Things to do in Chamonix: a town first, a ski resort second
A great deal, because Chamonix is a town before it is a ski resort, and plenty of it is free: twenty marked snowshoe routes, sledging a flat walk from the centre, and the Mont Blanc Express, free with the guest card. For anyone not skiing, the Aiguille du Midi is the one to do, and the sports centre covers a bad day.
Chamonix was a town long before it was a ski resort, and off the skis that is its great advantage. People live here all year, so a non skier, a grandparent or a child tired of ski school has a real town to spend the day in, and can still meet the skiers for lunch.
Start with what is free, because there is a lot of it. The twenty snowshoe routes are the best documented walking we have found, with the distance, time and climb published for each. Bois du Bouchet is the sledging to head for, a flat walk from town. The best tip for a non skier is the Mont Blanc Express: the guest card your accommodation gives you on arrival covers the whole SNCF line between Servoz and Vallorcine, so ride up to Argentiere, walk, and ride back.
For anyone not skiing, the Aiguille du Midi is the one to do: two cable cars from the middle of town to 3,842 metres, and at the top a glass box to stand in over a thousand metre drop, included in the ticket. It is not for the under fives, and the box may not open in crowds or bad weather, so go on the first clear day. If the weather shuts the top, the Centre Sportif Richard Bozon is five minutes on foot, with pools, a long waterslide, an Olympic ice rink and a climbing wall, and Cinema Vox shows films in their original language.
For the one who wants more, ice climbing on the frozen waterfalls is a Chamonix speciality, taught by guides who are on the ice all winter, and the huskies are priced with families in mind. The evenings are the town itself, and the thermal spa on its edge is the gentle end to a hard day. Book the dogs and the climbing early in the week.
Free, and worth knowing
Five things that cost nothing, from twenty snowshoe routes with their times published to sledging a flat walk from town, and the train, the best tip for a non skier.
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.
Two need a lift. The Montenvers loops are two kilometres and an hour round from the top of the train, and Les Posettes above Vallorcine is short at 1.2 km but graded hard and takes an hour and a half.
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 line runs from Saint Gervais Le Fayet through to Martigny in Switzerland and connects to the TGV at the bottom.
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.
Champs du Savoy, Chamonix centre
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.
On the mountain
The cable car a lot of people come for without skis, huskies for a family, and frozen waterfalls with people who climb them for a living.
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 · 100 Place de l'Aiguille du Midi, Chamonix
Dog sledding
The valley's husky operation, running from mid December through to the middle of April, with prices that work sensibly for families rather than punishing them. One adult and one child is 170 euros, two adults and two children is 290.
Over 50 euros
Ice climbing
Frozen waterfall climbing with the guides company, in groups of one to four, half day or full day. This is a Chamonix speciality rather than a resort add on, and the people teaching it do it for a living all winter.
Over 50 euros
In the village
A sports centre five minutes from the middle of town, films in their original language, and a thermal spa that stays open into the evening.
Centre Sportif Richard Bozon
The town's sports centre, and it is genuinely large. A leisure pool and a twenty five metre pool with massage jets, a jacuzzi, rapids and a hundred and thirty metre waterslide. Alongside them a full size Olympic ice rink, sixty metres by thirty with seventeen hundred seats, a climbing wall and a fitness room.
Under 20 euros · 214 avenue de la Plage, Chamonix
Cinema Vox
Three screens in the middle of town, open every day, and the reason to know about it is that it shows films in their original language with subtitles. For an English speaking guest on a wet afternoon that is the difference between a cinema and a cinema you can actually use.
Under 20 euros · 22 cour Bartavel, Chamonix
The spas
The largest is a purpose built thermal spa on the edge of Chamonix with a full wellness circuit, open until ten most nights and eleven at weekends, with a robe, towel and slippers included and an evening aperitif. There are four hotel spas alongside it.
Price on request · Promenade du Fori, Chamonix
These are our own picks, not paid placements. Prices and opening times change, so it is always worth checking before you set off.