TMB Days 21 to 23: Refuge La Flégère to Brévent - August 9th to 12th, 2025

The Tour du Mont Blanc (TMB) is a 165 kilometer (103 mile) hiking trail which encircles Mont Blanc, the highest peak in 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 21 and 23 on the trail, from Refuge La Flégère to Brévent, with four nights accommodations in Chamonix, all in France. We added another “zero” day or rest day on Day 22 in Chamonix along with another full day in Chamonix after finishing the TMB. So it ended up taking us 23 days to complete the TMB.

Saturday, Day 21 of the TMB, was another short day of hiking, but with a little more elevation gain than the day before. Ann was able to get a good night’s sleep, but still felt weak in the morning.

Breakfast at Refuge La Flégère was from 6:45 am to 7:30 am. It was simple. There was one croissant per person, plus bread, butter, jam, cereal, and milk. Ann had corn flakes and milk again. She misses not having yogurt. We had a nice conversation with a couple of women from Belgium. They were completing the TMB that day. We wish them the best on their travels.

We packed up and were on the trail before 8:30 am. From the start, we could see our destination, Plan Praz. It didn’t look that far, nor did it look like much elevation gain. However, what we couldn’t see were the little ups and downs along the way.

Part of the trail was exposed, with wonderful views of Mont Blanc and the surrounding mountain peaks and part of the trail was in the trees. Most of the time was spent crossing boulder fields. Sometimes it was a trail through the boulder fields, but other times it was negotiating the rocks across the fields. You could usually tell where others had crossed the rocks, but there was a little concern in the back of your mind that you might step on a loose boulder.

Ann did OK on the elevation gain, but was thankful when we reached Plan Praz. We covered 5.5 kilometers (3.4 miles), with an elevation gain of 350 meters (1148 feet) and an elevation loss of 171 meters (562 feet). It took us two and a half hours to complete, which we thought was pretty good, since the trail signs said it would take two hours. It was hike number 47 of our 52 Hike Challenge for 2025.

We arrived at the Restaurant Altitude 2000 about ten minutes before it opened, so we watched the paragliders taking off at the nearby launching site while we waited. Then the launches stopped and a helicopter arrived to haul away two people and some gear. We’re guessing a tandem glider got stranded somewhere and they needed to be rescued. Hopefully, no one was hurt.

When the restaurant opened, we sat down and ordered ginger beers. The kitchen didn’t start taking food orders for another 20 minutes, so we drank our drinks while we waited. The ginger beer was a brand we hadn’t tried before, called La French. It was our favorite so far. It was nice and spicy. It didn’t hurt any that it was served with a mug of ice. It was so refreshing.

For lunch, we both ordered the Duo de Hoummus et Guacamole. The hummus and guacamole came with pita bread and a slice of lime. The food was perfect. It felt healthy, but more filling than a salad, yet not too heavy. Our meal was very satisfying.

Then we headed down the Plan Praz gondola back to Chamonix. We walked straight to our hotel for the next four nights, Le Faucigny. Our room was not ready yet, but we were able to drop off our backpacks and poles.

We had a couple of errands to run as we both needed more deodorant and Keith needed chapstick. Then we treated ourselves to gelato at Amorino. Ann had a cone with chocolate gelato and raspberry sorbet. It was a work of art. The gelato and sorbet was arranged like petals of a flower on the cone. And it was delicious. Keith had a vanilla shake, which he enjoyed. It had been a long time since his last milkshake.

When we returned to Le Faucigny, our room was ready. We retrieved our backpacks and our stored luggage. They had allowed us to store two pieces of luggage for us while we were on the TMB, for only 35 euros total.

After taking showers, we collapsed on the bed. It was a hot day, but there was a nice fan in the room that we turned on, as there was no air conditioning. Ann collapsed, spread eagle on the bed and didn’t move a muscle for hours. She didn’t actually fall asleep during that time, but her body was letting her know that it needed rest. Her muscles weren’t sore, nor were they cramping. Ann’s body just felt drained of energy. She can’t remember the last time she felt that exhausted.

After Ann came out of her comatose state, we went out for dinner. Keith had been eyeing the hot dog restaurant since we first arrived in Chamonix three weeks ago. He really likes his hot dogs. So Ann agreed it was a good time to go.

Cool Cats is a counter service hot dog place with an outdoor patio area. And we didn’t have to wait until 7 pm for it to open for dinner, like many of the restaurants. However, these were not ordinary hot dogs. First you chose your meat, from a list that included things like chorizo, pulled pork, chicken, and halloumi (a type of cheese). We both picked the Diot Local Fumé (a local smoked pork sausage from Savoy). Then you chose the style from a long list of options. Keith had the Hot Burger Dog, which had cheddar cheese, lettuce, secret sauce, tomatoes, red onion, bacon, and pickled cucumber. Ann picked the Korea, with kimchi, coriander, lime mayo, peanuts, sesame seeds, and spring onions. They were out of sweet potato fries, which Ann loves, so we both ordered the house fries.

You would think that a hot dog and fries would be an appropriate amount of food for dinner, but it was way more than we could finish. We should have split an order of fries. All of the food was delicious, so we were sad that we had to leave so much of it uneaten.

Sunday, Day 21 of the TMB, we took a “zero” day in Chamonix. We still had to finish the short section of the TMB that we had skipped the first day on the TMB, but Ann’s body needed a day of rest before tackling that. Since we had no plans for the day, other than relaxing, we were in no hurry to go down for breakfast. Breakfast at La Faucigny was from 6:45 am to 10 am. We didn’t arrive until 8 am, then hung out there for over an hour. The breakfast was not quite as extensive as the buffet and eggs made to order at the Alpina Eclectic Hotel, where we stayed when we first arrived in Chamonix, but the buffet at La Faucigny was very nice. There were scrambled eggs, bacon, yogurt, granola, cereal, fresh fruit, juice, fresh cut bread, butter, jams, croissants, and, Ann’s favorite, pain au chocolat.

At breakfast, we met a few others who were about to start the TMB. One couple was from Connecticut, and another couple was from Utah. Our favorite part about the TMB is the social aspect, with everyone sharing their own personal stories.

Most of the day we just hung out in our room, catching up on our electronic devices, and doing laundry. Keith decided to ditch his backpack and sleeping bag liner, so he wouldn’t have to lug it around the rest of our European trip. He posted them on the TMB Facebook group to see if anyone was in Chamonix who wanted them. Johnny spoke up. He was arriving in Chamonix within the hour. Perfect! He stopped by our hotel to pick them up and we chatted for a little while. He was from Boulder, Colorado. Keith had his name written on his pack, so Johnny added his name. His plan was to pass the backpack along to someone else when he was done with it. It would be neat if everyone who used it would add their name to it, as it got passed along.

Since we were hand washing our clothing, we had to do our laundry in batches because there wasn’t much space in the room to hang our clothes out to dry. There was a nice tower fan in the room to help dry things faster and to keep us cool. The temperatures were pretty warm while we were in Chamonix, in the upper 20’s Celsius (80’s Fahrenheit). And like most of Europe, there was no air conditioning.

At lunch time, we ventured out of our room and over to La Roulotte (The Caravan). It was a stone-baked pizza place being served out of a caravan trailer. Keith ordered the Toscana (a spicy pepperoni pizza), while Ann tried the Pesto (with ham and red bell peppers). The pizza was more food than we needed to eat, but it tasted so good that we managed to stuff it all into our bellies anyway.

On the way back to our hotel, Ann visited some sporting goods stores. She was down to one bra and needed to find one in an extra large size. She started the trip with two bras, but one ripped while we were in Ireland. She struggled to find a replacement that was large enough, so she had our daughter bring over a couple more bras when she met us in London. So then Ann had three bras.

But then, Ann left one of the bras hanging in the hotel in Lausanne Switzerland. Then yesterday, another bra ripped. Washing the bras every other day and wringing them out by hand is probably hard on the elastic and the material. Now she was back down to one bra.

Ann managed to find an extra large sports bra in the second sportings good store she went into in Chamonix. It was expensive, but it was better than not having a bra to wear. And she didn’t want to waste the rest of the day visiting all of the stores to find something cheaper.

Then it was back to the hotel to hang out in our room some more. By dinner time, we weren’t very hungry, so we decided to have ice cream for dinner. We tried a different place this time, Salon de thé Pâtissier Chamonix (a bakery). Ann had the chocolat noir (dark chocolate) and myrtille (blueberry) while Keith chose the vanille (vanilla) and caramel au beurre salé (salted butter caramel). The cones were not works of art like the ones at Amorino, but they were still very tasty.

When we returned to the hotel, Keith ordered a beer while Ann got a bottle of mango juice. She also grabbed a piece of banana and blueberry cake that was available for the hotel guests. Then we sat out on the hotel patio and enjoyed our treats.

Monday was Day 23 and the last day of the TMB. We didn’t have far to hike to complete the TMB loop, but we wanted to get going early so we weren’t hiking in the heat of the day. So we were eating breakfast at 7 am and walking out of the hotel around 8 am.

The gondola started running at 8:15 am. We bought our round trip tickets to Brévent and got in line for the gondola. We don’t remember such a long line the first time we took the gondola three weeks ago.

At the top, we took one last bathroom break, then hit the trail. The trail was a pretty steep climb, but Ann started out feeling pretty good. Her sinuses had cleared overnight and some of her strength was back. However, she still took her time and paced herself, as she wasn’t sure how her body would respond.

The trail wrapped around the back side of the peak, over to Col du Brévent. This gave us some different views of mountain cliffs to the west that we weren’t expecting.

Then the trail traverses some rocky boulder fields before reaching a short ladder section. We get to experience some ladders, yay! The trail through the ladders was challenging, but nothing very sketchy or scary, just challenging enough to be fun. It did take more energy to scramble up the rocks, so Ann was glad we took a rest day before tackling this last section. She would have really struggled with it on Day 22.

We reached the top of the Brévent cable car after covering just two miles, but with an elevation gain of 494 meters (1621 feet) and an elevation loss of 52 meters (171 feet). It took us two hours and twenty two minutes to complete. This did not include the half mile to get to the gondola from our hotel and the half mile to get back. It was hike number 48 of our 52 Hike Challenge for 2025. And we finally completed the TMB!

We took the Brévent cable car down to the top of Plan Praz. It was about 11:15 am, so we decided to stay up top for lunch. We tried to get into a different restaurant, La Bergerie de Plan Praz, but it didn’t open until noon, so we went back up to Restaurant Altitude 2000, where we ate two days before.

There is a short, little funicular that you can take to get from the lower area of Plan Praz, up to the upper area, where Altitude 2000 was. It was free and was self operated, almost like an elevator. We weren’t proud; we took it up.

The Duo de Hoummus et Guacamole tasted so good the first time we had it that we both decided to have it again. We enjoyed our food while we watched the paragliders take off below us.

After taking the gondola back down and returning to our hotel, we took showers and hung out at the hotel again for the rest of the day. The blister on Ann’s right foot had gotten bigger, so she wanted to stay off her feet. This second blister acted differently than the first one she had on the toe of her left foot. The first blister responded well to petroleum jelly, stopped getting worse, and healed up nicely. However, the second blister must have been from friction under the surface of the skin, on the edge of a callous, so the petroleum jelly did not prevent it from getting worse. Luckily, it did not get painful enough to be crippling. That evening, Ann applied zinc oxide to it and found a bandage in her first aid kit large enough to cover the blister. We’ll see if it heals up quickly.

We went out to dinner early. The Irish Coffee Pub was serving food, so we went there. We both had the Rebloch’burger with fries. Reblochon is a type of cheese from the Savoy region. The burgers were huge, but tasty. We sat at a table outside in the shade and enjoyed watching all of the people walking by.

While we were out, we ran a couple of errands. Keith needed more meds from the pharmacy. Then we returned to our room, watched some YouTube videos, then went to bed early.

Tuesday was another chill day in Chamonix. We discussed going back to do the Ladder Section that we had skipped on Day 20, but neither one of us felt like it. Perhaps, if Ann had another day of rest, she might have been able to tackle it, but her body was not up to the task on Tuesday.

So we had a leisurely breakfast, then hung out, finishing up our laundry. For lunch, we walked over to Restaurant La Coquelle, near the Téléphérique de l’Aiguille du Midi. We had some Swiss francs to exchange over to euros, since we no longer needed francs. The receptionist at our hotel recommended a tobacco shop (Tabac) near Restaurant La Coquelle for exchanging currency. We exchanged 110 CHF for 88 euros, not a very favorable rate, but better than just throwing the francs away. They did not take coins, so we’ll have to try to use those up at the Swiss train stations between Chamonix and Lake Como the following day.

We also talked about taking the gondola up to Aiguille du Midi. It is a very popular trip, but also very crowded and requires a timed entry reservation. We decided the hassle and expense was not worth fighting the crowds for the experience. Spending another day relaxing sounded better to us.

For lunch, Keith had the soup of the day, while Ann had the salad burrata. Burrata is an Italian cheese with a mozzarella shell filled with shredded mozzarella and cream. Both of our meals were light and tasty, just what we were looking for.

After lunch, we stopped by a grocery store to pick up some food to eat on the train the next day. Six granola bars along with two apples should do the trick. We still had some meat sticks and cashews to round out our food.

For dinner, we had reservations at Le Monchu. It was our last chance to try raclette. Raclette is both a type of cheese and a way of eating it. It is a popular dish in Switzerland and Alpine regions of France, Italy, Germany, and Austria. The cheese is heated and the melted part scraped off and served over boiled potatoes.

At Le Monchu, the cheese was heated with a small, portable, wood burning stove. In addition to potatoes, it was also served with a charcuterie of meats and some pickles. When they brought out the large wedge of cheese, Ann was thinking “what do they do with the leftover cheese?”. However, to our surprise, we somehow ate most of it. But we were too full to order any dessert.

We waddled back to the hotel. Keith managed to drink a beer before we turned in for the night. It was a great way to end our time in Chamonix.

And so ended our TMB experience. Ann’s health made it more of a struggle than we were expecting, but we made it! If we had planned doing the TMB in a more typical pace of seven to ten days, or even fifteen days, we probably would have had to quit due to Ann’s current physical condition. We were a little disappointed that we skipped the Ladder Section, but we were grateful that we were able to make it all the way around Mont Blanc. Despite the labored effort to complete the trail, we both really enjoyed the adventure.

Check out our related video: TMB Days 21 to 23: Refuge La Flégère to Brévent

(Ann)