Chamonix Reviews & Ratings

Lots of different areas that you have to get a bus or drive to make it a mission to get around, but has some of the most accessible off piste of any of the European resorts

Great for advanced skiiers looking to explore the high mountains. Pretty poor for intermediates and beginners with small, isolated & expensive ski centres

The resort was amazing for my first time skiing abroad, throughly enjoyed and would visit again!! Loved having our apartment close to the slopes it is very accessible

The skiing was great, the food on mountain top notch and the village is awesome, great atmosphere and walkable.

Despite the hype, Chamonix is by far the worst big resort in the Alps. Yes the off piste can be fantastic (if youre lucky enough to get a good week) and the village is pretty, but this simply doesnt make up for the fact that the ski areas are so far apart and so badly connected that its simply not worth going to.
On a busy day it can take up to an hour from door of accommodation to putting your skis on, which just isnt ok. And the resort doesnt put more buses on if its busy and they are full, you just have to lump it and wait for the next one.

Positives - good restaurants in the town, 1 great restaurant in Les Houches ski area.
Quick to get to from Geneva.

Many other brilliant resorts out there way ahead of Chamonix.

There is a wide range of slopes and ski areas for all abilities. Off-piste deep powder is the best feature of chamonix in my opinion with beautiful open Bowls and endless hours of fun. Apres ski is lacking compared to a lot of other resorts within the alps so if partying on and off the slopes Is high on your list I would steer clear of Chamonix

Amazing ski But its so busy. You cant appreciate it in the holidays and have to go outside of school holidays.

Excellent resort with mixed terrain. More lifts would allow non touring skiers to access more of the mountain. More apre ski bars needed on the mountain.

So many runs to choose from! The lifts are fast and easy to choose, eating out around the area is affordable and great! Best skiing Ive done in a long time!

The main thing about Chamonix is that you will need to drive. There are multiple different piste regions, with some over 1/2h away from each other. You can also get the bus depending on where you stay. Being used to ski in/out resorts I found this a massive hassle and not worth it for the skiing. Le Tours was great, lots of button lifts. Les Houches is the flattest area I have ever skied and would not recommend for anyone that is not a beginner - very boring. Brevent/Flegere were lovely areas to ski.

Chamonix is a great ski area with lots of different areas to ski throughout the whole valley. For those of you advanced and expert skiers hire a guide and ski the valley Blanche as well as taking advantage of the off piste and ski touring options! I think it a a myth that its not for beginners try Les Houches. Great for families. And its the birthplace of climbing with a proper town! Its not a man made concrete jungle. Its a real place!

Chamonix offers something for everyone - families, couples, groups of friends providing for skiers and snowboarders and other variants - a great range of pistes for variety together with trick parks and off piste options as well as more advanced touring - the resort is great as it is a tourist venue too offering days out such as aiguille de midi, luge, ice skating, and several local spas - restaurants from formal to casual - fine dining to snacks from many different nationalities - we have been to other resorts but keep on coming back to Cham!

As a beginner, I learnt the hard way that even the green slopes in Chamonix are some of the trickiest to begin your skiing on. My oldest son, who is a confident and fearless skier, loved the variety of slopes and the challenges they presented. One of the most difficult things (something we all agreed on) was that unless you are literally staying next to a slope, your skiing day will undoubtedly begin with a trek to a bus stop (skis and all), a bus ride and then another short walk to the gondola. This can leave you tired before the skiing even starts.
Chamonix town itself is picture-postcard perfect, with its glacial river, pretty buildings and spotless streets. Theres a good variety of shops, offering everything from patisserie to high-end fashion and theres no shortage of places to eat - offering traditional alpine food (tartiflette and raclette) or pizzas and burgers. A wander around the town makes for a very pleasant experience. A word of warning though: Chamonix is not cheap so look around for the best places to eat. We found South Bar on the last night which offered good food at reasonable prices.

My view? Go to Chamonix if you like a challenge on the slopes but theres also plenty to do for the non-skiers (or those who like a day off).

Chamonix is a fantastic ski resort for higher level skiers. It is also family friendly however the green and blue runs tend to get very crowded and the chairlifts are slow for these runs. The reds and blacks are much quieter and tend to have better quality snow, with shorter lift queues. The accommodation options in chamonix are brilliant with plenty of apartments and hotels spread across the large town. If you are looking to ski in the brevent/Flégère area I would recommend getting to bus to flegere rather than walking up the steep and tiring hill to the brevent lift.

Chamonix is an absolute banger of a resort for what I'm looking for but it probably isn't right for everybody...

If you love big open faces and easy access to ski some incredible backcountry and off-piste terrain then Chamonix is very difficult to compete with. Les Grands Montets in particular, while only served by 8 lifts, enables access to acres upon acres of terrain including some long itinerary routes where you can shred a myriad of different lines and routes down every time you drop in, with some incredible glacial features and crevasses serving as the backdrop. You can ski here for days and never get bored. Sadly, the fire on the Lognan lift recently reduced access right to the top but if you ski tour, you'll still be able to get access to the top and some deep, unskied pow ! It's worth the effort!!

As well as Les Grandes Montets, Chamonix gives you access to multiple areas to keep things interesting from the wide open pistes of Le Tour and a medium-sized terrain park to the awesome side piste fun and natural features / side hits / cliff drops of La Flegere and Brevant through to tree-lined skiing in Les Houches. It's fun to hit up the different areas in Chamonix on your trip with a different adventure every day. Plus, the different altitudes / aspects of the areas gives you options when the weather turns - white out in Les Houches? Check the webcams, you might get above the clouds in Les Grands Montets.

The Chamonix unlimited pass also gives you access to Courmayeur in Italy, a short drive through the Mont Blanc tunnel - another great ski area with some awesome off-piste off the top, great piste skiing and amazing food on the mountain. Check out Capitan des Alpes for delicious, authentic Italian pizzas . Also, loads of insane off-piste lines you can ski from Pointe Helbronner at the top of the Skyway!

And finally, back to Chamonix, let's not forget the beautiful Vallée Blanche, the longest off piste run in the world, accessible from the top of the Aiguille Du Midi lift. While the main route down isn't that challenging (there are multiple rowdy lines down if you want) the scenery and views are pretty much unbeatable and it should be a bucket list adventure for pretty much any upper intermediate skier and above. Be sure to take a guide or ski with an experienced skier who knows the route down well though (lots of crevasses!)

However, if you're the type of skier that prefers ski-in / ski-out resorts and a 'leisurely' start to ski a few groomed runs, followed by a long lunch and straight onto Après then there are most certainly better resorts for your needs. Having said that, if you're focused on the skiing, there are great ski runs for all skill levels across the different areas. I would recommend taking a car to Chamonix so you can nip between the different ski areas without the ball ache of waiting for and cramming onto buses.

Lastly, the town itself is large and full of shops, bars and restaurants with something for everyone. The town has a great vibe and buzz to it with a range of adventurers filling the streets, armed with touring skis, crampons, ropes and ice axes which tells you a lot about the extreme adventures that are there to be had in Chamonix.

Great town to stay in to give access to a few ski areas. Not doorstep skiing really. Except when the snow comes down to the town level but mostly its a car or bus to the ski areas. Really good for off piste and exploring away from the pistes but also the ski areas give a really good range of decent runs and lots to ski.

Chamonix town is great to stay in for bars and restaurants too.

Its maybe not that beginner friendly and a bit more for the more serious skiers

It was really amazing! Pretty area. It was quiet. Super cool resort!