plan ends. The full circle continues for one more day, via Col du Brévent, to Les Houches.
Important to know: our plan does not close the circle on foot — it ends in Chamonix, a day before Les Houches. On day 2 you sleep in Les Chapieux because Bonhomme is closed until 2029. On days 1, 2 and 6 part of the way is done by cable car, shuttle or bus, and this is written on each day. All the figures are measured sections.
A variant is a physically different route between the same two points — not "a different pace on the same path". Sometimes it is higher and harder than the standard one, and sometimes it is the lower/easier one.
| Variant | Day | Versus the standard route | Real difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|
| Col de Tricot | 1 (included in our plan) | More scenic and slightly harder than the low route via Col de Voza | Medium — secured cables, a suspension bridge, a steep descent |
| Col des Fours | 2–3 | Ends at Combal, not at Elisabetta | Hard, extremely snow-dependent |
| Fenêtre d'Arpette | 8–9 | Ends at Trient, not at Forclaz | The hardest in the whole column — a boulder field, a descent on ropes |
| Lac Blanc | 10 | An optional detour from the marked route | Medium — 13 ladders, but tourist crowding is the main factor |
An additional historic route (via Col de Balme) was used before an official re-routing — and it is no longer the marked route, so it is not in the table.
Mont Blanc has no single booking provider. We actually checked the booking mechanism of the huts that fill up most — we didn't just search, we visited every page.
| Hut | Day | The actual booking mechanism | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rifugio Bonatti | — (not in the plan) | A booking-request form only — does not guarantee availability | There is no technical availability data to read |
| Refuge de la Croix du Bonhomme | — (closed) | FFCAM's national booking system — a widget focused on this specific hut | Closed for renovation from 17.8.2026 until summer 2029 |
| Rifugio Elisabetta Soldini | 3 | Booking by email or phone, with a deposit by bank transfer. The hut is listed on the CAI platform, but its online booking there is switched off | No online booking |
| Refuge des Mottets | 3 (on the way) | A live availability calendar with a count of places | Real per-date availability |
| Refuge de Nant Borrant | 1–2 (alternative) | A live availability calendar | Real per-date availability |
| Refuge de la Balme | 1–2 (alternative, near Les Contamines) | A live availability calendar | Real per-date availability |
| Refuge du Col de Balme | 9 (alternative, near Trient) | A separate commercial booking engine | Real per-date availability |
| Gîte de la Léchère | 6–7 (alternative) | A live availability calendar | Real per-date availability |
| Cabane du Combal | 2–3 (on the Col des Fours variant) | Phone/email only — the link documented online is dead in practice | No online booking |
A naming trap: there are two huts with similar names — Refuge de la Balme (near Les Contamines) and Refuge du Col de Balme (near Trient) — completely different huts, with two separate booking systems. Even the first one's official website warns not to confuse them.
Users' experiences do not replace official data; they help you understand how the numbers feel on the ground, and how it may feel to the experienced versus the inexperienced. That is why every report here stays attributed to the person who lived it.
Synthesis: no source describes it as "easy" — both an inexperienced hiker and a professional guide agree it is demanding. The difference between experienced and inexperienced here is less "dangerous versus safe" and more "how much it drains energy and confidence" — pack weight and weather matter more than baseline fitness.
Synthesis: more extreme season/snow dependence than any other variant we checked. The difference between experienced and inexperienced is the difference between a "managed adventure" and a "near disaster" — not a nuance.
Synthesis: unusual agreement between qualitative and quantitative sources alike — the variant is better for views, and there are no reports of real safety risk. The gap here is physical-sensory (heat, wind, exposure, sometimes slight dizziness) and mental (fatigue/fear), not technical-dangerous.
Synthesis: the difference between experienced and inexperienced is relatively small compared with the other variants — there is no mountain-background requirement. The factor that determines the quality of the experience is human crowding, not physical ability.
| If... | So... | Why |
|---|---|---|
| There is no room at the Bonhomme hut | First check whether it is open at all for your dates | Completely closed to the public from 17.8.2026 until summer 2029 — not an ordinary availability problem. |
| You want to stay at the Bonatti hut | Send a request early and don't rely on an ordinary "availability check" | There is no real availability calendar — only a request form that does not guarantee a place. |
| You're not sure which variant to choose | Check the weather forecast for that specific day — not a fixed rule of thumb | Col des Fours and Fenêtre d'Arpette depend on snow/weather more than on any other factor. |
| This is your first multi-day trek | The standard route first, and variants only if conditions are good | Even an inexperienced hiker described a positive experience on the hard variants — but only in good conditions and with the right gear. |
| You're planning around Refuge de la Balme / Col de Balme | Make sure which of the two huts you mean | Two completely different huts, two separate booking systems. |
Commercial sources publish about 170 km and about 10,000 m of cumulative climbing for the base 10-walking-day version.
Usually 7, 10 or 11 walking days, depending on pace and the variants chosen. There is no fixed official split.
Bonatti offers only a booking-request form that does not guarantee availability. Bonhomme is completely closed to the public from 17.8.2026 until it reopens in summer 2029 (planned, according to the hut's statement) — not an ordinary booking problem, but a full closure for a long period.
Fenêtre d'Arpette is consistently regarded as the hardest technical section — a boulder field and a steep descent secured with ropes.
Yes, but it is worth choosing the standard route and being conservative about snow/weather — see the summary that appears in each variant above.
Formal information comes before user experiences. Hiker testimony is used to understand the ground, the pace and the surprises — not to replace booking rules or hut services.
This is a planning guide — not a live trail-conditions report and not a substitute for your own judgment in the mountains. Availability, weather, snow, transport, prices and hut services all change. Before you set out, check the day's conditions with the huts and the forecast, and choose a route, variant and equipment that fit your personal experience.
Links to huts and external sources are provided for information and convenience. YourWayTrek does not operate the huts or the transport services and does not control their content or availability.