My wife and I will be in Chamonix for a few days the beginning of July. We have several activities planned, but my wife has a particular request to spend part of a day up in the Mt. Blanc Range taking a nice walk (not a long or tedious hike), among some wild flower fields, and with nice views of Mt. Blanc.

Based on my reserach, my thought is to take the Tram du Mt Blanc from La Feyet to Col De Voza and spend time in that area. It would also be interesting to take the cog wheel tram.

Reactions? Other ideas? thank you in advance.

That sounds like an excellent plan. There are a series of hiking maps of France that cover the entire country with the GR (national hiking trails). The website below has maps and guides for the region from many sources. We use the government maps, but they have no information other than the trails themselves. The entire Mt Blanc area has dozens of books.

Mrs jbcarioca and I have been on the Swiss side Zermatt numerous times summer and winter, the Italian side and the French side too. Chamoinix will be delightful then and the tram is a special pleasure. With luck you'll see some nice wildlife also.

Have an excellent time.

http://www.omnimap.com/catalog/int/alps.htm#p6

My parents liked up there much. By up there, I mean the terminus of that tram line. But I did not. I would rather spend more time on Aiguille du Midi. Anyway, Chamonix is the most amazing and spectacular place that I have ever been in my life. Forget about the ..... like Interlaken, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, or some others.

thank you to both of you.

have either of you done the Brevent Cable Car and hike to Lac Du Brevent? Also looks interesting...but I'm not sure about distance, difficulty or crowds. Thank you.

I've done the cable cars near Chamonix one summer. There was mostly Japanese tourists and not too crowded. Sorry I can't recall the names of the places. We were just driving around and stopped at one. Great views for sure.

As long as you avoid the French school holiday times, there shouldn't be too many crowds.

If your arriving in Geneva, consider taking the train via Martiguy to Chamonix.

The train is an old single gaugle railway that runs between Martiguy and Saint Gervais les Bains.....and was on of the highlights of my trip.

The train line stops at a number of villages, including Servoz, Les Houches, Les Bossons, Les Gaillands, Chamonix Centre, Les Praz, Les Tines, and Argentiere.

The scenery is truly breathtaking.

Small spelling correction: the train goes from Martigny in Switzerland (in the Valais) to Chamonix and on to Saint Gervais les Bains.

I don't know how much walking you want to do. Here are some suggestions:

Cable car to Aiguille du Midi -- spectacular views in all directions. You can look out over the glacier to Italy (and the gondola spanning it). Actually two cable cars with a changepoint at Plan d'Aiguille. From there one can walk to Montenvers -- the top end of the cog train -- in 3-4 hours but that's likely more than you're seeking. The walk is largely level along a "balcony".

Gondola / cable car to Le Brevent, with an intermediate point at Planpraz. Fabulous view from the top, with some possible gentle out & back short walks. Don't know about wildflowers. We were up there the first day the cable car was running for the summer & there was snow at the top.

Should one wants to see the true alpinists, the first car in the morning is the one

We were at the of the Aguille du Midi after a morning car, although not the first one. We were in the clouds, standing out on a deck, and then through the fog came two guys from beyond the fence. They had started their climb the day before and stayed overnight at a refuge partway up. Now they were true alpinists!

Hi, I wanted to get back to all of you who were very helpful.

We ended up going up to Aguille du Midi and onto Heibronner (I believe that's the name) at the border with Italy based on your comments and the strong recommendation of the owner of the B&B where we stayed in Chamonix.

We loved it...Mrs. jacknyoc really loved it and still talks about it. I think it may have been the big hit of the trip. Traversing the ice fields on the way to Italy, seeing the snow and ice, an occassional hiking/climbing party, but mostly the rugged mountain tops was amazing.

we weren't among the top...enjoying our breakfast and views instead. but, it was great fun nonetheless and the views were great. we had pretty decent views of the Italian mountains and valleys...and of the Chamonix side. At the end of the day it was pretty neat sitting on the balcony of our B&B adn watching the sun and shadows all around Aguille du Midi and thinking back on our time up there earlier in the day. that part of France is really wonderful.

thanks for everyone's input and help.