A Day in the Beautiful Town at the Foot of Mont Blanc

Situated at an altitude of 1,035m and offering stunning views of Mont Blanc year-round with its snow-covered peaks, the charming town of Chamonix in southeastern France attracts millions of tourists every year. In the summer, the 'white mountain' draws visitors here to experience a taste of winter amidst the summer day and engage in various adventurous activities.

Explore the Scenic French Town at the Foot of Mont Blanc

The Allure of the White Mountain and the Glacier Stream

We embarked by car from the town of Saint Gervais les Bains, where the entire group had rented a hotel, to Chamonix around 10 in the morning. In August, the days in France are long, with the sun often rising at 7 a.m. and only truly setting at 10 p.m. Therefore, despite waking up late, we still had enough time to enjoy a leisurely breakfast and have a fun-filled day. Today, the sky is overcast and the sun is weak. On the hillsides, a few low wooden houses peek through the clouds. Driving through the winding mountain roads, one side is perilous cliffs, the other side is vast green forests. After a journey of over twenty kilometers, the 'white mountain' seems to be right in front of us, so close that I can almost touch the white strips of ice.

Arriving in Chamonix around 11 o'clock, we merged into the bustling traffic to reach the town center. In the summer, this place welcomes over a hundred thousand visitors each day. While the driver struggled to find a parking spot, we took the opportunity to admire the beauty of Chamonix through the window. With architecture blending classical and modern elements, every corner here has its own charm that tourists adore, from the wooden houses with small flower-filled windows to the cafes, restaurants with outdoor wooden chairs, or souvenir shops with adorable items. It took a few rounds before we finally found a roadside parking spot.

Located between France's Haute Savoie province and Italy's Aosta Valley, Mont Blanc is a point of contention between the two countries. However, the advantage seems to lean towards France as the town of Chamonix boasts the most beautiful and alluring views of the legendary mountain. From anywhere in the town, you can see the magnificent peak along with many other smaller peaks in the Alps range.

Therefore, it's no wonder that this place attracts millions of tourists to admire the scenery and participate in sports such as paragliding, mountain climbing, skiing, and more. The town has an extensive cable car system that takes visitors to various mountain peaks, with the most famous one being the cable car to Aiguille du Midi summit at over 3,800m high, built in 1955. Additionally, there's the Montenvers Railway system that takes tourists up to 2,100m altitude to admire the largest glacier stream in the Alps.

Following Google Maps directions, we walked about 5 minutes from the parking lot to reach the Aiguille du Midi cable car station. Despite it being summer, the cold at over a thousand meters altitude forced the whole group to quickly put on warm jackets, scarves, and hats from our backpacks. Unfortunately, the weather today is not favorable. Through a live camera feed from the Midi summit, ticket sellers informed us that the peak was completely covered in clouds, obscuring the outside scenery. They signaled a refusal to sell tickets.

We reluctantly left and found our way to the Mer de Glace railway station. This famous red train, built at the beginning of the 20th century, is always crowded. As we joined the snaking queue to buy tickets and passed through the ticket gate, the whole group was excited as we finally boarded the train. The cogwheel train moved in a few minutes, and the scenery outside made us gasp in awe. On the right, there were mountain walls covered in mossy green pine forests, on the left were continuous mountain ranges, and below was the charming little town of Chamonix under a blanket of white clouds.

After nearly 20 minutes traversing through forests and tunnels through the mountains, the train arrived at the Mer de Glace station. As we stepped off, the biting cold hit our faces and noses, making it hard to breathe, yet that cold couldn't deter the attraction of the glacier stream. We forgot about the cold as we rushed outside to embrace the grandeur of the winding icy ribbons amidst the brown hues of the rocky terrain. What could be more magnificent than gazing upon the pristine snow-covered landscape and feeling the winter chill amidst the summer day?

Through the Mountain Tunnel to Courmayeur

Famished after the red train journey, our group strolled in search of an evening meal. Being a bustling tourist town, Chamonix offers a diverse culinary scene, from fast food joints serving pizza, hamburgers, hot dogs, cheese... to restaurants offering Italian, Swedish cuisine... and even a Chinese restaurant. Additionally, there are supermarkets and shops with hundreds of varieties of wine, chocolate, sausages, cheese, summer fruits for you to enjoy and buy as souvenirs. We chose a small restaurant with a great location, charming folding chairs by the roadside to have a salad with braised meat accompanied by wine, dessert was coffee and panna cotta.

After the meal, we wandered through the streets and were drawn to cute souvenir shops. Unlike many other towns in France, Chamonix doesn't have many fashion stores but is packed with sports and souvenir shops. Another unique feature of Chamonix, besides its majestic mountains, is the Arve River flowing through the city. In the summer, the scorching sun melts the ice and water from the mountains flows down the river in a roaring torrent. However, this seemingly dangerous scenery doesn't deter many tourists from participating in kayaking amidst the icy waters.

Having had our fill of Chamonix, we made a somewhat crazy decision to drive through the Mont Blanc tunnel to Italy and have dinner in the town of Courmayeur in the Aosta Valley. This famous 12km long tunnel was once engulfed in flames in 1999, causing dozens of cars to catch fire. Although the tunnel toll is quite expensive, at the four ticket gates, each lane still inches forward bit by bit, patiently waiting to enter the tunnel. After over half an hour, we finally purchased tickets to enter the tunnel and arrived in the town of Courmayeur about 20 minutes later.

Compared to Chamonix, the town of Courmayeur is smaller and surrounded by rugged mountain ranges, with limited views of the glacier stream, however, the allure of the charming wooden houses, Italian-style cuisine, and summer activities like cycling, hiking... have attracted visitors here. In the afternoon in the small town, we sat under the shadow of the church in the town center, peacefully watching the children play. Like Chamonix, Courmayeur has many quaint souvenir shops, wine and winter fashion stores. Especially, the famous Italian pizza is available everywhere in this town. Choosing a small bar on the hillside, we ordered a few glasses of beer and two large pizzas. The waiter spoke Italian and didn't understand English so we could only point at the menu and gesture. Although there was no seafood pizza as requested, we enjoyed the best cold cut meat pizza and anchovy fish pizza topped with delicious cheese we've ever had.

Twelve hours at the foot of the white mountain left us exhausted, especially when the return journey encountered rain, making the drowsiness kick in faster. Nevertheless, the whole group winked at each other, planning another day to take the cable car and explore the Midi summit that we missed out on. That surely will be a beautiful day.

According to Doanh Nhân Sài Gòn

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Reference: Travel Handbook by Mytour