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I have some questions 🙋Run the Tour du Mont Blanc: the complete circuit of the Mont Blanc massif through Italy, Switzerland and France, in six guided stages on the trails of the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc and in the same direction as the race, with a full rest day in Chamonix and the Aiguille du Midi cable car included. Every night is spent in a hand-picked 4-star hotel with a spa, including an evening in the Roman baths of Martigny, and every transfer, trail lunch and dinner is taken care of, from the welcome pizza on your first night to the farewell dinner in a Michelin Guide-selected restaurant in the heart of Courmayeur.
Led throughout by IFMGA Mountain Guides and International Mountain Leaders who run these trails themselves, and on departures of more than six, by two guides rather than one. Starting and finishing in Courmayeur.
The Tour du Mont Blanc is the most famous long-distance trail in the Alps: a loop of roughly 170 kilometers around the entire Mont Blanc massif, through three countries, with around 10,000 meters of cumulative climbing. Hikers usually take ten or eleven days to walk it. Every August, the fastest runners in the world race it nonstop at the UTMB, the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc, the most famous trail race on earth. Our Trail Running Deluxe sits between the two: the UTMB course, run in six big mountain days in the same direction as the race, with a rest day in Chamonix in the middle and a 4-star hotel waiting at the end of every stage.
It is a simple idea, built for runners who want the whole mountain and none of the hassle. We run the flats and the descents, hike the steep climbs, and stop when the view demands it, which around Mont Blanc is often. You carry only a light vest. Your bag travels ahead by road. Lunch is in your pack, dinner is booked, the transfer is waiting at the trailhead. Your only job is to run some of the finest mountain trails on earth.
We start and finish in Courmayeur, on the sunny Italian side of the massif, and run the loop anticlockwise, exactly as the UTMB does. The first stage is the biggest of the trip: from the door of the hotel up to Bertone and the Val Ferret balcony, past Rifugio Bonatti and over the Grand Col Ferret into Switzerland, a day that hikers split in two. From there we follow the race through La Fouly, Champex-Lac and the Bovine traverse to Trient, on to La Flégère and down the final UTMB descent into Chamonix, then out past the Bionnassay glacier to Les Contamines, over the Croix du Bonhomme to Les Chapieux, and finally back into Italy over the Col de la Seigne, along the Mont Favre balcony and down through Maison Vieille and Dolonne into Courmayeur, the same descent UTMB runners take into the town. Six stages, three countries, seven high passes.
Most of the route is the UTMB course itself. In two places we take the classic TMB variant instead, chosen for the views: the Col de Balme into France, with Mont Blanc filling the horizon, and the Col de Tricot beneath the Bionnassay glacier, one of the most spectacular passages of the whole circuit.
By default we run the circuit in full, door to door, from Chamonix to Les Contamines and from the Col de la Seigne all the way down into Courmayeur. But four of the six stages also come with a shorter option, using a cable car or a short transfer to trim a climb or a descent. Your guide discusses the options with the group each morning, so a runner who wants every kilometer and a runner who wants to save their legs for tomorrow can both have the day they came for.
This is not a race, and there is no clock. It is the UTMB course experienced at a pace that lets you actually see it: in daylight, with time on the cols, an espresso at the refuges and lunch on a warm rock facing the Grandes Jorasses. Your guide sets a steady, sustainable rhythm, reads the group every morning and adapts the day to conditions.
If you have a UTMB, CCC or OCC bib, or you are dreaming of one, there is no better preparation than running the course in daylight with a guide who knows it intimately. You will learn where the long climbs really start, which descents punish tired quads, where the runnable sections are, and what the major checkpoints look like, from Les Contamines and Les Chapieux to Courmayeur, Champex-Lac and Trient. And you will arrive at the start line in Chamonix having already seen the views you would otherwise pass in the dark.
At the end of each stage you arrive somewhere worth arriving. No dormitories, no queues for the shower, no hut bunks: every night of the trip is spent in a hand-picked 4-star hotel, in double or twin rooms with private bathrooms, and every one has a spa or wellness area to draw the day's kilometers out of your legs.
Two evenings deserve a special mention. After the first stage, a private transfer carries you from La Fouly to Verbier, one of the great resorts of the Alps, for your first Swiss night. And on the second Swiss night, instead of sleeping in one of the small villages along the trail, we transfer down to Martigny, Roman Octodurus two thousand years ago, where the evening is spent in the warm pools and steam of the town's Roman baths. For a runner, this is not a detail. Recovery is what turns six big mountain days into a trip you finish strong.
Your group is led by an IFMGA Mountain Guide or a qualified International Mountain Leader who lives and works in these valleys and runs these trails. They know every variant, every refuge and every weather window around the massif, and they choose the best line each morning for the group and the conditions. On departures of more than six runners, two guides lead the group rather than one, so it can split naturally by pace, no one is left waiting and no one is pushed.
From the moment you land, the trip is taken care of. Transfers from Geneva airport to Courmayeur and back are included, along with every night of accommodation, every breakfast, a trail lunch for each running day and every dinner of the trip. On your first evening the group gathers for a welcome pizza, the proper Italian start to a journey that begins on Italian soil. Eight days later, after closing the loop, we celebrate with a farewell dinner beneath the brick vaults of one of Courmayeur's oldest restaurants, a Michelin Guide-selected address in the historic heart of the village.
In between, dinners are taken at the hotels along the way, and the cooking changes character as you cross borders: polenta and fontina in the Aosta Valley, rösti in the Valais, Savoyard classics and Beaufort cheese in France. Running your way around Mont Blanc is, quite honestly, also eating your way around it.
This is a trail running trip for runners who are already comfortable in the mountains. You do not need to be fast and you do not need to have run an ultra. You do need to be at ease on steep, rocky trails, and able to spend 4 to 8 hours on your feet on consecutive days, with daily climbs of up to around 2,000 meters. The shorter options make the hardest days more manageable, but the full circuit is what this trip is built around. If you have run a mountain marathon or a 50 km trail race, or you regularly string together long weekend runs in the hills, you will be at home here. The Requirements section has the full detail and our training advice.
We have been guiding around the Mont Blanc massif for over 20 years. Our guides do not visit these valleys in summer, they live and train in them. That local depth shapes every decision on this program, from the direction we run to the hotels we book.
Recovery built into the route. Six big mountain days in a row are about recovery as much as running. That is why this program puts a 4-star hotel with a spa at the end of every stage, a Roman bath evening in Martigny, your own bag waiting at reception, and a full rest day in Chamonix right in the middle. You start each morning restored rather than merely rested.
One price, no surprises. Airport transfers from Geneva, every meal from the welcome pizza to the farewell dinner, trail lunches, luggage transfers, the Aiguille du Midi cable car, every lift and transfer used for the shorter options, the Roman baths in Martigny, and professional guiding throughout. All included. You book once, and then your only job is to run.
Local guiding, real decisions. Weather around Mont Blanc changes fast, and the TMB is full of variants. A guide who knows the massif turns those variants into opportunities, a clearer col, a quieter balcony, a better line for the group, rather than problems. This is what you cannot get from a GPX track.
The UTMB trails, without the UTMB crowds. Every year at the end of August, the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc brings some ten thousand runners and many more supporters onto these very trails, and hotels along the route fill a year in advance. Our departure runs in early July, when the passes are open, the days are at their longest and the UTMB course belongs to the mountain rather than the race.
The circuit ends in Courmayeur, and Courmayeur is a very good place to linger. If you would like to extend your stay and treat yourself to one last alpine experience, two ideas come warmly recommended by our guides.
A recovery day at QC Terme Monte Bianco. A few minutes from Courmayeur, in Pré-Saint-Didier, the QC Terme thermal spa is one of the finest in the Alps: outdoor thermal pools facing the Mont Blanc massif, saunas, steam rooms and relaxation spaces built around waters used for recovery since the 1800s. After 165 kilometers on the UTMB trails, an afternoon drifting between warm pools with the mountain you just ran around filling the horizon is, in our experience, the perfect final chapter.
Skyway Monte Bianco. Alternatively, or additionally, ride one of the most spectacular cable cars in the world from Courmayeur to Punta Helbronner at 3,466 m, in rotating panoramic cabins that lift you from the valley floor into the glacier world in minutes. From the top terrace you stand among the granite spires and séracs of the massif you have just circled, with your entire route traceable in the valleys below.
Both are easy to arrange, and we are happy to advise on timings, an extra hotel night in Courmayeur, or a later transfer if you decide to stay on.
Your Tour du Mont Blanc begins the easy way: we collect you. A shared group transfer departs Geneva airport at 15:00 and is included in the price of the trip, a scenic two-hour drive through the Mont Blanc tunnel that delivers you from the arrivals hall to the Italian side of the massif. If your flight schedule does not fit the 15:00 departure, we can arrange a private transfer at any time of day for an additional cost; just let us know when you book.
Courmayeur is the perfect place to start. An elegant alpine town at 1,224 m with a car-free center of cobbled lanes, mountain outfitters and cafés, it sits directly beneath the south side of Mont Blanc, and from the moment you step out of the vehicle, the scale of the mountain you are about to run around is unmistakable.
Home for the night is a beautiful 4-star hotel with its own spa, steps from the historic center. With the afternoon free before the briefing, there is no better introduction to the Deluxe way of doing the TMB than an hour in the wellness area: pool, sauna and steam beneath the mountain you will spend the coming week circling.
At 6 pm we meet as a group. Your guide runs a relaxed but thorough briefing: introductions, an overview of the six stages, the daily rhythm of the trip, how the luggage transfers work, and a check of everyone's running vest and kit. Then, the proper Italian start to the journey: the group heads out together for the welcome pizza, wood-fired and unhurried. Tomorrow, the running begins straight from the hotel door.
Shared transfer from Geneva at 15:00 (included) | Private transfer available on request (extra cost) Night in Courmayeur (4-star hotel with spa) Meals: welcome pizza dinner
The biggest stage of the trip, and one of the finest days of trail running in the Alps. Hikers take two days to cover this ground; we run it in one, and we cross a border on foot to finish it.
We leave straight from the hotel and climb out of Courmayeur on the well-graded switchbacks that lead through larch and pine to Rifugio Bertone (1,989 m). It is a steady first climb, the kind you settle into rather than attack, and it ends with the moment the whole trip reveals itself: as you round the final bend to the hut, the entire Mont Blanc massif appears across the Val Ferret.
What follows is the most runnable and arguably the most beautiful stretch of the circuit. The balcony trail contours north-east along the flank of the Mont de la Saxe at around 2,000 m, through wildflower meadows, with almost no climbing and nothing to do but run and look. Directly opposite, the north walls of the Grandes Jorasses rise nearly two and a half vertical kilometers from the valley floor, with the granite tooth of the Dent du Géant and glacier after glacier beside them. UTMB runners cross this balcony in the dark; you get it in full morning light. At Rifugio Bonatti (2,025 m) we take a proper pause on the terrace before dropping to the valley floor at Arnouva.
Then comes the second half of the day: the long climb to the Grand Col Ferret (2,537 m). The gradient is remarkably kind, rising in broad curves through open terrain, and the views grow behind you with every step: Mont Dolent, where Italy, Switzerland and France meet at a single summit, and the Pré de Bar glacier hanging beneath it. At the col, Italy falls away behind you and Switzerland opens ahead, softer and greener, all rolling pasture and dark timber chalets. The descent past the alpage of La Peule, to the sound of cowbells, is a long, flowing run down to La Fouly (1,593 m) and the end of the stage.
But your first Swiss evening deserves more than a quiet village. A private transfer carries us from La Fouly to Verbier, perched on its sunny balcony above the Val de Bagnes with the Grand Combin filling the view. Tonight's home is a 4-star hotel with its own spa, and after the longest stage of the trip, pool, sauna and steam are exactly where you want to be before a first Swiss dinner. Welcome to Switzerland, done the Deluxe way.
Distance: approx. 32 km | Ascent: +1,900 m | Descent: -1,550 m | Time on the trail: approx. 6 to 7.5 hours Private transfer La Fouly to Verbier Night in Verbier (4-star hotel with spa) Meals: breakfast, trail lunch, trail nutrition, dinner
After breakfast in Verbier and a last look at the Grand Combin from the terrace, our private transfer takes us back to La Fouly, exactly where we left the trail yesterday.
The day opens with some of the gentlest running of the whole circuit. The trail follows the Swiss Val Ferret downstream through pasture, larch forest and the old hamlets of Praz-de-Fort and Issert, where wooden granaries stand on stone stilts and flower boxes line every balcony. It is easy, rolling terrain, perfect for loosening the legs after yesterday's big stage, and it finishes with a short climb through the forest to Champex-Lac (1,466 m), the small, elegant resort curled around its still alpine lake. This is also UTMB country: Champex is one of the race's great checkpoints, and the trail out of it is the one the runners take.
From Champex, the day offers a choice, and the guide makes the call in the morning, based on the group and the conditions.
The classic option: Bovine. The UTMB line and the traditional TMB route, across the high alpage of Bovine. This is a beautiful, very runnable traverse through forest and open pasture, where the view suddenly opens over the entire Rhône Valley two thousand meters below, toward the distant Bernese Alps. The trail then eases over the Col de la Forclaz and drops to Trient.
The high option: Fenêtre d'Arpette (2,665 m). If the weather is settled and the group is moving well, we take the wildest crossing of the entire Tour du Mont Blanc, and its highest point. The trail climbs the length of the Val d'Arpette to a final steep pull through boulder fields to the notch of the Fenêtre, a true mountain doorway. On the far side, the Trient Glacier pours down the opposite wall, its séracs in full view for the whole descent. More hiking than running on the top section, and one of the most memorable hours of the trip.
Shorter option: start from Champex-Lac. If you would rather save your legs after yesterday's big stage, the morning transfer can drop you directly in Champex-Lac, skipping the Val Ferret section. You join the group there and run the Bovine traverse to Trient, a beautiful and very manageable half day.
All routes converge on the quiet village of Trient, recognizable by its little pink church against the dark forest. Rather than stay in the village, a private transfer whisks us down to Martigny for the most distinctive night of the trip: a 4-star hotel with its own Roman baths. Martigny was the Roman city of Octodurus two thousand years ago, its amphitheater still stands at the edge of town, and tonight you recover the way the Romans did, drifting between warm pools, steam and cool plunges before dinner. After two big stages back to back, it is a deliberate piece of design.
Bovine option: approx. 30 km | Ascent +1,150 m | Descent -1,450 m | approx. 5 to 6 hours Fenêtre d'Arpette option: approx. 28 km | Ascent +1,650 m | Descent -1,950 m | approx. 6 to 7 hours Shorter option from Champex-Lac via Bovine: approx. 16 km | Ascent +700 m | Descent -900 m | approx. 3 to 3.5 hours Morning transfer Verbier to La Fouly (or to Champex-Lac for the shorter option) and evening transfer Trient to Martigny Night in Martigny (4-star hotel with Roman baths) Meals: breakfast, trail lunch, trail nutrition, dinner
A day of two great views, and for many runners the most beautiful stage of the circuit. After breakfast in Martigny, our transfer carries us back up to Trient and the little pink church.
The climb begins straight away, rising out of the Trient valley through forest and old alpages toward the frontier ridge. Smugglers, shepherds and travelers have crossed into France here for centuries, and the trail has the settled, well-worn feel of a route that has always been used. Then comes one of the defining moments of the Tour du Mont Blanc. At the Col de Balme (2,191 m), the border stone underfoot, the whole Chamonix valley unrolls ahead of you, and filling the head of it is Mont Blanc itself, back in full view for the first time in days, with the Aiguille Verte and the Aiguilles de Chamonix lined up along the horizon.
The descent into France is pure running: open slopes above Le Tour, then gentle trails through forest and meadow down to Argentière (1,252 m), the mountaineering village tucked beneath the icefall of the Argentière Glacier. Here your guide picks up a fresh picnic lunch for the group, and we refuel in the village before the second half of the day.
From Argentière we climb into the Aiguilles Rouges nature reserve, a protected wilderness of red granite, dwarf pine and small tarns on the sunny side of the valley, and join the famous Grand Balcon Sud. For the rest of the afternoon, the greatest mountain wall in western Europe scrolls past across the valley: the Argentière Glacier, the north face of the Aiguille Verte and the Drus, the Mer de Glace curving down between the Aiguilles, and finally the summit dome of Mont Blanc. Ibex pose on the rocks, marmots whistle from the meadows, and conditions permitting, your guide may add the short detour to Lac Blanc, the most photographed lake in the Alps.
From La Flégère, the stage finishes the way runners love: a long, fast descent through larch and pine forest, switchback after switchback, all the way down to the valley floor and into Chamonix: the very descent that brings UTMB runners home to the finish line in the center of town. Running into town on your own feet, from the Swiss border to the Chamonix café terraces in a single day, is one of the great satisfactions of the circuit.
Shorter option: the La Flégère cable car. If your legs have had enough by the end of the balcony, the cable car from La Flégère takes you down to Les Praz in minutes, saving the final 850 meters of descent, and a short hop brings you into town.
Tonight's home, for two nights, is a 4-star hotel with its own spa in the heart of town: pool, sauna and steam while the Aiguilles turn gold outside, then dinner at the hotel and a well-earned evening on the liveliest café terraces of the circuit.
Full stage to Chamonix: approx. 30 km | Ascent: +1,900 m | Descent: -2,150 m | Time on the trail: approx. 6.5 to 7.5 hours Shorter option with the La Flégère cable car: approx. 25 km | Ascent: +1,900 m | Descent: -1,300 m | approx. 5.5 to 6.5 hours
Morning transfer Martigny to Trient La Flégère cable car for the shorter option Night in Chamonix (4-star hotel with spa) Meals: breakfast, trail lunch, trail nutrition, dinner
Three big stages deserve a pause, and there is no better place on earth to take one than Chamonix. Today the shoes stay by the door: no vest to pack, no pass to cross, no luggage to send ahead.
The centerpiece of the day, included in your trip, is the Aiguille du Midi: the legendary cable car that rises from the center of town to 3,842 meters in two breathtaking stages, one of the highest lift-served viewpoints in the Alps. In twenty minutes you travel from café terraces to the world of glaciers and granite needles, and from the summit terraces the view is without equal: Mont Blanc close enough to study its final snow slopes, the Vallée Blanche and its sea of ice below, the Matterhorn and Monte Rosa on the horizon, and the balconies and passes of your own route, traceable valley by valley. For the committed, the glass-floored Step into the Void adds a heartbeat or two.
The rest of the day belongs entirely to you, and Chamonix fills it effortlessly. Ride the rack railway to Montenvers and the Mer de Glace, France's largest glacier. Visit the Alpine Museum, browse the mountaineering and trail running shops that make this town a pilgrimage site for runners, or take a café terrace beneath the Aiguilles and watch the paragliders spiral down from Planpraz. If your legs are asking for an easy shakeout, your guide can suggest a short, flat loop along the Arve. And the hotel spa is there for those whose idea of rest is more literal. Lunch today is yours to choose, from a terrace in town to a mountain restaurant.
There is design in this pause, as always. Tomorrow the circuit resumes toward Les Contamines, and the three stages that follow are the wildest of the trip: the Bionnassay glacier, the Bonhomme passes, the remote Chapieux valley and the return to Italy over the Col de la Seigne. You will run into them rested, restored and knowing exactly what mountain you are running around.
Tonight we sleep at the same hotel in Chamonix, no repacking required.
Rest day, no scheduled running Aiguille du Midi cable car included Night in Chamonix (4-star hotel with spa, same as Day 4) Meals: breakfast, dinner
Back on the trail and heading south into quieter country, by way of one of the most spectacular variants on the entire circuit. After a day of rest, the legs are fresh, and we leave Chamonix the way we arrived: on foot, straight from the hotel door.
The morning opens with easy running down the valley toward Les Houches, on forest trails and quiet paths beside the Arve, the perfect way to wake the legs after the rest day. From Les Houches the real work begins: a steady climb through forest and open slopes to the high shoulder of Bellevue (1,800 m), with the Chamonix valley falling away behind you and the Aiguilles lined up across it.
Shorter options. Two ways to trim the day, chosen in the morning with your guide. Option one: a short transfer to Les Houches, skipping the valley section and starting directly with the climb. Option two: the transfer to Les Houches plus the Bellevue cable car, which lifts you straight onto the high trail at 1,800 m and leaves only the Bionnassay and the Col de Tricot.
From Bellevue the path contours around the flank of the massif to the day's first great moment: the Bionnassay Glacier, tumbling nearly three thousand meters from the shoulder of Mont Blanc directly above the trail. We cross its meltwater torrent on a suspension bridge slung across the gorge, a swaying, exhilarating passage and one of the most photographed spots of the whole tour.
Then the climb to the Col de Tricot (2,120 m), a steady pull up open slopes with the ice of the Bionnassay for company. This is the wilder alternative to the standard route, with fewer people, bigger views and a genuine high-mountain atmosphere at the pass, where the elegant snow ridge of the Dômes de Miage rises ahead. The descent is steep at first and then a joy to run, down to the Chalets de Miage, over the pastoral shoulder of the Chalets du Truc, where a tiny alpine farm sells its own cheese, and through beautiful forest into Les Contamines-Montjoie (1,164 m), a Savoyard village of old stone and timber, untouched by big-resort development.
Whichever option you choose, there is time to make the most of tonight's 4-star hotel with spa, in Les Contamines or, with a very short transfer, in the neighboring village of Saint-Gervais. A long soak is well timed: tomorrow brings the twin Bonhomme passes.
Full stage from Chamonix: approx. 28 km | Ascent: +1,850 m | Descent: -1,700 m | Time on the trail: approx. 6 to 7 hours Shorter option 1, from Les Houches: approx. 20 km | Ascent: +1,650 m | Descent: -1,500 m | approx. 5 to 6 hours Shorter option 2, from Bellevue: approx. 15 km | Ascent: +850 m | Descent: -1,500 m | approx. 3.5 to 4.5 hours Transfer Chamonix to Les Houches and Bellevue cable car for the shorter options Night in Les Contamines or Saint-Gervais (4-star hotel with spa) Meals: breakfast, trail lunch, trail nutrition, dinner
One of the great classic stages of the Tour du Mont Blanc, and a centerpiece of the UTMB course: two high passes in a single day, carrying us out of the Mont Blanc valleys into the wilder country of the south.
After a short transfer back to Les Contamines, the day begins with an easy warm-up along the valley floor to the baroque chapel of Notre-Dame-de-la-Gorge, where the tarmac ends and the mountains take over. From here we climb the famous old paved way: worn stone slabs polished by two thousand years of feet and hooves, rising through the gorge beside the torrent, past natural rock arches and waterfalls. UTMB runners climb it by headlamp in the first night of the race. You climb it in morning light, and the difference is the whole point.
Above the gorge the valley opens into the high bowl of La Balme, the terrain turns more mineral, and the final pull brings us to the Col du Bonhomme (2,329 m). The day is not done climbing: a superb high traverse continues along the ridge flank, wild and stony and sometimes streaked with old snow in early July, to the Col de la Croix du Bonhomme (2,479 m). Your guide reads the terrain and always picks the safest line. The view repays every meter: south toward the glaciers of the Vanoise, back north to the Miage ridge, and ahead into high country with no roads and no lifts in any direction.
The descent to Les Chapieux is one of the great downhill runs of the circuit, long and flowing into a lonely hollow famous for one thing above all: Beaufort, the prince of Gruyères, made from the milk of the Tarine cows grazing all around you.
From Les Chapieux, a short transfer carries us over the spectacular Cormet de Roselend to the village of Beaufort itself, where a 4-star hotel with spa awaits in the heart of the village: hammam and sauna for the legs, and a dinner built around Beaufortain products to close a classic mountain day.
Distance: approx. 18 km | Ascent: +1,330 m | Descent: -940 m | Time on the trail: approx. 4 to 5 hours Morning transfer Saint-Gervais to Les Contamines and transfer Les Chapieux to Beaufort Night in Beaufort (4-star hotel with spa) Meals: breakfast, trail lunch, trail nutrition, dinner
Every great circuit deserves a great final stage, and the Tour du Mont Blanc saves one of its finest for last: a high frontier pass, a triumphant return to Italy, and a run beneath the wildest faces of the massif.
After breakfast, the transfer carries us from Beaufort back to Les Chapieux, and the trail resumes exactly where we left it. The climb to the Col de la Seigne works its way up the long Vallée des Glaciers, past the hamlet of Ville des Glaciers and the old farm of Les Mottets, into increasingly open, high terrain. By the last day of a trip like this, your legs treat a climb of this size as routine, which is its own quiet satisfaction.
Then the moment the whole day builds toward. You crest the broad saddle of the col, step across the border stone, France behind and Italy ahead, and the entire Italian side of Mont Blanc explodes into view: the dark blade of the Aiguille Noire de Peuterey, the hanging glaciers of the Brenva face, ice pouring toward the Val Veny from a skyline of granite. Seven days ago, at the Grand Col Ferret, you left Italy looking at this massif from the east. Now you return from the west, and the circle visibly closes in front of you.
The run down into the Val Veny is a fitting last act: a glacier-carved valley beneath the great south faces of Mont Blanc, past the braided streams of Lac Combal and the huge moraine of the Miage Glacier, on fast, runnable trail. From Lac Combal the classic TMB climbs once more onto the balcony beneath Mont Favre, one last high traverse with the Brenva glacier and the summit of Mont Blanc directly across the valley, before dropping to Maison Vieille above Courmayeur. From there, the final descent runs through the forest to the old village of Dolonne and across the river into the center of Courmayeur, right back where it all began. Closing the loop on foot, to the very door of the hotel, is the only way to finish the Tour du Mont Blanc: three countries, seven high passes and the complete circuit of the greatest massif in western Europe, run in six stages.
Shorter option: finish at La Visaille. If you prefer to save the final climb, you can follow the Val Veny trail down to the parking area at La Visaille, where a private transfer brings you back to Courmayeur in twenty minutes.
Tonight we celebrate the way it deserves. Our farewell dinner takes place at one of the oldest and most loved addresses in Courmayeur, a Michelin Guide-selected restaurant beneath the brick vaults of a historic building in the old heart of the village, where Valdostan tradition becomes something quietly refined. A long table, a menu that tells you where you have been, and the particular warmth of a group of people who have just run around Mont Blanc together. It began with a pizza; it ends beneath century-old vaults. One last night in our 4-star Courmayeur hotel, with nothing left to climb tomorrow.
Full stage to Courmayeur via Maison Vieille and Dolonne: approx. 27 km | Ascent: +1,500 m | Descent: -1,800 m | Time on the trail: approx. 5.5 to 6.5 hours Shorter option to La Visaille: approx. 19 km | Ascent: +1,000 m | Descent: -900 m | approx. 4 to 5 hours Morning transfer Beaufort to Les Chapieux | Transfer La Visaille to Courmayeur for the shorter option Night in Courmayeur (4-star hotel with spa) Meals: breakfast, trail lunch, trail nutrition, farewell celebration dinner
After six stages, three borders and seven high passes, the final morning is deliberately unhurried. A relaxed breakfast, no shoes to lace, and time for a last coffee in the sunshine of Courmayeur's car-free center, the same streets you walked on your first evening, though they tend to look a little different once you have earned them the long way round.
For those heading home, the shared group transfer to Geneva airport departs at 9:30 and is included in the price of the trip, in comfortable time for afternoon flights. If your plans do not fit the group schedule, we can arrange a private transfer at any time for an additional cost.
But there is no rule that says the journey has to end at breakfast. Courmayeur is a wonderful place to linger, and two ideas come warmly recommended by our guides. Ride the Skyway Monte Bianco to Punta Helbronner at 3,466 meters, in rotating panoramic cabins that lift you into the heart of the glacier world, and trace your entire route from above. Or spend the afternoon at the QC Terme thermal baths in Pré-Saint-Didier, a few minutes from town, drifting between outdoor thermal pools with the mountain you just ran around filling the horizon. After 165 kilometers and close to 10,000 meters of climbing, it is, in our experience, the perfect final chapter.
Both are easy to arrange, and we are happy to advise on timings, an extra hotel night in Courmayeur, or a later transfer if you decide to stay on.
However you choose to end it, the achievement travels home with you: the complete Tour du Mont Blanc, run on the trails of the UTMB.
Shared transfer to Geneva airport at 9:30 (included) | Private transfer available on request Meals: breakfast
The Tour du Mont Blanc is a mountain trail, not a climb: there is no glacier travel, no technical terrain and no need for mountaineering experience. But run in six stages, it is a serious undertaking. Run in full, this trip covers around 165 kilometers and close to 10,000 meters of climbing, on genuine alpine trails, with several passes above 2,300 meters, three running days in a row before the rest day in Chamonix and three more after it. The single most important ingredient for enjoying it is arriving fit.
Trail running fitness and endurance. You should be comfortable spending 4 to 8 hours on your feet per day, on consecutive days, with daily climbs of 1,150 to 2,000 meters on the full stages. The key word is consecutive: plenty of runners can handle one big mountain day, but this trip asks for three in a row, twice. This is not all-out running: we run most of the flats and descents, hike the steep climbs, and stop regularly. Four stages also offer a shorter option with a cable car or a transfer, but the underlying fitness has to be yours.
Mountain running experience. You should be confident running on steep, rocky and occasionally rough trails, and on long, sustained descents, which surprise more runners than the climbs do. Early in July, old snow patches can linger on the highest passes, where your guide will choose the safest line. Experience of a mountain marathon, a 50 km trail race or regular long runs in hilly terrain is the right background.
Run light. Thanks to the daily luggage transfers, you carry only a running vest of 5 to 12 liters with water, your trail lunch, a waterproof jacket, a warm layer and personal items. It makes an enormous difference to how the days feel.
How to prepare. We recommend starting structured training 12 to 16 weeks before departure, building toward around 50 km a week with regular climbing, and including back-to-back long runs at weekends: two consecutive days of 3 to 4 hours on hilly trails is the single best test. Strength work for the legs and core pays off most on the long descents. If you can comfortably run two consecutive days of 25 km with 1,500 meters of climbing, you are ready for the Tour du Mont Blanc.
If you are unsure whether your fitness or experience is right for this trip, contact us before booking. We are happy to talk through your background honestly and, if needed, point you toward a sensible training plan.
It is a 9-day trip (8 hotel nights, 6 running days, a full rest day in Chamonix, arrival and departure days) running the complete Tour du Mont Blanc through Italy, Switzerland and France, following much of the UTMB course. You run with a light vest while your luggage travels ahead by road, sleep in hand-picked 4-star hotels with a spa every night, and everything from Geneva airport transfers to trail lunches, dinners, the route cable cars, the Aiguille du Midi and the Roman baths evening in Martigny is included.
No. There is no race, no clock and no pressure. We run the flats and the descents, hike the steep climbs, and stop for photos, refuge espressos and the views. It is the UTMB course experienced the enjoyable way, in daylight, with a guide setting a steady, sustainable pace.
Most of it. We run the loop anticlockwise like the race and follow the UTMB course through Les Contamines, the Croix du Bonhomme, Les Chapieux, the Col de la Seigne, Maison Vieille, Courmayeur, Bertone, Bonatti, the Grand Col Ferret, La Fouly, Champex-Lac, Bovine, Trient, La Flégère and Chamonix. In two places we take the classic TMB variant instead, chosen for the views: the Col de Balme into France, and the Col de Tricot beneath the Bionnassay glacier. The other difference is that we start and finish in Courmayeur, and we run it in six daylight stages rather than in one push.
You should be a regular trail runner, comfortable on steep and rocky mountain trails, and able to spend 4 to 8 hours on your feet on consecutive days, with daily climbs of up to around 2,000 meters. You do not need to be fast and you do not need to have run an ultra. If you can comfortably run two consecutive days of 25 km with 1,500 meters of climbing, you are ready. See the Requirements section for full training advice.
Run in full, the six stages range from around 18 km to 32 km, with 1,150 to 1,900 meters of climbing, for a total of roughly 165 km and close to 10,000 meters of ascent. The longest day is the first, from Courmayeur over the Grand Col Ferret to La Fouly.
Yes. Four of the six stages have a shorter option, decided each morning with your guide: starting from Champex-Lac on Day 3, taking the La Flégère cable car down to Chamonix on Day 4, starting from Les Houches or Bellevue on Day 6, and finishing at La Visaille on Day 8. The lifts and transfers are included in the price, and with two guides on larger departures, the group can split between the full and the shorter route.
Yes. Much of the circuit follows the same trails as the UTMB, including the Val Ferret balcony, the Grand Col Ferret, Champex, the Bovine traverse, the Croix du Bonhomme and the Col de la Seigne. Running them in daylight, with a guide who knows every climb and descent, is one of the best ways to learn the terrain before race day. That said, this is not a training camp with structured sessions: it is a guided journey around the mountain, at a sustainable pace.
We keep groups small, with a maximum of 10 runners per departure. On any departure of more than six, you are led by two guides rather than one, so the group can split naturally by pace and everyone gets close, personal attention.
Hand-picked 4-star properties every night of the trip, every one with a spa or wellness area to ease tired legs. Rooms are double or twin with private bathroom; single rooms are available at an extra cost, subject to availability. Two nights deserve special mention: your first Swiss evening in Verbier, and the night in Martigny at a 4-star hotel with its own Roman baths. In Chamonix you stay two nights in the same hotel, with no repacking on the rest day.
You bring one main bag (soft duffel, maximum 15 kg), which travels ahead by road every morning and is waiting at your next hotel's reception when you arrive. On the trail you carry only your running vest.
Breakfast at the hotel every morning, a trail lunch for every running day and dinner every evening are all included, from the welcome dinner in Courmayeur to the farewell dinner at a Michelin Guide-selected restaurant. Along the route you also pass many mountain refuges, ideal for a coffee or a cold drink (not included). Lunch on the Chamonix rest day is at your own choice. Please tell us about any dietary requirements or allergies when you book, and we will arrange everything with the hotels in advance.
Mountain weather is part of the mountains, and this is where local guiding earns its keep. Your guide checks conditions every morning and adapts: choosing between route variants, adjusting start times ahead of afternoon storms, or using lower alternatives when a pass is unreasonable. Full days lost to weather are rare; a well-managed change of plan is simply part of the craft.
The easiest way is to fly to Geneva. Our shared transfer departs Geneva airport at 15:00 on arrival day and brings you directly to Courmayeur (approx. 2 hours); the return transfer leaves Courmayeur at 9:30 on the final morning, in comfortable time for afternoon flights. Both are included. If your flights do not fit the shared schedule, or you prefer to fly into Milan Malpensa or Turin, we can organize a private transfer at an additional cost.
Yes, it is mandatory. Your travel insurance must specifically cover mountain rescue, helicopter evacuation and repatriation at altitudes up to 2,700 meters, valid in Italy, Switzerland and France. A standard travel policy often excludes trail running, so please check the small print. We strongly recommend adding cancellation cover as well.
Absolutely, and many of our guests do. Solo travelers are paired in a twin room with another guest of the same sex, or you can book a single room at an extra cost, subject to availability. Six stages and eight dinners together have a way of turning a group into a team: arriving alone rarely means finishing that way.
If the departure is not yet confirmed, we ask for a 30% deposit at the time of booking, which secures your place; once the departure reaches the minimum of 4 participants, we confirm it and the outstanding balance becomes due. If the departure is already confirmed when you book, full payment is made at the time of booking. In the unlikely event the departure does not reach the minimum of 4, we will either move you to another date of your choice or refund your deposit in full. We strongly recommend taking out cancellation insurance.
Essential. A grippy, protective trail shoe with a Vibram or similar outsole and good underfoot protection for rocky alpine terrain. Bring a well broken-in pair: six stages is a long time in new shoes. Road running shoes are not suitable.
A running vest of around 5 to 12 liters, with room for 1.5 liters of water, your trail lunch, a waterproof jacket and a warm layer. Your main luggage travels separately and is waiting at your next hotel.
Soft flasks or a bladder with a total capacity of at least 1.5 liters. Water refill points exist along the route, at refuges and village fountains, but they cannot always be relied upon. We recommend carrying water purification filter as a backup.
Lightweight and highly breathable synthetic or merino running tops, designed to wick moisture away from the skin and dry rapidly after washing.
A long-sleeve merino or synthetic top is a versatile layer for cool mornings and high cols. It can also be a comfortable option for the evening.
A lightweight fleece or thin insulated layer worn over your base layer for chilly starts, windy passes and stops. Choose a model that packs small into your vest.
A very light synthetic or down jacket that packs into your vest, for long stops on the high passes or a sudden change in the weather. Synthetic insulation performs better if it gets wet.
Mandatory every day. A light, packable, waterproof and breathable jacket with a hood, giving full protection from wind and rain. Mountain weather around Mont Blanc can change very quickly.
Light, packable waterproof overpants for rain and wind on the high passes. Running-specific models weigh very little and take almost no space in your vest.
Trail running shorts are the most comfortable choice for most days, offering freedom of movement and good breathability. Pockets for gels and a phone are a bonus.
Long or three-quarter running tights for cool mornings, high passes and changeable weather.
Trail running socks in merino or quality synthetic fibers, designed to wick moisture and prevent blisters. Bring enough pairs for a fresh, dry pair every day.
Highly recommended. Light, folding running poles help distribute the effort on long climbs and take the strain off your knees on the long descents of the TMB. Choose a model that stows easily on your vest.
A running cap or visor protects your face and eyes from strong mountain sun while keeping you cool on the climbs.
A light beanie for cold mornings and windy passes, even in summer. It weighs almost nothing and makes a real difference at 2,500 meters.
A buff protects against wind, cold and sun. It can be worn around the neck, over the face or as a head covering, and dipped in a stream on hot afternoons.
Sport sunglasses with good UV protection, adequate coverage and a secure, bounce-free fit for running.
A high-protection lipscreen to shield your lips from UV rays and wind on the high passes.
Sunscreen with SPF 50 is essential at altitude. Apply generously to all exposed skin, and reapply during the day.
A small kit in your vest with blister plasters, tape, an emergency foil blanket, a whistle and any personal medication you may need during the day.
Pack a personal-care kit with essentials such as a toothbrush, anti-chafe balm, foot care and any medication you need. As your main luggage is transported ahead to your next hotel, this stays in your bag during the day.
Keep your ID, Passport, insurance details and a payment card in a small waterproof bag in your vest.
Your main luggage should be packed in a soft duffel-style bag rather than a hard-shell suitcase. Please keep it within the 15 kg maximum weight limit, as it is transferred between hotels every day.
Not usually required in summer, but they can be useful if late snow or icy patches remain on the highest passes. We will advise before departure; if needed, they can usually be rented.
