I’ve written up a breakdown of my itinerary for the Tour du Mont Blanc in a separate post but I wanted to write this to talk about the costs of the trip.

I’ll be using euros (€) to keep the currencies consistent.

At the time of writing:

  • €1 = GBP 0.87
  • €1 = CHF 0.94

which is close enough that I just read all prices as if they were in my own currency (£) 🤷.

Camping

My hiking friend and I decided to take our tents and camp each night. This was not only because staying in hotels and refuges would have been much more expensive but because that’s what we wanted the tour to be, a self-sufficient multi-day backpacking trip.

Apart from the very last one all of the campsites I stayed in accepted payment by card.

0: Bellevue campsite 🇫🇷 €12 (before the tour)

1: Camping le Pontet 🇫🇷 €12 (minimum payment of €20 to pay by card)

2: Bivouac area in Les Chapieux 🇫🇷 €0

3: Hobo Camping 🇮🇹 €20

4: Camping Grandes Jorasses 🇮🇹 €14.50

5: Camping des Glaciers 🇨🇭 €20

6: Campsite L’Arpille 🇨🇭 €15

7: Camping Glacier D’Argentière 🇫🇷 €12

8: Bivouac area next to Refuge de la Flégère 🇫🇷 €0

9: Les Arolles 🇫🇷 €14.20 (after the tour, cash only)

Campsites on the tour: €93.50

Start and end: €26.20

Total: €119.70

Food

We ate mainly “hiking fuel” that we bought from supermarkets. This included fruits, meats, cheeses, noodles, pastries and ready-made sandwiches as well as sweets and chocolates.

It is with great privilege that I can say that in France and Italy these were all “regular” prices. The shops in the campsites were also fairly priced, which was a pleasant surprise. I spent around €20 each day on food from supermarkets.

In Switzerland most things were a little more expensive and some things were a lot more. In France I enjoyed two steaks from the supermarket that were €5 each but in Switzerland they were about €20. I did buy a bag of Fondue cheese in Switzerland which was about €15 but this was a treat and I managed to get 3 “meals” out of it, so it ended up reasonably affordable.

For this trip I took a saucepan and a frying pan and this meant we were able to cook things like pasta and sausages which kept the costs down.

We didn’t see many places selling dehydrated meals but we weren’t interested in those.

Attached is a photo of a restaurant in Champex-Lac in Switzerland which explains why we walked straight past it.

a menu of a Swiss restaurant in Champax-Lac with a cheeseburger for CHF 36 which is about £30, twice the price that I'd pay for one at home

The food in the refuges seems a little expensive but when you remember where you are, that supplies are delivered by helicopter, and that you’re mainly paying for a warm, dry place to rest in they are completely justified in charging what they do.

Travel

Flights

I flew from Manchester to Geneva with my backpack as checked baggage. I used Skyscanner to find an easyJet flight that departed at 09:00 and arrived at 10:55, which was 11:55 in local time.

This cost me €260.

I could have instead flown to and from Lyon in France for about €100, which is much cheaper, but I would have had to sort out extra travel. I knew on the last day I would be tired and so I was prepared to pay extra to keep things simple.

Transfer

To get from Geneva airport to Chamonix and back I used Omio to book a coach with SwissTours. This cost me €10 each way, and paying the driver would have been €30, so I’m glad I pre-booked.

The bus from Chamonix to Les Houches is €2.20 which you can buy from the ticket seller at Chamonix Sud bus station, although you can probably pay with card once you’re on the bus.

Cable car

On the first day we used the cable car to save some time, which was around €20 for a one way ticket.

Buses

In France the buses were €2.20, which you paid on the bus using the ticket machine, although one morning the machines didn’t work and we rode the 2 stops into town for free.

In Italy the buses we took around Courmayeur to and from our campsites were completely free.

Cash

The currency of France and Italy is the Euro. Living in Britain means I can go to any currency converter and get this the same day. Easy.

Switzerland however uses the Swiss Franc (CHF) and for me this would have involved ordering it a week in advance. I did not leave enough time for this, so I was planning on just using Euros.

I’ve had a €50 note in my suitcase for the last five years that needed spending so I only wanted to convert another €50, but my local shop wanted me to buy a minimum of €200. I didn’t want any more Euros lying around the place, so I only took the €50 and used my card for everything else.

I’m not making this up; I used the last of that €50 note on the final camp site because it was cash only. I came home with none of it left, not even coins. Success!

The campsites, supermarkets and even some of the refuges we visited accepted card, so I didn’t need much cash anyway. If we had gone to different campsites or stopped at more refuges for food and drinks then we might have needed more.

Apparently the Swiss places that don’t take card will accept Euros instead of Francs but we didn’t find any and only paid by card in Switzerland.

Total

I spent €421.95 on card and €50 in cash, totalling €471.95 (£409.60).

Add on the €260 for flights and €20 for airport transfers and it’s up to €751.95 (£652.67).

The costs have been kept low by staying on campsites instead of in hotels, so there’s an indirect cost for my tent and sleeping equipment, but let’s ignore those.

I’m not at work right now, but it would have involved me taking 7 days holiday. I spent the first 3 days back home mentally foggy, so if I worked for myself I would consider these unpaid days off.

Worth it?

I had a beautiful trip to three amazing countries.

I broke my record for nights on the trail.

And most importantly, I conquered a massive personal challenge with an awesome new friend.

It was priceless; whichever currency you use to count it in.