TMB Days 1 & 2: Le Brévent to Refuge du Fioux - July 20th to 21st, 2025

The Tour du Mont Blanc (TMB) is a 165 kilometer (103 mile) hiking trail which encircles Mont Blanc, the highest peak in the Western Europe, through France, Italy, and Switzerland. Our original plan was to complete the hike in 21 days, but we extended it to 22 days before we even started, because Ann was recovering from a bad cold. This post covers days 1 and 2 on the trail, from Le Brévent to Refuge du Fioux, with an overnight stay in Les Houches, all in France.

Sunday was our start of the Tour du Mont Blanc (TMB). We were up at 7 am and eating breakfast by 8. We ate a little more than usual for breakfast. In addition to Ann’s normal omelet, croissant, yogurt, and muesli with chocolate, she added a couple of apricots. Keith added yogurt and muesli to his normal croissant.

We were packed up and checked out of the hotel before 9 am. It was then a 15 minute walk up to the gondola station. A one way ticket, for 55.50 euros for the both of us, brought us up to Le Brévent via two gondolas.

As we were waiting for the cable car at the connection at Plan Praz, we noticed a sign that said there were no toilets at Brévent. Oops! We were planning to stop there. We should have stopped at Plan Praz to use the toilets there before getting on the cable car from Plan Praz to Brévent. Now the next toilet isn’t until we reach Les Houches at the end of the day.

The views from up top were gorgeous. It was a sunny morning. A thunderstorm was predicted for 2 pm, so our goal was to reach tree line by then.

The hike started out pretty rocky, with large step downs. It was slow going. Paragliders were sailing by us. We spotted a marmot in the distance among the rocks.

After about 2.5 kilometers (1.6 miles), we reached Refuge de Bellachat. They didn’t allow picnicking at their tables, so we just ordered drinks. It was cash only.

From there, we continued our descent. There were a few short sections with chains, but we didn’t really feel like the chains were needed, as there wasn’t much exposure. We might have felt differently if there was snow or ice on the trail.

When we finally reached tree line, we stopped to eat our lunch. We had landjäger (a semi-dried sausage), cashews, granola bars, and Ann had her apple.

The terrain got a little easier, but not by much. It was still very steep and slow going. Ann’s good knee was talking to her the whole day. She must of tweaked it a little when we first started out. Ann could also feel the strain on her thighs.

When we reached the Statue du Christ-Roi (Christ the King statue), we took off our packs and relaxed for a few minutes. Ann’s energy was running out. When we continued, Ann got frustrated that she couldn’t make her legs move any faster, even though the terrain had gotten easier, but still steep.

We finally reached Les Houches and had to go uphill for a little bit to reach Gîte Michel Fagot, our destination for the day. Ann had hit the wall by this point. She had to stop quite a few times to catch her breath on the incline.

(AllTrails track includes gondola rides from Chamonix)

In total that day, we had gone 10.8 kilometers (6.7 miles) with an elevation gain of 135 meters (443 feet) in seven hours and 20 minutes, including the time on the gondolas. More significant than the 135 meters of elevation gain, was the 1573 meter (5161 foot) elevation loss. We counted it as hike number 28 of our 52 Hike Challenge for 2025.

We reached our lodging before 4:30 pm. We had a reservation for the dorm room, sharing it with six other people. There were bunk beds, but two of them were next to each other, side by side. We were assigned the two on the bottom while another couple was assigned the two on top. The bathroom was down the hall. Hiking boots had to be removed and stored on the shelves on the ground floor. They provided crocs that you could borrow, or wear your own (clean) hut shoes. Keith had his shower shoes and Ann had her Teva sandals.

Keith took his shower first while Ann relaxed outside with a Coke. She met a nice couple from the Binghamton area of New York and had a lovely conversation with them. We lived in the Binghamton area several decades ago. Then Ann took her turn in the showers.

One of the bathrooms had two toilets and two showers, which all had doors on them. However, there was no room in the showers to put towels or clothes, just hooks outside the shower. Well, that’s different. Ann closed the door to the bathroom, then just opened the shower door quickly to grab things on and off the hooks outside the shower, hoping no one would open the bathroom door during that time. Afterwards, Ann learned that the other two showers had room inside for clothes. Keith had used one of those.

There was a sink outside to wash clothes and some drying racks in the garden. However, as it got closer to dinner, the rain storms arrived. So we had to bring our wet clothes inside. Keith’s were already somewhat dry, but Ann’s were not. By morning, her socks and bra were still pretty damp. She had to pack them up that way.

Dinner was at 6:30 pm. We met a few more people at dinner. There were a couple of ladies, one from Texas and the other from Vegas. Another woman was from Poland, originally from Ukraine. Then there was a young man from Belgium. Everyone was starting the TMB the following day, except for the young man. He had tried to do the TMB in three days, but had to stop after a day and a half because his knees were hurting too much.

Dinner was delicious. The starter was couscous with vegetables along with a piece of garlic toast. The main was two sausages, rice, and mixed vegetables. Ann appreciated all of the vegetables, as she feels like we struggle finding items with vegetables at restaurants. Dessert was some kind of cake. There was bread if you needed more to eat, but we found the meal filling.

There was only one electrical outlet in our room and others were already using it. So we plugged our watches and phones into our portable batteries. Our watches and phones fully charged by morning, but now our batteries could use a charge. We managed to charge them some in the morning before we left.

Most people had turned in for bed by 9 pm. We were surprised at how quiet the gîte was at night. However, Ann didn’t sleep all that well. First, her legs were cramping up on her for half the night. We did not drink any electrolytes during the day. We’ll need to change that. Then she started coughing a little bit. She felt a little self-conscious about it because she didn’t want to keep others awake. But she managed to get that under control with some Ricola cough drops. The mattress was a little firm for Ann’s liking, so her hips started aching. Despite all that, she managed to get over six hours of sleep.

Monday was day two of our TMB hike, from Les Houches to Refuge du Fioux, both in France. Breakfast at Gîte Michel Fagot was nice. There was yogurt, musli, scrambled eggs, assorted cereals, bread, butter, peanut butter, and jams.

Breakfast was served at 7 am. We took our time getting ready, as we had a shorter day. Several thunderstorms passed through during the night and it was still drizzling by the time we left Les Houches at 9 am. However, it stopped raining in less than half an hour. There were still clouds obstructing part of the views, but they cleared up as the day went on.

Before we left Les Houches, we took a picture of the official starting gate of the Tour du Mont Blanc. Many people start and end the TMB in Les Houches, but it was the start of the second day for us. Most people also do the route in the counter-clockwise direction, just like us. But there are others who choose to do it in the opposite direction.

In order to not make the same mistakes as the day before, we both started out with an electrolyte tablet in our first liter of water for the day. Hopefully, that will keep the leg cramps away.

The route that day started out along the road for almost a mile, before turning and heading up, steeply up. It didn’t take long before Ann started to feel her lack of energy again. It reminded us of a time we went hiking in the Grand Canyon many years ago. Our daughter was in middle school and had just recovered from the flu the week before. We hiked a mile or two down into the canyon, stopped for a snack, then started to hike back out. Our daughter “hit the wall”. She had no energy. But there was only one way to get back out of the canyon, and that was to continue hiking up. We remember it being a struggle, singing songs, counting steps. We told her that she could go as slow as she wanted, but she needed to keep moving. Ann believes she now knows what it must have felt like for our daughter.

Ann continued slowly up. Stopping to catch her breath when she needed to. Keith was patient with her. Surprisingly, there were others on the trail going about the same speed as Ann. Whenever there was a nice view, Ann would stop to take a picture. It was a nice excuse to stop and catch her breath.

After about three miles, we reached La Fré Mi, a little restaurant along the trail. We stopped and ordered a couple of Ultraviolet fruit smoothies. They were cold, made with bananas, strawberries, and blueberries. The smoothies were so refreshing. Just like the day before, the restaurant did not allow picnicking. We had to continue on before eating our lunch. However, we did use their bathrooms before we left.

We reached the high point for the day at Col de Voza. There was a train station there with benches in the shade. So that’s where we ate our lunch. We had purchased a box lunch from Gîte Michel Fagot when we made our room reservation. It came, not in a box, but in a cute little cloth bag. Lunch consisted of half a baguette with tuna salad, an apple, and a cookie. Keith’s cookie survived until lunch time, but Ann’s got a little crushed in her backpack and was in little pieces. It still tasted good, though.

From there, it was downhill to Refuge du Fioux. We arrived at 1:15 pm. However, the refuge didn’t open until 2 pm. So we sat down in a grassy area near the refuge, relaxed, and enjoyed the wonderful views.

(AllTrails track for Day 2)

Our hike for the day was 7.6 kilometers (4.6 miles) with an elevation gain of 705 meters (2313 feet) with an elevation loss of only 159 meters (522 feet), which we completed in four hours and 21 minutes. It was hike number 29 of our 52 Hike Challenge for 2025.

The refuge was a very cute place with wonderful views. It was landscaped beautifully with lots of colorful flowers.

Again, the refuge required us to take off and store our boots downstairs, along with our trekking poles this time. The room we reserved was for four people. There were two sets of bunked beds that we shared with a couple from the Netherlands. There were only four other guests staying in the refuge. One couple was from Taiwan and the other couple was from France.

The bathroom was down the hall and there was a drying rack on the balcony outside of our room. We were given one shower token a piece. Each token was good for a three minute shower. It took a little bit for the water to get hot, but we found three minutes to be plenty of time. However, we are used to RVing and camping, so we don’t take long showers.

After our showers, we hung out outside for a little bit. Most of the seating outside was in the full sun. But after taking showers, we no longer had sunblock on and didn’t want to put any more on. We tried sitting in the shade, but the temperatures were dropping, so it was a little too cool, even with our puffy coats on.

So we sat inside the rest of the afternoon until dinner time. Dinner was at 7 pm. The starter was a salad with deviled eggs. The main was roasted chicken with rice and vegetables. Dessert was a chocolate pudding. Everything was pretty tasty.

The Dutch couple was not following the TMB, but making their own route. They were also doing some tent camping, but staying near refuges so that they had access to showers, toilets, and meals. The French couple were also not following the TMB and were debating about which route to take the following day. And the Taiwanese couple were only doing half of the TMB. So it was quite a mix of hikers.

Our room went to bed around 8:30 pm. Ann slept better this time. Her legs did not cramp, so the electrolytes must have done the trick. The mattress was a little softer than the night before, so her hips did not ache. However, Ann still coughed more during the night that she would have liked, especially since we were sharing a room with others. The Dutch couple said they did not hear her cough at all, but they were both wearing earplugs. This time Ann got over 7.5 hours of sleep.

We made it through the first two days on the trail, thoroughly enjoying the stunning scenery along with the food and company at our lodging so far. What should have been comfortable hikes for us, were a bit of a struggle for Ann. But she was hopeful that her body would recover and she would have an easier time as we continued the trail.

Check out our related video: TMB Days 1 & 2: Le Brévent to Refuge du Fioux

(Ann)