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The Tour du Mont Blanc in 7 days: a plan, and what each day asks

Yes, you can walk the Tour du Mont Blanc in a week, but not by walking the classic eleven stages faster. Seven days works if you join stages into two long days and ride twice: a Swiss bus that skips the walk through the Val Ferret, and the Flégère gondola down to Chamonix at the end. Here is that plan day by day, with the kilometres and the climb added up from the stages in the Treksup app, and an honest word on when ten days is the better trip.

7 days, 6 nightsabout 134 km8,970 m of climbing2 rideshard

The 7-day plan

Day	Where	Distance	Climb	Time
1	Les Houches → Les Contaminesstage 1	17.1 km	1,070 m	6 h
2	Les Contamines → Les Chapieuxstage 2	19 km	1,360 m	7.5 h
3	Les Chapieux → Courmayeurstages 3 and 4, over the Col de la Seigne	29.5 km	1,680 m	10 h
4	Courmayeur → Rifugio Bonattistage 5	12 km	1,080 m	4.5 h
5	Rifugio Bonatti → Ferret, bus to Champex-Lacstage 6 over the Grand Col Ferret; the bus replaces stage 7	20 km	980 m	6.5 h
6	Champex → Trientstage 8	16 km	850 m	5.5 h
7	Trient → La Flégère, gondola down to Les Prazstages 9 and 10; the gondola replaces stage 11	20.3 km	1,950 m	9.5 h

Distance, climb and walking time are added up from Treksup’s own stages, as in the app on 20 October 2026; times are walking only, without breaks. Day 5 uses the whole stage to La Fouly; the bus leaves from Ferret, a little before La Fouly, so you walk slightly less.

Added up, the seven days come to about 134 km and 8,970 m of climbing. The classic tour in the app is eleven stages, 168 km and 10,380 m. The two rides take out stage 7, the gentle valley day from La Fouly to Champex (15.5 km, 510 m up), and stage 11, the last day from La Flégère to Les Houches (18.5 km, 900 m up, 1,760 m down).

What each day asks

Days 1 and 2 are the standard stages. Day 2 has no shelter at the top: the Refuge de la Croix du Bonhomme has been closed since 17 August 2026 and reopens in summer 2029, so you cannot split it at the pass.
Day 3 is the big one: 29.5 km, 1,680 m up and 2,010 m down, about ten hours of walking. It crosses the Col de la Seigne into Italy and does not stop at Rifugio Elisabetta, one of the refuges that fill first.
Day 4 is short on purpose, 12 km to Rifugio Bonatti, and it gives your legs back some of what day 3 took.
Day 5 crosses the Grand Col Ferret, at 2,537 m the highest point of the tour, into Switzerland. At Ferret the TMR bus takes you to Champex-Lac. TMR calls it a way to avoid the long walk across the Val Ferret, and sells tickets online, at the La Fouly and Champex tourist offices or from the driver: CHF 12 or €14 for an adult.
Day 6 is an ordinary stage to Trient. Of its two ways, take the Bovine route if the sky is unsure: the Fenêtre d’Arpette variant crosses a boulder field and is for clear weather only.
Day 7 climbs 1,950 m in 20.3 km: over to Tré-le-Champ, then up to La Flégère. That second part has the Tré-le-Champ ladders, fixed rungs on open rock; the valley bypass leaves the line earlier, so choose it before you set off. At La Flégère the gondola runs down to Les Praz, €19 one way, and the Chamonix valley bus takes you back to Les Houches.

How hard is it?

The full tour is graded hard in Treksup, and the app’s fitness line is blunt: walk 5 to 8 hours a day, up and down 1,000 m or more, on consecutive days. One hard day is not the test, repeating it is. Seven days keeps that rhythm and adds two days of nine to ten hours.

The weather makes long days harder. Heat thunderstorms build over the cols in the second half of the day, and the cols are the worst place to be caught. On a ten-hour day you start early or you are still high in the afternoon. Before mid-July, old snow can lie on the Col de la Seigne and the Grand Col Ferret.

Walking every metre in seven days, without the bus and the gondola, comes to about 24 km and 1,480 m of climbing every day, with pairs like Courmayeur to La Fouly at 32 km and 2,060 m. That is a pace for very fit walkers, not a holiday. Five or six days means about 34 or 28 km a day, which in practice means more rides.

When 10 days is the better choice

In ten days you walk all eleven stages and join only two. Joining stages 10 and 11 gives Tré-le-Champ to Les Houches in one day, 25 km with 1,630 m up and 2,020 m down. Only that last day passes 20 km, and you walk the balcony above Chamonix down to where you started. Take ten if:

you have not yet walked three or four days in a row with 1,000 m of climbing each;
you go in June or early July, when snow can still lie on the high cols;
you want the whole loop on foot, including the Aiguilles Rouges balcony at the end.

Seven days suits fit walkers with a week off who accept two rides. The plan also fits the season: TMR gave its season as daily until 27 September, and the Flégère lift was closed from 14 September 2026, so check both timetables for your dates.

Booking a 7-day TMB

Seven days means six nights: Les Contamines, Les Chapieux, Courmayeur, Rifugio Bonatti, Champex and Trient. Of the four places that fill first, Rifugio Bonatti, Rifugio Elisabetta, the Refuge du Lac Blanc and La Flégère, this plan sleeps only at Bonatti. The refuges of the TMB wardens’ association opened summer 2027 on 15 October 2026; Bonatti books on its own. See the TMB huts in order for who takes each booking. You do not need a guide: the route is well waymarked and needs no climbing skills, and there is no permit and no fee to walk it.

Every stage, in the app

Treksup has the Tour du Mont Blanc stage by stage, with distance, climb, water, where to sleep and the ways off each day. The safety brief, trail conditions, alerts and weather are free on every route; on the Tour du Mont Blanc, a paid route, the stage detail comes with the paid tier.

Get Treksup on the App Store

Going for eleven days? The TMB 2027 booking plan gives every night of the classic tour, how it books and when it opens, for €29.

Questions

Can you do the Tour du Mont Blanc in 7 days?

Yes, if you walk two long days and ride twice: the TMR bus from Ferret to Champex-Lac in Switzerland, and the Flégère gondola down to Les Praz at the end. Added up from Treksup's stages, that is about 134 km and 8,970 m of climbing in seven days, against 168 km and 10,380 m for the full eleven stages.

How hard is the Tour du Mont Blanc in a week?

Hard. The full tour is already graded hard in Treksup: 5 to 8 hours a day and 1,000 m or more up and down, day after day. A seven-day plan adds two days of about 10 hours on Treksup's stage times, one of them 29.5 km with 1,680 m up and 2,010 m down.

Is 10 days better than 7 for the TMB?

For most people, yes. In 10 days you walk all eleven stages and only join two of them, so no day runs past about 25 km. Take 10 if you have not yet walked several 1,000 m days in a row, or if you go before mid-July, when old snow can lie on the high cols.

Sources

Treksup route data, Tour du Mont Blanc (checked 20 October 2026): the eleven stages with distance, climb, descent and walking time, the totals of 168 km and 10,380 m, the highest point (Grand Col Ferret, 2,537 m), the grade and fitness line, the storm and snow warnings, the Croix du Bonhomme closure, the Tré-le-Champ ladders and bypass, the Chamonix valley bus, the La Flégère lift, the refuges that fill first and the 15 October 2026 booking date. The seven-day figures are added up from these stages.
TMR (Transports de Martigny et Régions), “Tour du Mont-Blanc bus service”, Ferret to Champex-Lac, season, fares and ticket sales: tmrsa.ch/en/tmb, read 20 October 2026
Chamonix-Mont-Blanc tourist office, “Flégère gondola and Index lift”, Les Praz to La Flégère, one-way fare and closure from 14 September 2026: en.chamonix.com, read 20 October 2026

Timetables, fares and refuge dates change from one summer to the next. Check the bus, the lift and each refuge before you set your dates. Page written 20 October 2026.