Les Chapieux

A handful of buildings at 1560 m in the Vallée des Glaciers, with a small shop, a cheese dairy and a shuttle down to Bourg-Saint-Maurice.

The place

A hamlet rather than a village: a few houses, a refuge, a cheese dairy and a barracks-turned-information-point at 1560 m, at the junction of the Vallée des Glaciers and the descent from the Bonhomme. It is the smallest place on the Tour that still counts as somewhere.

It matters out of proportion to its size. This is where the shuttle to Bourg-Saint-Maurice runs from, where you can post a parcel of things you have decided not to carry any further, and where the valley road offers a flat two-hour walk to Les Mottets when a hard day has gone wrong. It is also the last place in France before the Col de la Seigne, so it is your last chance to spend euros on French bread rather than Italian.

Getting there

Booking

This stop is not on the Tour du Mont-Blanc booking portal — it takes its own reservations, so there is no live availability for it in the planner. Contact it directly, early: the well-known ones fill months ahead.

Other places to stay nearby

• Auberge-Refuge de la Nova Refuge · 1554 m
  0.0 km further along the Tour, at 1554 m. Bookable on the Tour du Mont-Blanc portal, so the planner shows its availability night by night.
• Les Chambres du Soleil Gîte · 1550 m
  0.1 km further along the Tour, at 1550 m. Bookable on the Tour du Mont-Blanc portal, so the planner shows its availability night by night.
• Refuge de la Croix du Bonhomme Refuge · 2443 m
  5.4 km back down the Tour, at 2443 m. Takes its own reservations — contact it directly.

For when this stop is full. These book themselves and are not on the Tour du Mont-Blanc portal — contact each directly and confirm before you rely on it.

Stages passing this stop

• Stage 2: Les Contamines-Montjoie → Les Chapieux
• Stage 3: Les Chapieux → Rifugio Elisabetta