Hiking in the Alps
between France, Italy and Switzerland

Hiking trips departing from the major train stations in the French, Italian and Swiss Alps:

We want to reduce the impacts of transport as well as the costs that go with it: we give you all the information for the meeting points and we organize the nights in Hotel or Mountain Refuge for you!

From Bourg Saint Maurice, Chamonix - Courmayeur and Martigny stations:

Start your Mountain Trekking directly by getting off your train! You limit transport's impact and, in case train is too complicated for you, we give you the chance to organise car sharing with other members of your group: if you wish to, as soon as the departure is confirmed, you will receive an email giving you the email addresses of the group's participants who wish to share the car trip and you can organise yourself by logging into your account!

Go on a hike with Esprit Montagne: our little "+"

A Small Human-sized Agency that is growing up and engages itself to create a good impact on the environment through its Mountain Trips:

• Support our Mountain Beekeeping and conservation project for the local species: "the Black Bee" adapted to cold winters, which, by dint of crossing species, could disappear together to the wild bees of the Alps!
• Reduce transport's impact booking your Mountain Trip with us and favour local products during your stay: it also tastes better ;)
• And many other little details which can make a difference: discover our Philosophy here!

Esprit Montagne offers you:

• Trekkings to explore the most beautiful intineraries in the Alps
• Mountain Hiking weekends for hikers
• Family Hiking Trips
• Wild destinations, moving away from the beaten tracks!

Discover the most beautiful Hiking routes in Chamonix, at the feet of Mont Blanc:

Lac Blanc:

Departing from Chamonix, your Mountain Guide will take you to Argentière to catch a path in the Aiguilles Rouges natural reserve. The trail climbs through the forest, to then pass the Aiguilette d'Argentière, which is quite famous for its beautiful summit facing Mont Blanc, and the Argentière Basin with the Aiguille Verte and the Drus. We will continue to Lac des Chéserys, before joining the magnificent Lac Blanc, there we could have a pastry at the Refuge du Lac Blanc.
This path is much wilder and more technical than the climb by the new Flégère gondola. The view of Mont Blanc is magnificent, we will continue the walk above the lake to eat in a small quiet corner, on one of the many granite blocks that surround this glacial lake: the water is white because of the mineral deposits, we will enjoy one of the most beautiful views of the Alps!

The Mer de Glace:

We will leave from a small village near Chamonix, to go up by a path and join the small Cabane des Mottets, which is very pleasant. We begin to see the Mer de Glace, which has a lot receded since 1860, when the glaciers began to recede at the end of the Little Ice Age. The start of the walk was where the Bishop of Savoy had been called to roll back the Glacier, which destroyed the houses of the Village in the 1820s!
We will walk up the long moraine: it is a very little used but magnificent path, with a view of the cliffs of Les Drus and the Aiguille Verte.

Discover the different Massifs of the Alps:

Esprit Montagne makes you discover hiking trips in the most beautiful massifs of the Alps, with the idea of getting off the beaten track and making you discover new routes!

The Mont Blanc Massif in Haute Savoie and Savoie:

The massif extends over three countries: France, Italy and Switzerland. Mont Blanc is the highest peak in Europe at 4809 meters above sea level. It is the massif that has the most peaks at 4000 meters in France, with a very large number of glaciers.
The most emblematic peaks are:

• The Grandes Jorasses, with their 1200 m high North Face;
• The Drus, with their West Face, which is one of the largest granite walls in the world;
• L'Aiguille Verte, which is one of the beautiful mountains in the world;
• The Aiguilles de Chamonix, which climbers from all over the world come to climb on the many summits and the many climbing routes;
• The Mont Blanc du Tacul;
• The Dôme du Goûter, which is on the normal route of Mont Blanc;
• The Aiguille du Midi and its famous cable car;

Many sporting events cross the Massif or revolve around Mont Blanc, such as the famous Tour du Mont Blanc and the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc of around 171 km ...

The Vanoise Massif in Savoie:

The Vanoise is a massif between the Isère river in Tarentaise and the Arc river in Maurienne. It is a great mountain range, with the Grande Casse as its highest point at 3855 meters above sea level. Its average altitude is over 2000 meters. Many glaciers and peaks over 3000 meters make it up, for the main peaks we can list:

• The Pointe Mattews, near the highest point of the Grande Casse
• Mont Pourri, which is misnamed, at 3,779 m
• The Dome of Sache
• The Grand Bec de Pralognan
• L'Epéna, which is the largest rock face in the Massif, with 800 meters of rock face
• La Grande Motte, which is famous for being the highest glacier equipped with ski lifts in France on the resort of Tignes
• The Pointe de la Sana
• The Dent Paraché, above Aussois
• The Dôme de la Vanoise, above Pralognan - La Vanoise
• Bellecôte, above La Plagne

The Grée Alps are a very wild massif, which creates the border between Aosta Valley and Haute Tarentaise, between Mont Blanc and Gran Paradiso:

It is surely our favorite massif, it is the one that has remained the wildest. One might think that it is a natural reserve but not: the large southern part, which is not part of the Vanoise and Gran Paradiso National Parks, is characterized by valleys and mountains which are so difficult to access that no large ski area has been built.
We find the Italian valleys of the Aosta Valley:

• The Valgrisenche Valley which is a pearl for hiking and climbing: it is surely one of the most beautiful valleys in the Alps, it is world famous in Winter for Heliskiing, which is well developed: no human development has damaged the Valley, the resort has remained very small with a small chairlift and a single buttock. Mountain huts have well developed though, such as the Refuge de l'Epée, the refuge of Mario Bezzi and the Refuge des Anges and cozy little Hotels in the Valley such as Planaval and Hôtel Perret.
• The Valsavarenche Valley which is the Gran Paradiso valley: one of the most beautiful and easy 4000s in the Alps, in the first European National Park created in 1922 with the same name.
  To reach the summit, you can start from two refuges:
  The Refuge de Chabod and the Refuge Victor Emmanuelle II.

The Monte Rosa Massif in Italy and Switzerland:

The second highest massif in Europe, with Pointe Dufour which rises to 4634 meters, is a magnificent region: the Walsers country is very well maintained and the wooden chalets have a very special architecture, with their pillars surmounted by a lauze (a typical and local sto of flat shape).
It is an Italian region where the local dialect is very similar to German: people often communicated more from one valley to another than with the lower valleys and capitals of the country!

The Aiguilles Rouges Massif and the Chaîne des Fiz:

These two massifs, which are in front of Mont Blanc, have some great panoramas on the North side of Mont Blanc; the French side is covered with numerous glaciers, such as the Mer de Glace, the Bossons glaciers and the Taconnaz glaciers.

The Chaîne des Fiz is a typical limestone massif, many cliffs delight the Eagles and Vultures who wind the thermals. The Platé desert is an immense Karst plateau, it is better to have good water reserves to cross it: the water evaporates through the fault systems that speleologists seek to explore using their equipment, rope ...

The Massif des Aiguilles Rouges is on the other hand granitic: the relief is much rougher with many rocky summits. The Aiguillette d'Argentière, the index and the Aiguilles Rouges are as airy as the Aiguilles de Chamonix, but smaller. It is a great massif above the Chamonix Valley, it is the kingdom of Ibex and Chamois!

The Aravis above Annecy:

This limestone massif, which forms a mountain range of several tens of kilometers, between Sallanche and Annecy, is a natural reserve (Natura 2000). This reserve is home to many Gypaetes. Their reintroduction began at Bargy, the Limestone Cliffs above the Grand Bornand. The highest point in the Aravis is the Pointe Percée at an altitude of 2,750 meters. The Annecy Lake is the end of the massif, then the Bauges chain comes.

Discover Hiking in Courmayeur, 25 minutes by Bus from Chamonix train station, at the feet of Mont Blanc in Italy

Courmayeur is the other capital of Mountaineering and, like Chamonix, it is located at the feet of Mont Blanc.
We have chosen to make you discover its most beautiful hikes, which for us have a much more wild and sunny character.
It was not until the Mont Blanc Tunnel was built that the city became easily accessible to tourists, summer and winter! This is why historically people stopped in Chamonix, but believe us, the 25 minutes that separate Chamonix from Courmayeur are worth the drive, to discover Mont Blanc southern side and the magnificent Aosta Valley, an autonomous region where French is the second official language.

Discover the Haute Tarentaise hikes starting from Bourg Saint Maurice station in Savoie

The Tarentaise is known for having the largest ski resorts in the world on its Ubac side of the valley (shaded slope), but on the Adret, in the sun, the landscape changes: it is  carachterised by alpine pastures and beautiful mountains, like the Beaufortain massif and the Gréés Alps with the southern end of the Mont Blanc Massif, which is the perfect terrain for some varied and beautiful hikes. The Vanoise National Park is also accessible with many great walks!

Hiking in the Alps with a Guide:

Leaving with a Guide and a small travel agency specializing in mountain sports trips allows you to leave in peace, you do not need to manage the reservations of the refuge, the weather and its changes of routes, mapping etc. . your Guide will help you in difficult passages and allow you to surpass yourself!

You will go quietly in the mountains with a free Esprit!

Mountain hikes in small groups:

Esprit Montagne has chosen to limit the size of groups to 10 people maximum per Guide, so that you can always get off the beaten track even when the group is full; it's also much more fun to share a great adventure in a small group and get to know each other properly!

Southern side of Mont Blanc in Italy:

Discover the best paths and off-trails of Mont Blanc on the Italian side, starting from Courmayeur and Entrèves: 5 days of hiking and 5 nights in a Hotel, including two in mountain huts, which have the class of a Hotel though!

Between the Vanoise National Park and Mont Blanc:

You arrive in the Tarentaise at Bourg Saint Maurice to discover the most beautiful hikes, which can be found in the four Massifs around us! 5 days in the mountains and 5 nights in a Hotel for  a better Comfort.

The Most Beautiful Ways of Chamonix in 4 Days:

Discover the surroundings of Chamonix, follow your Guide to discover the hidden trails of Chamonix!

Go on a hike with Esprit Montagne: our little "+"

Esprit Montagne is a small human-sized Travel Agency that is growing:

• Support our Mountain Beekeeping and conservation project for the local species: "the Black Bee", which by dint of species crossings could disappear together to wild bees of the Alps!
• Reduce transport with us and favor local products along your stay: it also tastes better;)
• And many other things that you will find here discovering our Philosophy!

When to hike in the Alps?

The best time to hike in the Alps depends on the region you are visiting. In general, the summer months are the most pleasant, as they offer sunny days and decent temperatures for hiking. The spring and autumn months can offer cooler temperatures and shorter days, and are therefore more suitable for experienced hikers.
Mid to late spring is generally the most popular time of year, and will provide you with an eye-opening view of the extraordinary flowery landscape!
You will have the opportunity to spend time on beautiful hikes and to take a dip in mountain lakes.

Ideas for the most beautiful hikes in the Alps?

We suggest you the tour of the Vanoise glaciers. The glaciers of the Vanoise massif are located between the Tarentaise and the Maurienne and offer various views on the fauna and flora.

You will also like to do the weekend hike at Mont Buet - Lac Blanc. This sportive weekend between views on the lake and a 360° panorama on the whole Mont-Blanc massif and the Aiguilles rouges will not disappoint you!