A great trip to the French Alps

France | Jul 28 - Aug 9, 2023

It was very centrally located and the breakfast was solid, but the room was small, cramped and the hotel didn't have the nicest furnishings, they felt a bit cheap.

Lovely hotel in Chamonix, excellent food and lovely spa/pool area. The room was comfortable, decently sized with a nice balcony and nicely furnished.

The card was nice to have, but we only wound up going to one museum and using the metro once.

The bicycle tour was nice. Our guide was knowledgeable and a good group leader. The food tasting, however was a bit of a joke, they gave us a plate of cheese and a plate of sliced salami. I think the title 'food tasting' was a bit misleading, as there wasn't very much, and no vegetarian options aside from the cheese.

Our guide was wonderful and since we went on a Tuesday, the Palais and castle were closed to the public so we got a private tour of both, which was great because the rest of Annecy was absolutely mobbed with tourists.

The Aiguille du Midi was great, but the Mer de Glace ice cave should definitely be skipped. The glacier has receded so much that you walk for close to an hour down stairs to get to an ice cave they've carved out the remaining ice, which is partly covered with a tarp to keep it from melting further. The whole way down there are markers of the former heights of the glacier going back 30 years. It is important to have the awareness about climate change but we found the whole experience pretty depressing. The path/ice cave was also so clogged with tourists taking selfies that it made for a very slow frustrating walk down and up to the ice cave. I would recommend doing the historic train up but skipping the ice cave.