Chamonix to Venice via Courmayeur
 

we're staying in chamonix (any experience with mercure chamonix centre -rue des allobroges?) five nights in early september. is there a lot to see? is it okay to just take the trains or whatever public transp. available?

on the sixth day we plan to stop by courmayeur to see mont blanc on the other side and perhaps take the night train to venice.

do we do the auguille du midi cable car then from hellbronner to courmayeur and go by bus to aosta and take the train from there? or early train maybe?

would appreciate your help in planning especially on this part of the trip that seems to have a lot of unknowns. thank you.

On the Italian side, the nearest railway station to the teleferique station at La Palud is Pre St Didier. You get to it by getting a bus from the teleferique to the bus station at Courmayeur and then getting another bus. There are references to finding the timetables at http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=35009026

From there it's a 7-8 hour journey to Venice (www.trenitalia.it/en/index.html) changing at least three times. There's no realistic way of doing that overnight, except by sitting round Milan or Turin stations for six hours. The last departure from Aosta that'll get you into Venice before midnight is 1536

You should be able to make this if you get the very first cable car of the day up from Chamonix and nothing goes wrong. However you do this, though, Chamonix-Venice is about 17-18 hours by surface public transport.

Personally I'd drive (about 5 hours, depending on how long you have to queue to get into the tunnel). Or go back to Geneva and fly

>> is there a lot to see? <<

You can view Mont Blanc from the north face of the valley, taking the lift up to Le Brévent.

Another idea: Take the scenic train ride over to Martigny, Switzerland:

http://tinyurl.com/6f5457

I've ridden the tiny gondolas over the Mer du Glace and can't see how you can transport your luggage in them.

flanner, tuck and pal,
thank you for your insight and suggestions.

perhaps we should stay overnite at courmayeur to enjoy the scenery on the way to venice?

pal, is mer du glace closer to courmayeur? i was thinking we could do mer during the days previous to our departure from chamonix? or when you said gondolas, were you referring to cable cars? can we take 3 standard luggage on the cable car as we go to courmayeur?

appreciate your help.

Hi Heiwa - I really don't think you can take luggage on the cable-car.

Your best plan IMO is to take the bus to Courmayeur and overnight there.

That way you can enjoy Courmayeur itself - and take the cable car up on the Italian side of M. Blanc.

Steve

> is mer du glace closer to courmayeur? i was thinking we could do mer during the days previous to our departure from chamonix?

No, you take the Mentenvers train to Mer de Glace from Chamonix, France, next to SNCF main railway station. You can not go there from Italy.
http://www.compagniedumontblanc.fr/p...rs_ete_gb.html

As somebody mentioned above and if you like a little hike once up there, I'd recommend the Cablecar ride to Brévent or Flégère. There are hiking trails and you will have a view of Massive of Mont Blanc and the Glaciers across the Chamonix Valley like this :

http://alaverticale.blogspot.com/200...ent-flgre.html

Web for cable Brévent/Flégère :
http://www.compagniedumontblanc.fr/p...re_ete_gb.html

Peace, sorry Brévent is closed this summer for construction. You can do Flégère however. Its bottom station is at the village of Les Praz, just out of Chamonix but connected by a bus line.

thanks steve and kappa for the suggestions and pics. am planning to stay overnite in courmayeur. and enjoy the scenery to venice as well.
about three weeks to go and so much preparations to do.