Day 1 - Chamonix, France

Start: Chamonix, France - Lykke Hôtel & Spa End: Chamonix-Mont-Blanc, France - Les Écuries de Charamillon Distance: 8.80 miles Elevation Gain: 1,718 feet Elevation Loss: 40 feet Link: Strava data

We started out the trip by flying to Zurich, taking a train to Zermatt (where we spent one night), and then a train to Chamonix the next day, where we stayed one night before starting the hike.

Sheryl standing in a traffic circle with flowers

Grant standing in front of a river and mountains

We had a wonderful dinner at Jeanie, where Sheryl had a vegetable risotto and a fun dessert - Baba à la Chartreuse.

Grant in front of dinner table with risotto

We got started with a coffee run and then began the hike, which was mostly a big uphill. I didn’t take many photos on the hike because it went by pretty quickly, but I did love the wonderful flowers.

Grant in front of hotel with mountains in the background

Grant in front of house covered in red flowers

We made it to Le Tour and decided to stop for lunch and an aperol spritz at Volévo, and then took the gondola up a big hill. I hurt my ankle a few weeks before leaving on this trip, so it was nice to ease into the hike.

View of hiking path a gondola — You can see how much vertical gain we saved by skipping this hill! 😅

We didn’t realize how quickly we’d make it to our first stop at Les Écuries de Charamillon, so we got there way before it was open. We read until we could move our stuff into the bunk room.

Grant standing reading a kindle with mountains in the background

This was our first refuge, in which we shared a large dorm room with other hikers, and all ate a family style meal together at 7. We got a nice sunset to close out the day.