So me and Mr MC are off to Chamonix for 5 days in late June, can anyone recommend a good campsite? there are lots on the internet and otherwise I will just pick one, but it’s always handy/helpful to have one recommended! Thanks.

theres one in les bois iirc at the end of the grand longnian 🙂

Up the valley in Argentierre Les Glacier

or the rail union one here (but in french)

We usually stay at this one http://www.campingchamonix.com/

The one right opposite the Hospital, expensive but i reckon its the best by far.

Always camped here:

http://www.campingchamonix.com/

It’s the home for most of the Brit climbers and bikers in the valley, just don’t make any noise after 11.

Mobile Pizza van calls twice a week. Yummy!
Hth
Marko

Aren’t the Argentiere campsites outside of Chamonix? I wanted something close as possible really so that we could walk to restuarnats in the evening if we wanted to? Thansk for those suggestions though I’ll have a look tonight.

Stayed in the Argentierre one a couple of times, it is a bit up the valley from Cham – just don’t make the same mistake we did, the taxi’s and buses all seem to stop working at about 10. We managed to blag a lift of some kind folk, in the back of a huge van with huskies, very surreal.

There are a couple of restaurants and bars in Argentierre though. Had some epic nights out in the office bar!

Marko, is that the one with the boulders near the entrance? Haven’t been for years, but I seem to remember bouldering there.

Also stayed in the campingchamonix one, not cheap if you have a van & want electrical hookup etc, but it is good (well compared to most other French campsites i’ve stayed in).

Good placement for the La Praz lift too.

Cham is walkable from there, although they give you free bus passes.

Make sure you sample the late night tasty snacks from Belouga after a few lagers, next to top bike shop Zero G…

We stayed at Camping Les Rosieres, because it was the one that was nearest town. It’s 15 years ago tho, but I recall it was fine. There wasn’t much tree cover and it’s still a bit of a walk into town, but you can walk along the river I seem to recall. There was a bakery nearby for a morning walk for fresh bread and pastries. I can’t find a website for them, so not sure if it still exists.

Okay what we want is somewhere close to the main lifts in Chamonix and possibly close enough to walk some where for food in the evening. What are the main lifts in Chamonix? As the chamonix ones and argentiere ones seem a distance away from Chamonix is that right? I’ve never been before so have no idea where stuff is.

So if you guys who have been can guide me as to what is central? I’m not so bothered about money as long as it’s nice!

Well Chamonix is a bit spread out, there are lifts all along the valley.

Don’t get too fussed about that side of things, they run a free bus service up & down the valley all day which you can take a bike on.

Be warned that if you take a trip down to Les Houches the lift pass that covers the entire rest of the valley apparently doesn’t cover this bit!

The Aiguille du Midi Telepherique and the Montenvers railway are the main ones in town for the Mont Blanc Massif. Further up the Valley nr Argentiere there is the grand Montets telepherique.

I would assume most MTB will be done on the other side of the valley in the Aiguille Rouges. So, in town there is the Planpraz telecabine. In les Praz there is the flegere telepherique.

Down in Houches there are another 1 or 2.

The 1:25K outdoors maps are Cartes IGN St Gervais-les-Bains Massif Du Mont Blanc (3531 ET) and Cartes IGN Chamonix Massif Du Mont Blanc (3630 OT). Most decent outdoors shops will carry these in stock.

camping chamonix

The Arolles and Des Barrats campsites are the closest to town

Sick webcam shot of conditions in Chamonix at this point

In a month maybe all the snow will have gone

M-C,

I’m assuming you are after lifts for the Bike?

All lifts apart from Les Houches are either Argentiere (G Montets and Le Tour) or between Argentiere and Cham. No Bikes allowed on the Montenvers railway or the Midi.
All can be accessed from the Argentiere camp sites, either on the free train/bus or by riding the Balcon Nord/Sud – restrictions apply, so do check with the local tourist info.
Hth
Marko

OG – Boulders are up behind the Camp site near the Grand Montets lift. Not that old that you are thinking of Snell’s field, the spiritual home of Brit climbers in the seventies?

Marko

So now I’m confused, for those that have been which would be the best campsite for easy rideable accessibility to lifts in the morning as well as within walking distance of some restaurants for evening scran. Thanks.

Maybe you need to start by finding out where the best riding is (not the best campsite or restaurant).
All the lifts to both sides of the valley are spread out between Les Houches and Argentiere/Tour (with Chamonix/Les Praz in the middle).
So, there is no one campsite that will give you easy access to everything, because the lifts and campsites are all spread out along the whole valley.
You are kind of asking the impossible, everything is spread out and therefore there are always trade offs. You won’t find exactly what you’re looking for, because it doesn’t exist, due to the nature of the whole topo of the valley.

I guess you can discount Midi and Montenvers according to marko, but it doesn’t change your decision making, it just rules out a couple of lifts along the valley.

We’ve camped in Argentieres and loved it. Loads of great food places in the village, very easy to walk to. Chamonix is approx 10 mins drive away, Les Houches perhaps 15 mins away.

Argentiere-Chamonix-les Houches is a resort that is spread out along the valley, linked by rail and road.

MC,

Grand Montet lift is 3 minutes from Les Argentiere campsite. You can only go up to first station with the bike. Ride down and catch the balcon down the valley to the Flegere lift, where I believe there are some new trails/downhill tracks. Into the MBC in Cham for food and beer, catch the last train back up the valley and if you are still going strong, shower and walk into Argentiere for more beer/wine.

Or catch train up the valley and pedal up the road to Le Tour. Ride over and across the border, get Vallorcine lift up and ride the full on down hill track, back up again and ride down to Le Tour and then all the way back to Argentiere.
Hth
Marko

camped at the one in the center of town for a week for FREE.. pitched up after dark, lugged a sofa out of a nearby skip and lived it up for the week.. was pitched next to a guy in a vw camper who had broken down at the site before the sking season started and he was still there in May! no one came near asking for cash etc and the drying room was warm on those cold nights..

http://pre65trials.blogspot.com/

we few, we happy few.

The one right opposite the Hospital, expensive but i reckon its the best by far.

Stayed there, nice site. Especially if you like helicopters…

Make sure you visit http://www.mbchx.com too.

I’d go somewhere between Les Pelerins and Les Bois if you want to go into town in the evenings.

It should be a good year for early biking, the snow cover is woeful. I have been seeing some ridiculous pictures from mates who are ski-touring. The Buet valley is a hike out already, it looks like the snowline is getting on for 2000m on the sunny slopes. Half their pictures they’re rock climbing and eating picnics in the sun!

Okay so I’ve finally had a chance to read through this thread. It is all beginning to make a little more sense now, but since we haven’t been there it’s hard to pin point things! I’m off to make a list of what campsites are where but I’m gusesing Argentiere is a good place to stay.

Okay so I’m looking at the Camping du Glacier d’Argentiere which has been mentioned above that says it’s car free after 10pm. Does that just mean if you arrive after 10pm you can’t get on the campsite, or drive off it? But if you are on the site earlier your car can remain with you and the tent for the night? It’s not very clear.
http://www.campingchamonix.com/

That one.

Or the other one I liked is the complete opposite end of the valley.
http://www.les2glaciers.com/

Give you’s bus pass and has a restuarant on site. Is there also riding down this end of town? I guess it’s hard having never been there I have no idea which are the lifts for riding? I guess we’ll suss it out when we arrive.

Thanks for your help.

Argentiere is quieter but nearer the best riding and you have riding options further up the valley around Finhaut too

But it’s good at the opposite end too. Though I read about one of the campsites under the Bossons glacier getting deluged by an enormous melt from the glacier, I might even have read it on one of the threads above, can’t remember

The train goes right by the Argentiere campsite in any case and it looks beautiful. Argentiere will be quieter than Chamonix though, I think.

nb you can ride downhill from Argentiere all the way through Chamonix to Les Houches but it’s a climb the other way (obviously) if that affects your thinking at all. Note though it’s a steep, dull road climb from Vallorcine to Argentiere, something I didn’t clock until I tried it!

How quiet is quiet? Ie are there enough places to eat out in the evevning over the course of about a week? We don’t want clubbing and partying nightlife? just somewhere for some nice food and a beer?
ARGH the more I look into it the more confused I get? Wish I was going on an organised trip now 😉 the rest of it has been exciting organising and planning but which campsite is doing my head in!! I guess otherwise the campsites themselves are much of a muchness??

JHW that’s definately useful to know although it has thrown some more spanners in the works when I thought I had decided! I’m guessing it’s a bit laid out like Morzine and Les Gets.

nah it’s quite different to morzine/les gets

Resort layout is explained in Tom Wilson-North’s book, which I think you can get from Chain Reaction.

Either campsite you’re talking about will be fine. I’ve not stayed in Argentiere but Chamonix last June (quiet season admittedly) was just about as quiet as I’d want it. Argentiere’s a bit of a smaller town. Oh yeah, crucial consideration – the best bike shop in the area I believe (Zero G) is in Chamonix.

les bois as i said

Okay so I’m looking at the Camping du Glacier d’Argentiere which has been mentioned above that says it’s car free after 10pm. Does that just mean if you arrive after 10pm you can’t get on the campsite, or drive off it?

It means that there’s a barrier that goes down at 10pm which you can’t drive past. However, there’s parking just a 100 metres down the lane to the entrance, so only a problem if you return to the site in a camper van after 10pm.

BTW, I was there in early June and the barrier was always up at all hours. However, the campsite was fairly empty. It may be different at busier times.

Also, brilliant location but not exactly the flattest campsite in the valley. Can you get a good night’s kip on a slope if all the flatish pitches have already been taken?

Crumbs after all that thinking “argh I must hurry and pick a campsite to reserve a spot” .. tours our that Glacier campsite in Argentiere don’t take reservations! So we’ll just turn up and cruise around. Thanks.

I reckon the best campsite for walkable distance to the bars and restaurants is Camping Mer de Glace(http://www.chamonix-camping.com/uk/welcome.html). The other campsite suggested is in Argentiere by the looks of things. The web addresses are very similar. Camping mer de glace is very close to les Praz and is about 10-15 mins walk from the MBC bar or another 5-10 mins into the centre of chamonix. I’ve stayed there on several occasions. Even when busy there’s plenty of showers etc. I had to queue for 20 mins for a shower this past weekend at a campsite elsewhere in France.

Chamonix has opened the lifts to bikes already this season due to the lack of snow. I was up on the le tour just this past weekend. Be careful if you plan to use the trains to get access to further up the valley. They try and limit each train to 5 bikes which in the height of summer is a joke.

Enjoy!

Hey, thanks – could you provide a bit more detail on the lift situation – will they be open just until the ski season would have ended, or will they be open from now right up until September? Also where’s the snowline right now? I’m guessing there’s no riding above the gondola on Le Tour, surely

Are Les Houches doing something similar

Does the train normally fill up then (we’ll be getting on either at St Gervais, or from way down in Les Bossons – but in the middle of July)

I’m not 100% sure. I only found out because I happened to stay at le vert hotel as most campsites were still closed and the guy behind the bar was into his biking. The chair was open for bikes above the gondola at le tour but the lifty said it was still very wet and a bit icy at the top of the chair so we just got off at the top of the gondola. It was completely dry from the gondola down. The flegere lift was also open to bikes and as far as I know les houches was open. It might be worth calling the tourist office to check if you are planning a visit. I guess they close the lifts at some point for maintenance before the full summer season. It felt like the middle of summer apart from the folk walking about town in their ski gear.

Yeah, from what I can discern its the Flegere cablecar (nice riding from there) and the Le Tour gondola only (I don’t know about Les Houches either), but that’s just from the CMB website. The really good stuff in Le Tour will take ages to melt. I presume what’s open will shut soon; they’re just trying to mitigate the cr@p season after the fact, I’d speculate.

Everything else opens on (I think) June 11 except Le Tour which is the following week.

+ 1 for camping mer de glace in les bois – fantastic spot by the river

Hey after everyone’s help we aren’t going now as Mr MC broke his elbow at Coed y Brenin on Friday and potentially needs surgery! Oh well Chamonix will have to wait until next summer. I have saved all the numerous bits of info and e-mails Iv’e had from so many of you though, thanks guys! Have great summer MTB trips 😉 and make sure they are safe!