Tour du Mont-Blanc: Stages, Huts, Bookings and Budget for the TMB

Six in the evening at a hut above the Val Ferret: boots drying in the entryway, a long table filling up, hikers comparing notes on tomorrow’s pass. On the Tour du Mont-Blanc, that’s how most days end, as long as the bed was booked. In TMB huts, dinner usually comes around 6:30 or 7 p.m. and lights go out around 10 [1]. Everything before that, from the booking to the bus, is what this guide is about.

The TMB at a glance: 110 miles, three countries

The Tour du Mont-Blanc loops around the Mont Blanc massif through France, Italy and Switzerland: about 110 miles (170 km) and roughly 33,000 feet (10,000 m) of total climbing, topping out around 8,500 feet (2,600 m) on the classic route, according to the cross-border Espace Mont-Blanc website [2]. The official TMB website counts 10 to 11 stages, each a day’s walk of 6 to 12 miles (10 to 20 km), with climbs that can top 3,300 feet (1,000 m) [3]. No mountaineering gear is needed: the trails are well marked [1].

Most people walk it counterclockwise, the most common and best-marked direction; going clockwise can make it easier to find beds if your dates are fixed [1]. The classic start is Les Houches, near Chamonix, but you can also begin in Courmayeur, Les Contamines, Champex, Trient or several other villages [2].

Follow the green TMB logo, round or square, which runs the whole loop next to the local markings: red and white in France, yellow in Italy, and in Switzerland yellow or white-red-white, the latter for mountain trails that can include exposed or technical sections [3].

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The route, section by section

Here is the classic counterclockwise loop as the Espace Mont-Blanc describes it, in seven sections. They are not days: where each day ends depends on the beds you manage to book [2].

One stretch has no phone signal at all: the official site warns that the main dead zone runs from the Pont Romain in Les Contamines to Lac Combal, through the Chapieux valley and over the Col de la Seigne. Let people at home know you may be out of touch for a day or more [4].

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Booking the huts: summer 2027 is already open

Bookings for summer 2027 opened on October 15, 2026, for all the huts in the hut keepers’ association, the Association des Gardiens de Refuges du Tour du Mont-Blanc, on the official TMB website. The site strongly recommends booking ahead, and calls it essential in high season: the most popular huts are often full several months out [1].

The steps: create an account, choose a date, a starting point, the type of lodging and the number of hikers, compare availability, then pay a deposit. You can change your dates from your account up to 30 days before arrival; after that, you deal with the hut directly [1]. Huts outside the association, founded in 2011, can’t be booked on the site, so contact them on your own [1] [5].

Huts run on a schedule: arrivals between 4 and 6 p.m., dinner around 6:30 or 7, lights out around 10, and early starts. The official site suggests arriving at least an hour before dinner. For a dorm, a sleeping bag liner, earplugs and a towel will be your friends [1]. Our guide to staying in a mountain hut covers the house rules.

What the TMB costs

For a hiker booking huts directly, the official site puts a night in a dorm with half board, meaning dinner and breakfast, at about €65 to €95, and lodging for a 7- to 10-day trek at €500 to €900 [1]. Lunches, drinks, buses and lifts come on top. The site also recommends adding mountain rescue insurance, including helicopter costs, to the cancellation cover offered at booking [6].

Getting there from Geneva

Geneva Airport is the nearest major airport, 55 miles (88 km) from Chamonix, according to the Chamonix tourist office. FlixBus runs daily between the airport and Chamonix, and airport shuttles can be booked online. By rail, the Léman Express links Geneva Airport to Saint-Gervais-Le Fayet station, where the Mont-Blanc Express continues up the valley; from Geneva’s main station, Cornavin, Chamonix is about 2 hours 40 minutes away by train [7].

The loop itself is well served. Chamonix, Les Houches, Courmayeur, Bourg-Saint-Maurice and Champex are the main access points by train or bus, a bus links Chamonix to Courmayeur through the Mont Blanc Tunnel, and Swiss buses and trains serve La Fouly and Champex. Public transport can also be your way off the trail after an injury. One catch: dogs aren’t allowed on the Les Chapieux shuttles [4].

When to go

The season runs from mid-June to mid-September, when the passes are clear of snow and the huts are open [1]. Each month gives a different trip [4].

Fitness, gear and who it suits

The TMB takes no technical skills, but it does take endurance: 5 to 8 hours of walking a day, several days in a row, with a pass to climb and descend almost every day. The official site recommends training with a pack of 18 to 22 pounds (8 to 10 kg) [1]. On the trail, aim for a 35- to 45-liter pack weighing no more than 18 to 26 pounds (8 to 12 kg), broken-in boots, a waterproof jacket, a three-layer clothing system and trekking poles [4].

• 7 days: for athletic, experienced hikers comfortable with long, demanding stages [4].
• 9 to 10 days: the most popular format, with stages of 9 to 12 miles (15 to 20 km) and time to enjoy the huts [4].
• 11 to 12 days: shorter stages, time for photos, panoramas and variants [4].
• With kids: over age 10, on a 10- to 12-day itinerary with family-friendly huts; the official site advises against bringing a baby [1].

Dogs are possible but complicated: check that each hut accepts them, bring their food, and know that nature reserves on the route ban them, that lifts and some shuttles don’t take them, and that you’ll pass large flocks of sheep watched by guard dogs [1]. To plan your daily hours, see our guide to estimating hiking time.

Can you camp on the TMB?

Only in specific places. The official site says bivouacking is generally allowed only close to certain partner huts and at set hours [1], and every country, town and nature reserve on the route has its own rules [8]:

• Italy, Aosta Valley: all camping is banned, even for less than 24 hours, and bivouacking is banned below 8,200 feet (2,500 m), which covers almost all of the TMB’s Italian section [9].
• Switzerland: wild camping is generally banned, except for a single night, not in a group and above the tree line, or in an emergency; the Valais towns on the route ban it or limit it to campgrounds and designated rest areas [9].
• France: Chamonix bans camping outside campgrounds and allows only high-altitude bivouacs from sunset to sunrise, with outright bans at spots such as Lac Blanc; in the Les Contamines-Montjoie and Aiguilles Rouges nature reserves, you must reserve a spot on a designated area [9] [8].

Rules change, so check them before each night. For the French side, our guide to bivouac rules in France explains the national law. For the Italian side, see our guide to backcountry camping in Italy, region by region.

Gallery: the TMB in six landscapes

Six real photos of the trail and its surroundings, following the loop from Les Houches, published under free licenses on Wikimedia Commons by their photographers, who are credited under each image. Tap or click a photo to enlarge it.

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Worth watching

Trailblazer guidebook author Jim Manthorpe breaks down the TMB stage by stage, with maps, from Les Houches through Courmayeur, La Fouly, and Champex, so you can picture each day on the trail.

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Guillaume Hoarau

Camping, backpacking, bushcraft and hiking

Guillaume Hoarau writes for Outfarer about camping, backpacking, bushcraft, and hiking. A survival-skills buff and a collector of vintage field manuals, he loves clear explanations, lists that actually help and other people’s stories, which he tells well.

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