TMB Days 3 & 4: Refuge du Fioux to Refuge du la Balme - July 22nd to 23rd, 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 2 and 3 on the trail, from Refuge du Fioux to Refuge du la Balme, with an overnight stay in Les Contamines-Montjoie, all in France.

Breakfast at Refuge du Fioux was simple. It consisted of apple juice, coffee or tea, homemade yogurt, toast, butter, and homemade jam. Breakfast was served at 6:30 am and everyone was on the trail before 8 am.

Day three seemed a little easier of a day for hiking, even thought the distance was further. Instead of just mainly downhill or mainly uphill, there were several ups and downs. There were some sections of steep grade, but they were usually short. It seems like the TMB has steeper grades of straight trail without any switch backs or steps than we are used to. Ann found that in really steep downhill sections where the trail was wide, she would make small serpentine movements to take some of the pressure off the feet pushing up to the ends of the boots and slightly changing which leg muscles were being used. That seemed to help.

Our legs were a little stiff and sore in the morning, but they loosened up during the day. By the end of the day, our legs were just slightly sore. Ann thought her legs felt better than at the end of the first two days.

The camera clip on the strap of Ann’s backpack has two protruding bolts sticking through the back. One was causing a hot spot on her shoulder the previous day. A little zinc oxide ointment on the hot spot healed it up overnight. She re-adjusted her backpack to prevent any additional rubbing and also covered the protrusions with duct tape for extra assurance.

Much of the day was through forests and a few small villages. There was one stream crossing, but we didn’t get our feet wet. The trail followed along roaring mountain streams for a good portion of the day. We love listening to the sound of rushing water.

There were several places to top off our water and a couple of public restrooms along the way.

We used a public toilet that was different than anything we’ve seen before. There was what seemed like a conveyor belt that caught the toilet paper and poop, but the pee flowed past it. Then there was a foot lever that you were instructed to pump five times that moved the contents on the conveyor belt towards the back and out of sight. We’re assuming this system separates the urine from the toilet paper and excrement, perhaps for some type of composting?

We struggled finding a place to sit down and enjoy our snacks while on the trail. We sat down on some concrete next to a building. It seemed to be some type of sewage treatment center. There was no aroma when we first sat down, but then the odor hit us. OK, time to move on.

Of course, as we got closer to the town of Les Contamines-Montjoie, there were all kinds of benches to sit on near the trail. We walked through the center of town. A market was just finishing up. Ann managed to buy a nectarine before a farmer closed his stand. Well, she tried to buy just one, but he threw in another one for free.

Ann spotted some really nice looking salads at Crêperie Les Airelles, so we stopped there for lunch. We both had the Salade Chèvre Miel (a salad with cheese and honey). The salads were wonderful and really hit the spot. For dessert, Ann had a citron frais sucre crêpe (fresh lemon and sugar crepe) while Keith had a cappuccino.

Before leaving town, we stopped at the Spar supermarket to pick up more trail food. Cereal bars, some little sausages, and cashews fit the bill. We noticed a pizza vending machine outside the store. It advertised getting hot in 3 minutes and cold in 30 seconds. We couldn’t understand why they would claim the pizza gets cold in 30 seconds. Perhaps they just meant it was cool enough to eat in 30 seconds.

(Our Day 3 AllTrails Track)

Gîte Les Mélèzes, our lodging for the night, was not far from there. By the time we reached the Gîte, we had gone 12.6 kilometers (7.8 miles) with an elevation gain of 291 meters (1283 feet) and an elevation loss of 735 meters (2411 feet). We counted it as hike number 30 of our 52 Hike Challenge for 2025.

We arrived at Gîte Les Mélèzes around 2:15 pm and knew check in was not until 3 pm. So we took our packs off and sat down on a bench right outside the place. No sooner did we sit down, the owner came out the door. It was OK that we were early, he was ready for us.

There was a separate room for our packs, shoes and poles. There were baskets to pull what we needed out of our packs to take inside. Again, there were crocks to wear if we wanted. The owner quickly spotted the bag of nectarines that Ann had. No food allowed in the rooms. However, we could leave it with our packs and come out to get it at any time. He recommended eating the nectarines outside in the garden out back.

The Gîte was small, only accommodating up to 12 people. There were only 10 of us staying that night. We had the private room reserved, while the rest were in the two other shared rooms. There was only one toilet and one shower for all of us to share. There was a sign asking everyone to keep their showers limited to three minutes, but there was nothing to enforce that like the previous place. Apparently the area was in a drought this year, so everyone was trying to conserve water.

We took our showers and put our clothes outside on a clothes line in the sun. Everything was dry by dinner time.

The rest of the day, we got to know the other guests. Four were a family from Nashville. The other four were part of a larger group from Washington, hiking the TMB together as part of a hiking organization. The family was having their luggage transported for them from place to place. While we sat there and chatted with everyone, Keith had a beer and Ann tried a Schweppes. The beer, La Pieuca, was made by a neighbor who was also a chimney sweep. You can’t get more local than that! The Schweppes was a flavor with a mixture of citrus fruits.

At 6:45 pm, our gracious hosts served appetizers. It consisted of a glass of wine and a charcuterie of local meats and cheeses. There were also breadsticks to dip into homemade beetroot hummus. It was all delicious.

Dinner was a beautiful salad, followed by chicken in a mushroom sauce over rice along with peas and bacon. The main meal was served family style, so you could have as much as you wanted. Dessert was individual little blueberry tarts. The meal was the best we’ve had, not only on the TMB, but our whole European trip so far.

Breakfast at Les Mélèzes was wonderful. Good bread, butter, jams, yogurt, muesli, fresh cantaloupe, juice, coffee, and tea. We left by 8 am. We paid the balance on our room along with the tourist tax and our drinks the day before, all in cash, as was requested.

On Day Four of the TMB, we took our time along the trail. The first couple of miles were pretty flat, following the stream. There was a recreational area (Parc de Loisirs du Pontet) with ponds, rope courses, tennis courts, a driving range, and paddle boats in addition to other amenities. We stopped and watched some coots (birds) swimming in the ponds.

At the end of the flat section was a historical church, Notre-Dame de la Gorge. After checking out the church, we started the climb.

It was a steep climb up most of the rest of the day. It started out in the woods, crossed over some waterfalls, before opening up to mountain views. It was another sunny day.

When we reached Refuge Nant Borrant, we stopped for an early lunch. We both ordered ham & cheese sandwiches along with some drinks. We had time to kill because we were only going 7 kilometers (4.5 miles) that day. So we hung out for about an hour. Ann got her laptop out and wrote up her notes from the day before.

(Our Day 4 AllTrails Track)

We reached our destination for the day, Refuge du la Balme, before 2 pm. We had covered 8.2 kilometers (5.1 miles), with an elevation gain of 580 meters (1903 feet). We counted it as hike number 31 of our 52 Hike Challenge for 2025.

We had reserved a four person room. Our other two roommates were from Indiana and Ohio. They had just finished their first day, starting in Les Houches. That’s a long day!

Everything was separated out so you had to go outside to reach everything. One building contained the storage for our backpacks, poles, and shoes. In a separate door of the same building were the showers. On the outside of the building, under an overhang, were the sinks. In the back of the main building were the toilets, each with an outside door. The dining area was in a separate building. The rest of the main building was where the kitchen and rooms were.

They asked that people did not wash clothes, as they were in a drought, trying to conserve water. We followed the rules and didn’t wash our clothes. We both took short showers. Ann didn’t even wash her hair. Then we hung out our damp clothes and wet towels on the clothes line outside. But when the rain came, we moved our clothes inside the backpack room, where they had hangers and lines to dry things out.

Dinner was at 7 pm, so we had a lot of time on our hands. Ann pulled out her laptop and edited some photos, until her laptop battery got low. There were no outlets in the rooms. The only outlets were in the dining building. We plugged in our watches and phones, but didn’t feel right trying to charge a laptop.

The Dutch couple that we had met at Refuge du Fioux showed up. They were tent camping near the refuge, in the Balme Bivouac area. They had taken a higher route than we did to get there. It was their last night tent camping before returning to refuges. They were leaving the TMB and following a different route into Italy.

Our seats were assigned at dinner. At our table was a mother and daughter from France, and a couple of guys from England. It was fun to exchange our stories with each other.

Dinner was served family style. The starter was a soup, followed by a rice dish with vegetables. Dessert was a sweet, crunchy crumble of some type. It wasn’t gourmet, but it was satisfying and filling.

After dinner, we settled up our bill with the refuge. Same drill, the balance of the room plus the picnic lunch for the following day, all in cash. Our cash was starting to get low, but we were hoping to find an ATM when we reach a town in two days.

Ann didn’t bother changing into her normal sleep wear of a t-shirt and shorts because it was rather cool. Instead, she went to bed in her hiking shirt and leggings along with her socks. The night started off cool enough to use the duvet (comforter), but after a while, the room seemed to warm up. By the end of the night, Ann had shed her socks and was just using her silk sleeping bag liner, no duvet.

At the end of day four, we seemed to be getting into the rhythm of the trail. Ann was slowly feeling better as the easier hiking days were helping. The good food and camaraderie at our lodging added to the enjoyment of the trail.

Check out our related video: TMB Days 3 & 4: Refuge du Fioux to Refuge du la Balme

(Ann)