Hi - I am planning to go to Chamonix at the end of August and have read that it is likely to be very busy. Do I need to book a hotel room in advance? I don't usually like to book hotels in advance, as I have been disappointed before and like the freedom to move if the weather is bad. But I am worried that Chamonix will be packed the last week of August and we won't be able to find a room. Any thoughts from you more experienced travelers out there?

Laura<BR><BR>The Alps are always busy - they're so nice!<BR><BR>Its probably safer to book a room for just the first night of your stay - you can then look around when you arrive knowing that you have somewhere to sleep for the first night.<BR><BR>Don't forget, you can always ask to look at a room before you decide on it - and ask for a change if you don't like it.<BR><BR>Good luck.<BR><BR>

Laura,<BR>We just spoke to my S-I-L who owns a small Inn/restaurant ~30km from Chamonix. The weather has been all over the lot this summer and so has business.<BR><BR>Generally, it's semi-busy in the region for the hiking, mountain bike and balloning crowd; but nothing like the winter season. Probably worth emailing some hotels to gauge the vacancy rates.<BR>hth,

Another alternative is to coordinate your time withe Annecy France. It is about an hour away. We were in Chamonix late Sept one year for 2 nights. Of course it rained the night we got there and all the next day. Fortunately the day we were leaving the weather broke and we could go up. We booked that nights reservation in Annecy, by autobahn about an hour away, so that we could take our time and not have far to go. There is shopping and eating to occupy the time also when the weather is not great.

I stayed in Megeve,which is near Chamonix, late last August. The hotel I stayed in wasn't full, and the area didn't seem that crowded. The French schoolchildren had returned to school by that time, so there weren't too many French vacationers.

Thank you so much for your comments. I'm really looking forward to this trip. Our flight is scheduled to land in Geneva quite early in the morning, so I guess we'll just see what we get. I've been looking at the weather forecasts and it does seem like weather in Europe is all over the place this year. Droughts and floods...