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A season in Chamonix is different from in other resorts, because it’s not really a resort at all: it is a town that happens to be at the foot of Mont Blanc, Western Europe's highest peak, itself nestled in among many of the next highest. Of course Chamonix didn't really 'happen' to be at the foot of Mont Blanc any more than New York happened to prosper at the mouth of the East Coast's best harbour or the Egyptian civilisation happened to grow upon the banks of the Nile - it is because of the geography that Chamonix is there.
Bars
and Clubs
The suaver side of Chamonix is noticeably on the rise, specialist concierge companies are springing up all around. Even Fresh Traxxx, which used to cater to the dreadlocked backpacker, has moved into corporate hospitality. The Cham Jam, a grungy music and snow-sports festival, has sadly gone and its founder has started the opulent Hip Chalets. The Arbate, which used to host Deluded, a famously hedonistic club night, has been converted into uber-luxurious apartments. But the metamorphosis is perhaps best highlighted by the arrival of The_Clubhouse, a boutique hotel and member's bar, sister to Milk and Honey of London and New York. Think dark wood, and leaded chrome, leather arm chairs, noisy fires, exquisite cocktails and thousand pound smiles.
Fear not though, Chamonix still has plenty of down to earth establishments. In many resorts you can crawl through the bars in a night, Chamonix has so many that it would be remarkable if anyone could lay claim to having had a beer in every bar in the valley at all: indeed, consider that a challenge.
Here are a few of the current favourite hostelries:
Monkey – Chamonix Sud is now more than ever the best place to live in Chamonix and the awesome
Monkey bar is leading the way in making it the best place to go out as well.
Munster – named for the part of Ireland not the overqualified on the undead front TV family. A good old-fashioned ‘sit at the bar and get drunk’ kind of a place.
The Jekyll – Another Irish bar and a local legend, live bands, good food and even stand up comedy.
La Terrasse - Cheap pitchers at Happy Hour, must be the most beautiful bar in the Alps, sinuous art nouveau curves, right by the River Arve with a view straight onto Mont Blanc.
Le Choucas – Expensive and hard to get served, but open until 4am, what are you gonna do?
Le Lapin Agile – named for one of Toulouse Lautrec’s favourite Mont Matre haunts, a great little wine bar.
The Pub - British feel with regular bands and friendly staff, biggest screen for sports.
Bar d'Up - Great pub on the Rue des Moulins, crazily good happy hour deals.
Le Vagabond - Cheap drinks and fireside comfort, a great backpackers hostel as well; plus a good place to make friends, because chatting to strangers is positively encouraged.
The Office - in Argentiere, great drinks, lively atmosphere and fine food.
The Garage – A proper old school night club: mirrored pillars, lots of chrome and leather, intimidating door staff. And it makes no condescension to political correctness with regular ‘lingerie shows’ and the occasional topless female dj. Weirdly though, it remains pretty excellent in spite of all this. Or perhaps because of it.
La Cantina - Tequila & marguarita and dark & dingy are the mottos of the Cantina Club. The clientele are French but friendly, and the music goes on long into the night.
South Bar - Frenetic Swedish-run bar, après ski bands of varying quality, but always good eye candy.
Elevation 1904 is a great place for a mix of French and Brits, opposite the station.
Chambre Neuf, is another Swedish run party spot, après always goes off big and it’s famous for its fine 241 cocktails before 10:00.
Le Derapage, retro bar discretely located in the town centre; famous with locals and regular visitors as a great meeting place with live music,sky sports, quizzes, and food. You may even meet the author of 'Cham' (and this resort guide) there too!
MBC, Canadian run micro brewery on the road out of town to Flegere, great bands.
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Skiing
The skiing in Chamonix is still tattooed – in the popular consciousness- with the words ‘strictly for the hard core’: fat Faction skis; Forcefield body armour; full-face helmets. And, as with many stereotypes, there is an element of truth in this: certainly while the off-piste potential is almost limitless, it would rank as one of the worst resorts in France in which to learn to ski, you cannot alter the shape of the mountains, and in Cham their sides are steep.
Off-piste*
While Brevent, Flegere and Le Tour also have some great options, you can't go wrong with Grand Montets.
Try some of these:
Italian Bowl - Take Telesiege de la Herse, cut left at the top and follow the cliff face. It opens out into a superb pitch where the snow holds up well.
Canadian Bowl -Take the Bochard bubble, cut back under the lift and traverse. Drop down, aiming for the peak to the left of the bubble, keeping your speed up as you'll need to go uphill. You can get into the bowl on the right or left of the peak.
Combe de la Pendant - Bochard to the top, drop past the kit-on area and traverse high to your left. Again your options are limitless here. Just enjoy!
Pas de Chevre - Dropping down from the top of Grands Montets onto the Vallee Blanche, four long, steep couloirs. From right to left, and in increasing order of steepness: Le Pas de Chevre, Couloir Centrale, Couloir Rectiligne and, strictly for the hardcore, Couloir des Drus.
Plus of course, there is the world famous Vallée Blanche – the reason many people come to Chamonix in the first place. This is the highest lift accessed skiing in Europe, over extremely heavily crevassed glaciers; so unless you are a genuinely skilled ski mountaineer, you should take a guide. But don't go for the bog-standard package - this is strictly for punters and picnics and a surprisingly easy ski. Take the 'Vraie Vallée', 'Envers du Plan' or ‘Col du Plan’ option. And do do it!
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Moguls
Pylones - left off the La Herse Chair and come back down parallel to the lift.
Les Coqs - Left off the Roujon chair and follow it down. Location of the infamous Boss_des_Bosses bumps competition.
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Speed
Chamonix has some huge vertical descents, enough to get the strongest legs begging for mercy:
Grands Montets to Argentiere – 2023 meters vertical
Tete de Balme to Le Tour – 1308 meters vertical
Brevent to Chamonix – 1400 meters vertical
Or head down to Les Houches and ski down the Kandahar run, where the world cup is held every year. And while you’re doing it, remember that at those same points where you’re thinking ‘I’d better put a turn in here’ the racers are thinking ‘here’s where I can pick up a bit more speed’.
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Snowparks
Not before time, the Compagnie du Mont Blanc has caught up with the rest of the world and started building and grooming a decent park up at Grands Montets; and Les Houches usually makes a bit of an effort too. But Chamonix remains more famous for its amazing natural terrain, and jibbers will also find plenty of kicks and kickers up at Flegere and Le Tour Back
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Events
Chamonix held the inaugural Winter Olympics in 1924 and it still host the Skiing World Cup every year. Now moved to the end of January The_Kandahar is held on the somewhat ironically named Vertes des Houches piste – since it is anything but a green run.
Every year around the middle of March The Boss_des_Bosses , the longest running season workers' competition in the Alps, is held up at Grands Montets. Its roots go back to a gauntlet — doubtless luminous — flung at a Val d'Isere fop who impudently suggested that Val's skiers were better than Chamonix's. A team bumps and jumps competition settled the matter in Chamonix's favour — "bosses" being French for bumps. Seventeen years later, the competition is still moving from strength to strength. Most of those original competitors — once hard-drinking, powder-skiing, all-in-one wearing, bums for life — are likely living in suburbia, worrying about house prices and saving money for their off-springs' university fees, but the inter resort rivalry lives on. Teams and coach loads of supporters arrive for the day from Val d'Isere, Meribel, Courchevel, Zermatt and Val Thorens for what is unequivocally the best on-slope party of the winter.
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Famous
visitors
The ice-driving track attracts Nigel Mansell and Jean Alesi on promotional tours. Pierce Brosnan has been to film, for ‘The World Is Not Enough’; as have many of the world’s top extreme skiers and boarders including Scott Schmidt, Glenn Plake and Mike Hattrup, for that Chamonix classic ‘The Blizzard of Aaahs’. Glenn still comes back most years for a visit. Aurelien DuCroz is one of many world class athletes who grew up in Cham and the town is always full of top riders, climbers and mountaineers. JK of Jamiroquai is said to have a pad and even boozy welsh songstress Charlotte Church and her egg chasing other half Gareth don’t mind arguing in the valley, when out of the valleys.
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Unusual activity
Winter paint ball. The soft liquid centres solidify in the cold and those babies sting so much you'll think you've inadvertently stumbled on to the Russian front. A snow covered forest and a fresher fear of getting shot definitely adds to the atmosphere.
Away
Days
You may wonder why would you want to go anywhere
with the variety on offer, but like most resorts Chamonix
can feel claustrophobic after some time. The imposing
mountains on either side of the valley can keep it pretty
dark in mid-winter, so for daylight, just drop down
the valley. In one direction is Geneva
and Annecy, both not much more than an hour away thanks
to the 'Autoroute Blanche'. Drive over the Col
de la Forclaz and you can be in Switzerland in 20 minutes,
Martigny in less than an hour. If the tunnel is
open, a trip to Courmayeur and a different view of Monte
Bianco is a great day out.
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Shopping
The town is flat and relatively ice-free - making for pleasant strolling - filled with coffee shops, museums and beautiful old buildings. And, by ski resort standards, Chamonix is a shopper's paradise. Everyone who’s anyone has a flagship store on Rue Docteur Paccard including Billabong; Patagonia; Peak Performance; Quiksilver; Napapijri; Millet; Helly Hansen; La Coste and Channel.
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Internet
Cafés
Mojo’s sandwich bar has some terminals as do quite a few of the bars. There is also free wifi access in an increasingly large number of places, including Monkey, McDonalds, Munster, le Lapin Agile, Grand Central Coffee and the tourist office.
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Eating Out
On those occasions when you need to get away from the kitchen, you can still get good value for money about the resort:
Snack food - Midnight Express, Mojo’s, and Pizza Hop are all pretty good, but Beluga is a local legend, with its ingenious culinary combinations in big toasted cobs. Ask for a free sticker, put it on your planks and you’re an instant Chamoniard.
Low budget - try Le Caveau, on Rue Dr Paccard, through a small door that descends underground into an ancient cattle cellar — great value.
Classy - Le Panier des Quatre Saisons. It's in the back of the Galerie Blanc Neige shopping centre, unremarkable looking but with amazing food. For my money, and many agree with me, it's better than the two Michelin starred Albert 1er, and without the fuss.
Savoyarde – For traditional food try the Nationale. It is good value for money and does the best pierrade (meats cooked on a hot stone) in town, but all of the specialities are excellent. 0450 53 02 23.
Sunday Roast - Monkey – They’re not chimps in the kitchen generally, but the Sunday roast is particularly good value and authentically delicious.
Pizza – Le Pitz, rather an unfortunate name but very tasty pizzas cooked in front of you and much more. Rue Whymper 0450 53 05 08.
Les Houches - La Delice – really top notch nosh, worth a trip down even if you’re not staying there 0450 9152 06
Argentiere – Rusticana - unusual fusion food in a great atmosphere. It’s also a wicked bar, where the Argentiere cool kids hang out. Known as Rusty’s to its many friends.
Also highly recommended are:
The Jekyll - well-priced and tasty high-end pub grub.
Munchies – Scandie restaurant with asian themed food.
Le Tetras - French atmosphere at a good price.
Casa Valeria – perennial locals favourite.
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Mountain
Restos
Most of the mountain restaurants are owned by the lift company, and it has to be said that they are not a reason to come to Chamonix in themselves; unless surly service and over-priced bland food are your particular favourites. However, down in Les Houches they are still independent and there are some real gems: La Vieille Luge and Le Cha are both worthy of mention, but the real winner is the Argentine run La Tanière; sexy waitresses in leather aprons, South American wine and chunky tender Argentinean steaks. Well hidden, below the side of the Plan du Croz piste.
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McDonalds
The famous Golden Arches are now in Chamonix, just down from the station. Though strangely, having them on your doorstep makes them much easier to resist. Abstinence makes the heart grow healthier!
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Shopping
Day
For your every day needs Spar in Cham Sud does the job. Super U in Les Houches is a bit of a step up in scale and value. But down the valley there are lots of genuine hypermarkets with flat screen TVs and mountain bikes scattered liberally among the cut price veg and oven chips. Carrefour in Sallanches is writer’s own choice; but Intermarché is probably slightly cheaper, if you don’t mind queuing for the checkouts and chilling with Gallic pikeys.
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Transfer
Day
Apart from the threat of too much snow, when the road in is prone to closure, Transfers to Chamonix are sweet - almost certainly the best in the Alps - it's actually dual carriageway all the way to resort itself. And since that road also services the Mont Blanc tunnel, the main route from France to Italy, there have to be gargantuan falls of snow for it to be closed – if there are, you’ll be too excited to mind much. Although your properties may be spread across town and even up to Argentière, which can cause delays and Billy irritations, it’s nothing compared to what most resorts suffer.
Transfers are almost exclusively to Geneva where you should take advantage of the 'staff only' restaurant in the charter terminal. This is a great place to gossip with other reps, you can get reasonable priced food AND the Billys can't get in there. You also get a good view of the punters being delivered by bus to the baggage lounge. This means you can maximise your 'sitting in the warmth' time and only go 'front of house' when it's absolutely necessary.
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Après-ski
Events
Chamonix can be a great resort for earning après-ski. Two sure fire winners that punters will love are the Vallée Blanche and a Courmayeur day out. Both of these are easy to sell and can give you a decent return, particularly if you link up with other operators for the bus to Courmayeur.
Other options include the ever successful pub crawl, of which there are numerous routes and so many bars that it is definitely an ideal market for striking deals. Similarly with the 'traditional meal' out.
You should also be aware of opportunities for booking guides - many of your guests will want to explore the mountain further - whether you earn commission or not, it's good to get in with the guides - you never know when they might invite you to join them!
Dream Guides, Icicle and Evolution2 are the best guiding companies.
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Living
If you end up living in Pelerins, Tines, Bossons, Praz or any of the outskirt areas of Chamonix, your social life will really suffer and you won’t get the most out of living in such an amazing place. Avoid them if at all possible; the prices are cheap for a reason. And be wary of places that advertise ‘ten minutes walk to town’; they often mean it’s ten minutes walk to the bit where the street lights begin, which may still be another twenty minutes from any action.
The Chamonix Sud apartment village - or ‘The Ghetto’ as it is jokingly but fondly known locally - may look slightly unappealing externally, but it offers by far the best possibilities: you live in town, without paying through the nose, and among loads of like minded workers; plus you are right on the doorstep of the Aiguille de Midi lift and the main bus station for all ski and town buses.
Alternatively, if nightlife is not your priority, the more rustic feel and quick slope access that Les Houches and Argentiere offer might be worth considering.
A car is very useful wherever you are, but particularly so if you are out in the wilds, as buses are eratic at best away from the main ski routes and peak times. Be warned though, in recent years the Gendarmerie has really come down really hard on drink driving; they make regular but unpredictable total road blocks at night and the French legal alcohol limit is lower even than in the UK.
For great value weekly/weekend self catered accommodation from budget apartments to luxury chalets in Chamonix town centre and Argentiere.
For apartments and larger properties available, visit Chamserve or call 0845 868 2006
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Away Days
The valley floor is so low, 1000m, and the mountains so high, Mont Blanc is almost 5000m, that the true scale of the peaks is for once appreciable in Chamonix. Resorts on high alpine meadows or perched upon the mountains themselves will never overwhelm in the same way. You can never relish your insignificance like you do in Cham. To feel, as Shelley did, like you "never knew… never imagined - what mountains were before." But the flip side is that, especially in the heart of winter, the valley can feel pretty dark, and even with the variety on offer, you might well fancy a day trip.
Luckily this is easily accomplished and to some other top spots:
In one direction lie Geneva and Annecy, both not much more than an hour away thanks to the 'Autoroute Blanche'. Drive over the Col de la Forclaz and you can be in Switzerland in 20 minutes, the Roman town of Martigny in 45. Through the tunnel it’s only fifteen minutes for a ski in Courmayeur, a different view of Monte Bianco, and a genuine Italian meal.
You should also get some away days on your lift pass: three days in Verbier, which is just over an hour away; three days in the Aosta Valley in Italy, just through the tunnel and keep on past Courmayeur (which is included if you have the ‘Mont Blanc Unlimited’ lift pass); and three days in a big variety of other Haute Savoie stations, including Morzine, Flaine, Avoriaz, Megeve and Les Contamines, among many others. Make use of them, they’ll all be making use of Chamonix come the end of the season when they have no snow left.
MyNatives
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If you’re thinking of doing a season in Chamonix then check out MyNatives to see who else has worked there and what advice they may be able to offer. Why not join yourself and tell us about your season, in a blog, or post some photos in our Gallery.
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[Thanks to Jonathan Trigell for updating the resort guide to Chamonix. Jon, formerly natives Events Manager, provides more interesting insights into life in Chamonix in his
new book 'Cham'. You can purchase a copy here]
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