You don't need a guide, a tour, or alpine experience to walk beneath the biggest mountain in Western Europe — you need decent boots, a refuge reservation, and the willingness to eat a lot of cheese at altitude. This route strings Geneva's cheap flights to Annecy, Chamonix, and the classic opening stages of the Tour du Mont Blanc (TMB) on the French side.
Geneva to Annecy
Geneva is the budget gateway — the flight hub for the whole Mont Blanc region — and there's no reason to linger; FlixBus and BlaBlaCar buses run to Annecy in about an hour (€8–15). Annecy is the soft landing: a turquoise alpine lake ringed by peaks, canals threading a medieval old town, and a lakefront path where the correct activity is swimming at the free Plage des Marquisats, then eating a tartiflette you have thoroughly earned by floating. Rent a bike (€15/day) and ride the 35km lake loop on the old railway path, or walk up to the Col de la Forclaz launch site and watch a hundred paragliders peel off into the blue (tandem flights €95–120 if you're tempted — this is one of the cheapest places in the Alps to do it). Hostel beds €30–35.
Chamonix
Buses run direct to Chamonix in about 1.5 hours (€10–15). The town sits in a trench of a valley with 3,000 meters of relief on both sides; you walk out of the bus station and the Mont Blanc massif is simply there, filling the sky, hung with glaciers. Do the two big-ticket lifts with a strategy: the Aiguille du Midi cable car (€75 return, painful, worth it once) launches you to 3,842m, where you step out into thin, glittering air and look down onto the summit route; the cheaper Montenvers rack railway (€41) visits the Mer de Glace glacier, where ladders descend past signs marking where the ice surface stood in 1990, then 2000, then 2010 — the most sobering climate exhibit in Europe. Free alternative: hike to Lac Blanc from La Flégère, the classic mirror-of-the-massif view. Chamonix has real budget infrastructure: gîtes and hostels from €35, supermarkets, and free valley buses with your guest card.
Walking the TMB: Les Houches to Les Contamines
The full Tour du Mont Blanc is 170km around the massif through France, Italy and Switzerland — 11 days for most people. If you can't spare that, the opening French stages make a perfect two-to-three-day taste. Officially it starts from Les Houches, 20 minutes down-valley (train or bus). Day one crosses the Col de Voza (1,653m) — take the Bellevue cable car variant if you want views over effort — and descends through hamlets of dark timber farmhouses to Les Contamines-Montjoie (about 5–6 hours). Day two is the beauty: up the old Roman road past the chapel at Notre-Dame de la Gorge, climbing steadily to the Col du Bonhomme at 2,329m, with marmots whistling from the boulders and the crowds thinning with every hundred meters. Sleep at Refuge de la Croix du Bonhomme and walk back down, or continue to Les Chapieux and bus out.
Refuges cost €55–75 half board — a bunk, a colossal dinner, and sunrise from the terrace — and must be booked in advance for July–August (reservations open in winter; June and September are far easier and just as beautiful, though June holds snow on the high cols). Camping is possible at designated sites for €10–15 if you're carrying the weight.
Practical notes
Season is mid-June to mid-September. Carry cash for refuges, a liter more water than you think, and layers for everything — we had sunburn and sleet in the same afternoon. Trails are superbly marked (red-white balises); the IGN maps or the FFRando app cover the rest. Total damage for a week, walking days included: about €70–90 a day, most of it cheese.
