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Circuit découverte : Le massif du Mont-Blanc

Road in Annemasse

227.7 km

Road

Easy

Difference in height

3960 m
Documentation
- GPX Trace
GPX / KML files allow you to export the trail of your hike to your GPS (or other navigation tool)

Accepted customers
- Individuals

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Points of interest

1 Office de Tourisme de Chamonix

2 Office de tourisme d'Argentière

3 Public toilet - Argentière village

4 Col des Montets

5 Office de Tourisme de Vallorcine

6 Emosson Dam

7 The Abbey of Saint-Maurice d’Agaune

8 Evian Tourist Office

9 Rives-Thonon Cable Car

10 Thonon-les-Bains Tourist Office

11 Thermal Baths of Thonon-les-Bains

12 Castle of Ripaille: Home of the Dukes of Savoy

1 Office de Tourisme de Chamonix

The office has a warm and spacious reception area where visitors will find brochures, information panels and a children's area. Our reception service offers you the following services:

- Provision of free documentation.
- Registration for guided tours offered by the tourist office
- Mont Blanc Company kiosk: sale of ski passes
- Sale of posters and goodies with the Chamonix logo
- Sale of objects and tickets for field hockey games, bus excursions, tourist train in the city center.
- Sale and distribution of guest cards
- Sale of fishing permits
- Last minute hotel reservations
- Photocopy
- Free Wifi

The Tourist Office has received the renewal of the Quality Tourism mark in 2020.

2 Office de tourisme d'Argentière

The Argentière tourist office has a warm reception area. We offer a free wifi connection.

You will find brochures in 6 languages during the summer season and 4 languages during the winter season as well as information boards.
We manage last minute hotel reservations.

You can also take advantage of our store where you will find souvenirs, trail and hiking maps, posters, a small bookstore, a photocopy/printing service and a ticket office (excursions, shows, matches, visits).

The Tourist Office has received the renewal of the Quality Tourism mark in 2020.

3 Public toilet - Argentière village

In the centre of the village, near the tourism office.

4 Col des Montets

The Montets pass is a pass linking the Chamonix Valley and Vallorcine which is located on the border of the Swiss Valais. It culminates at 1 461 meters of altitude. At the top of the pass, you will find the chalet of the Aiguilles Rouges Reserve and a botanical path allowing you to discover the fauna and flora of the Alps.

5 Office de Tourisme de Vallorcine

The Vallorcine Mont Blanc tourist office welcomes you in a warm and authentic setting. At your disposal: documentation on the region, Switzerland and Italy.
- sale of snow cards, fishing permits, hiking maps
- Free wifi access outside, store.

The Tourist Office has received the renewal of the Quality Tourism mark in 2020

6 Emosson Dam

This dam treats French and Swiss waters taken at 2000m high in the Glacier of Argentière and Le Tour. The summit of the dam offers an incredible view over Mont-Blanc.

7 The Abbey of Saint-Maurice d’Agaune

The visitor trail is based on light and imagery, the symbols of knowledge and faith. It tells an extraordinary story: that of a miraculously preserved, living religious community that bears sole witness to a spiritual and cultural activity that is not found anywhere else in the western Christian world. The visit starts from the current basilica which dates back to the 17th Century and was restored and enlarged in the mid-20th Century. After the archaeological site, the visit continues with the catacombs and then the abbey treasure.

8 Evian Tourist Office

The Evian Tourist Office has a spacious and informative reception desk. Numerous leaflets are available, a shop offers products from the office as well as Evian mineral water, and a children's area has been set up.

9 Rives-Thonon Cable Car

Thonon’s 19th Century hillside railway, Constructed in 1888, ‘Le Funiculaire’ was moved by a counter-weighting system using 11 tons of water. Today, it still links the port to the town centre, but since 1990, it has been powered by electricity. The cable car Rives-Thonon (in Thonon-les-Bains), the second cable car built in France, was founded on April 2, 1888. Conceived by the engineer Auguste Alesmonières, it is the only cable car in the world where the two cars pass each other in a turn. The total length is 230 meters, 86.8 meters of turning. Before, eleven tons of water were used to run the cable car, and it was not until 1990 that the cable car started running automatically.

10 Thonon-les-Bains Tourist Office

Are you looking for Information ? Fancy going out ? Looking for a place to stay or something to do around ? Come visit us ! - Information
- Personalized advice
- News / Agenda
- Tickets (concerts, shows, boat tickets, museums...)
- Free Wifi access for 30 minutes
- Supervised activities in season (adults and children)
- Stroller and baby carrier rental point
- Rental of baby carriers, all-terrain strollers and car seats for 0-4 year olds.

You can also find our seasonal reception point at the Port de Rives (Place du 16 août 1944) from mid-June to mid-September.

11 Thermal Baths of Thonon-les-Bains

Nestled in a verdant park, close to the pedestrian streets, the spa offers a range of treatments, relaxation treatments and fitness.

12 Castle of Ripaille: Home of the Dukes of Savoy

Historic, cultural and winemaking centre in Haute-Savoie, the Castle de Ripaille is also one of the biggest and most remarkable natural sites on the banks of Lake Geneva. By its grandeur, its charm, its memories, Ripaille is one of the most beautiful domains on the shores of Lake Geneva. In the Middle Ages, a semi-religious retreat of the first Duke of Savoy, Amédée VIII, in the 17th and 18th centuries, a Carthusian monastery, protected from the "century" by the high wall that still surrounds it today, in 1900 the property of a great industrialist and aesthete, Ripaille has always been a place where residents and visitors come to "recharge their batteries".

The visit of the site of Ripaille plunges the visitor in the time of the counts of Savoy in the XIIIth century and evokes the reign of the first Duke of Savoy, the great Amédée VIII and the history of the Carthusian monks, owners of the domain from the XVIIth century until the French Revolution. This fresco ends with the fabulous architectural adventure of the 1900 Restoration when the dream of a great Alsatian industrialist made Ripaille a total work of art! Since this year, the dining room of the Engel-Gros family and the kitchen of the castle are refurnished and put back in function, come and discover this unique reconstitution of the daily life in the Belle Epoque!

Beyond history, visiting Ripaille means discovering a preserved nature, an exceptional land and magnificent gardens between Dent d'Oche and Lake Geneva. Come for a visit, a professional or cultural event, a private party or to taste the Ripaille AOC wine produced on site.

The Castle is the seat of a Foundation, created in 1976, which works for the conversation, the valorization and the animation of this monument. The preservation of the environment is at the center of its concerns.

* The visit of Ripaille is for young and old, with:

- The Amédée room dedicated to the presentation of medieval Savoyard civilization through the presentation of stained glass windows, numismatics, and original manuscripts.

- The reconstitution of the old kitchen of the Château de Ripaille and the dining room of the Belle Epoque: kitchen utensils, original objects, tableware, come and discover the modernity of Ripaille with the automatic windows or the dumbwaiter linking the first floor to the second floor.

- The film "Ripaille through time" in a specially dedicated projection room recounting the history of the Château de Ripaille.

- The free visit of the castle: the castle can be visited freely from April to October and during school vacations, from Tuesday to Sunday, from 10 am to 6 pm (closing at 5 pm on Saturdays), with the help of a paper documentation and audio guides in French, English and German.

- A special tour for children: spend a convivial moment with your family and follow Aymonet Corviaux, carpenter, architect and builder of Ripaille in 1434, through the maze of the castle. This tour will take you from the large terrace with a panoramic view of the lake, to the old cellars and medieval moats.

- The "Workshops in a mess. Wednesdays at Ripaille": creative and educational workshops offered every Wednesday, according to the opening calendar of the Castle.

- A temporary exhibition renewed every year.

Guided tours provided by professional guides.

Services include both the visit and the tasting or the visit, tasting and meal. Many formulas are possible. The Fondation Ripaille will study all requests by email visite@ripaille.fr or by phone 04 50 26 64 44.

3960 meters of difference in height