- The village315m below the median of 1,350m across the 55 resorts we cover.
- 1,035m
- SeasonThe joint longest season in France. Longer than the December to April season that 42 of the 55 resorts we cover run.
- December to May
- Top of the skiing60m above the median of 2,697m across the 55 resorts we cover.
- 2,757m
Is Chamonix right for you?
Chamonix is a proper town rather than a purpose built resort, and it lives and breathes mountains all year round. The village sits at 1,035m and the skiing tops out at 2,757m, and the season runs December to May. On the piste it is a real strength for improvers moving from blue into red and strong skiers.
Chamonix at a glance
- Area
- Mont Blanc
- Best for
- Off piste · Non skiers · Après
- Fly to
- Geneva, Chambéry or Lyon
- Transfer
- About 1h20 by road from Geneva
- Doorstep skiing
- Limited, use lifts
Who Chamonix suits, and who it suits less
Best for
- Off piste. The Grands Montets has big, steep terrain with off piste between the runs, and the Vallée Blanche glacier descent of around 20 kilometres is a classic with a guide.
- Non skiers. A non skier can ride the Aiguille du Midi cable car to 3,842 metres, take the Montenvers railway to the Mer de Glace, then swim or skate in town.
- Après. Chamonix is a real town with a late scene, from quiet wine bars to places that go properly late, and Argentière has its own cluster of bars.
- Groups of friends. Mixed groups can split by day, strong skiers to the Grands Montets and others to Les Houches or Balme, then meet in town for dinner and drinks.
Less good for
- Beginners. First timers can learn at Les Houches or Balme, but the famous runs are for confident skiers and the separate areas mean buses and trains every day.
- Mileage chasers. The ski areas are separate, joined by a free bus and the valley train rather than by lifts, so you cannot clock up big distances in one sweep.
Skiing from 1,035m to 2,757m, village at 1,035m.
Where these heights are
- Lowest skiing
- 1,035mLow point of the valley's ski areas as a group. You cannot ski back to town from the main areas.
- Village
- 1,035m
- Top of the skiing
- 2,757mGrands Montets this winter: top of the open lifts (Bochard), our measurement. The summit lift (about 3,300m) is due back in 2027/28. The Aiguille du Midi (3,842m) has no piste.
- 8km green8%
- 34km blue33%
- 38km red37%
- 23km black22%
We found no official split by colour for Chamonix, so this is our own measurement of the marked runs around it, from the piste map.
- Black piste
- 23km, 22% of the pisteThe third biggest share of black of the 55 resorts we cover.
- Off piste itinerary
- 44kmThe third most of the 55 resorts we cover. Marked routes, not pistes, and never added to the piste figures.
- Ski area
- Chamonix Le Pass, 111.9kmBrévent Flégère, Grands Montets, Balme Vallorcine. Not linked to each other on skis.
- Cross country
- 50km of trails
Sources
- Village height: skisolutions.com
- Village height: chamonix.com
- Lowest skiing: chamonix.com
- Lowest skiing: remontees-mecaniques.net
- Cross country: chamonix.com
- Top of the skiing: our measurement of the highest marked piste
- Piste by colour and the steep end: our measurement of the OpenStreetMap piste map
The published figures were read on 29 October 2026.
103km of graded piste, measured ourselves.
- 42km green and blue41%
- 38km red37%
- 23km black22%
Of the 42km green and blue, 8km is green.
Plus 44km of off-piste itinerary, kept out of the piste total. The longest is Vallée Blanche classique, 7.2km with 1,393m of vertical. It is an itinerary, not a piste.
- First timersFine
- Improvers, blue into redA real strength, on an even spread
- Confident intermediatesFine
- Strong skiersA real strength
The spreadSomething for everyone. It scores 0.97 for evenness, where 1 is a perfect three way split between green and blue, red and black, the second most even spread of the 55 resorts we cover. A mixed group should all find their level here.
Longest pisteNants, 2.9km of black with 504m of vertical.
Measured from the run geometry, Chamonix has 103km of graded piste: 42km green and blue, 38km red and 23km black. We do not print the resort's published kilometres until we have checked what they count.
Chamonix among its French peers
Of these five, Chamonix has the fourth highest village, 1,035m. The median across the 55 resorts we cover is 1,350m.
Know the mountain before you go.
The skiing
The Grands Montets and the Aiguille du Midi serve up steep, serious terrain, while the gentler Brévent and Les Houches areas look after families and improvers. A guide is well worth it here to open up the off piste safely.
The village and the evenings
The town itself is full of life, with bars, restaurants and gear shops that stay busy long after the lifts close. You get a genuine sense of place that few ski resorts can match.
Beyond the skiing.
Free, and worth knowing
Twenty marked snowshoe routes. Twenty routes, and they publish the distance, the time, the ascent and the grade for each one. Les Tines is 2.9 km in an hour and ten with a hundred and fifty metres of climb. The Glacier des Bossons is 5.1 km in an hour and forty five. The Sentier des Cerfs above Les Houches is 3.4 km in an hour and ten.
The Mont Blanc Express, free with the guest card. The single best tip for a non skier in Chamonix. The guest card your accommodation gives you on arrival covers the whole SNCF line between Servoz and Vallorcine, which is every village in the valley. Take the train up to Argentiere or Vallorcine, walk, and take it back. It costs nothing and it runs all winter.
The free carpet at Le Savoy. A beginner area in the middle of Chamonix with a free rolling carpet on it. The two drag lifts beside it are paid, but the carpet itself costs nothing, and it is the only confirmed free lift in the valley.
Five free sledging areas. Tourchet and Prarion above Les Houches, Bois du Bouchet in Chamonix itself, plus areas at Vallorcine and Servoz. Bois du Bouchet is the one to point people at, because it is a flat walk from the middle of town.
The Christmas and winter programme. The tourist office runs a large free programme across all five villages through the season: street shows, Christmas concerts, storytelling for children, a torchlight walk and a market of wooden chalets, with separate events at Les Houches, Servoz, Argentiere and Vallorcine.
A few of the rest
The Aiguille du Midi. Three thousand eight hundred and forty two metres, in two cable car stages from the middle of Chamonix, and it is the reason a lot of people come here without any intention of skiing. At the top there is a glass box you step into with a thousand metres of nothing underneath, and it is included in the site access rather than sold separately. Over 50 euros.
Montenvers and the Mer de Glace. A rack railway out of Chamonix up to 1,913 m above the glacier, and the round trip ticket covers the train, the gondola down to the ice, the ice cave carved into the glacier and the Glaciorium exhibition. All of it is one ticket rather than four. There are also two kilometres of marked snowshoe loops at the top. Over 50 euros.
Le Brevent and La Flegere. The two balcony viewpoints on the sunny side of the valley, both taking pedestrians all winter, and both looking straight across at Mont Blanc. Brevent goes up from the middle of Chamonix in two stages, Flegere from Les Praz. Both are included in the pedestrian package and in the main ski passes. 20 to 50 euros.
These are our own picks, not paid placements. Prices and opening times change, so it is always worth checking before you set off.
19 places we would send you to
Lift access only, and the Mont Blanc panorama is the whole reason to make the trip, which people say holds even on a clouded over day.
Family owned in Argentiere, with a terrace facing the massif, and one family has made Sunday lunch here an annual tradition three years running.
Dead centre of town, big screens, and more bar than restaurant, which is exactly what you want some evenings.
These are our own picks, not paid placements. Opening times and ownership change, so it is always worth checking before you set off.
Getting there
Geneva airport is barely over an hour away, which makes Chamonix one of the easiest transfers in the Alps, and the train also runs right into town.
- Genevaabout 1h20 by road
- Chambéryabout 1h45 by road
- Lyonabout 2h15 by road