In our travels around Europe's tallest peak, we've used refuges, gîtes, hotels, campgrounds, and we've wild camped as well. Camping along the TMB is my favorite sleeping arrangement of all, when it is feasible. If you're traveling the TMB in the traditional anticlockwise direction, you tend to see the same people a lot, over and over. If you're sociable and you like trekking along with people you'll be seeing along the way, then anticlockwise is the way to do it. In that case, if you're camping, I recommend eating at the refuges or nearby restaurants, and then moving on to wherever you're camping for the night. It's a great way to have your camping experience but still meet all of the wonderful characters you're bound to encounter along the way!
Advantages of camping over refuges:
For my purposes, I break camping down into three types of camping: Traditional campgrounds, approved (legal) camping, and wild camping (bivouac)
Traditional Campgrounds
France, Italy, and Switzerland have campgrounds that are a lot like a KOA or conventional campground you'd find anywhere in Canada or the United States. Some towns or villages (Champex, La Fouly, among others) have established campgrounds that you can reserve in advance or book on your arrival. These campsites often have facilities, including toilets, showers, refreshments, and even food. You're almost never pitching your tent near a million-dollar view, and often trade the adventurous spirit of camping for convenience and a hot shower, so it's not my favorite, but there are some good campgrounds to be found out there. For instance, there is a campground at the west end of Lac Champex that has all of the creature comforts you could ask of a campground, but none of the ambience and no view. La Fouly, on the other hand, is in the middle of a picturesque swiss pastoral valley, Val Ferret.
Legal camping
Some of the refuges have space for camping established around them. When we were at Refuge du Col de la Croix du Bonhomme, it was raining, they had no room (refuges fill up fast in bad weather!), and they had no power either, so the refuge was clammy and wet and completely stuffed with people eating food by candlelight. But they directed us to a series of flat rock circle campsites they set up about 200 metres away, just down the hill. We had the best sleep of our tour in this circle of rocks - we even pulled our bags out of the shelter, slept al fresco and enjoyed the massive starlit sky. Some refuges will let you sleep on their premise, but it's best to ask, and not assume that you can set up a tent right next to a refuge.
Advantages of camping over refuges:
- In a refuge, you're likely stacked in like cordwood
- In a refuge, there's a decent chance you'll be sleeping 2 feet from a snoring stranger
- In a refuge, you might be that snoring stranger!
- Refuges may or may not suit your travel itinerary - camping gives you more flexibility
- More privacy when you're camping on your own
For my purposes, I break camping down into three types of camping: Traditional campgrounds, approved (legal) camping, and wild camping (bivouac)
Traditional Campgrounds
France, Italy, and Switzerland have campgrounds that are a lot like a KOA or conventional campground you'd find anywhere in Canada or the United States. Some towns or villages (Champex, La Fouly, among others) have established campgrounds that you can reserve in advance or book on your arrival. These campsites often have facilities, including toilets, showers, refreshments, and even food. You're almost never pitching your tent near a million-dollar view, and often trade the adventurous spirit of camping for convenience and a hot shower, so it's not my favorite, but there are some good campgrounds to be found out there. For instance, there is a campground at the west end of Lac Champex that has all of the creature comforts you could ask of a campground, but none of the ambience and no view. La Fouly, on the other hand, is in the middle of a picturesque swiss pastoral valley, Val Ferret.
Legal camping
Some of the refuges have space for camping established around them. When we were at Refuge du Col de la Croix du Bonhomme, it was raining, they had no room (refuges fill up fast in bad weather!), and they had no power either, so the refuge was clammy and wet and completely stuffed with people eating food by candlelight. But they directed us to a series of flat rock circle campsites they set up about 200 metres away, just down the hill. We had the best sleep of our tour in this circle of rocks - we even pulled our bags out of the shelter, slept al fresco and enjoyed the massive starlit sky. Some refuges will let you sleep on their premise, but it's best to ask, and not assume that you can set up a tent right next to a refuge.
Camping 200 metres from the Refuge de la Croix du Bonhomme. Best sleep of my life - we dragged our sleeping bags out of this shelter in the middle of the night and got a look at the massive night sky full of stars - EPIC!
Wild Camping
I'm all about maximizing my experience. As a result, whether I'm in the Canadian Rockies or the Alps, my favorite way to camp, is wherever I can have the best sleep in the prettiest place. And that is often a tiny flat piece of paradise, just big enough for my tent, tucked away somewhere on a hillside, with a view to die for. Wild camping is illegal in Switzerland below 2,500m, and illegal in Italy below 2,200m, so you have to be careful. Refugio Elisabetta is an example of how this can be worked around; there are ruins of some farm buildings just down the hill from the refuge, and as long as they can't see you, they're quite happy to have you eat dinner in the refuge and camp among the ruins. The best experience we had was wild camping near lac Blanc - the refuge was closed all season in 2018 due to a lease dispute, which was the best thing that could have happened for our camping experience. Like a dozen other small groups of hikers, we found among the many hollows surrounding lac Blanc a spectacular campsite where we could sleep under the stars with a panoramic vista of the Mont Blanc massif. It's not for everyone or everyone's TMB, but there is nothing like it. Generally, you can set up a tent around sunset, wake early and be up and gone before everyone else, and all will be fine, and you'll have had an inexpensive, beautiful sleep.
I'm all about maximizing my experience. As a result, whether I'm in the Canadian Rockies or the Alps, my favorite way to camp, is wherever I can have the best sleep in the prettiest place. And that is often a tiny flat piece of paradise, just big enough for my tent, tucked away somewhere on a hillside, with a view to die for. Wild camping is illegal in Switzerland below 2,500m, and illegal in Italy below 2,200m, so you have to be careful. Refugio Elisabetta is an example of how this can be worked around; there are ruins of some farm buildings just down the hill from the refuge, and as long as they can't see you, they're quite happy to have you eat dinner in the refuge and camp among the ruins. The best experience we had was wild camping near lac Blanc - the refuge was closed all season in 2018 due to a lease dispute, which was the best thing that could have happened for our camping experience. Like a dozen other small groups of hikers, we found among the many hollows surrounding lac Blanc a spectacular campsite where we could sleep under the stars with a panoramic vista of the Mont Blanc massif. It's not for everyone or everyone's TMB, but there is nothing like it. Generally, you can set up a tent around sunset, wake early and be up and gone before everyone else, and all will be fine, and you'll have had an inexpensive, beautiful sleep.
Lac Blanc wild camping. The refuge was closed due to a legal dispute, so anyone who planned to sleep in the refuge had to make a new plan. Could not have worked out any better!
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