Chamonix-Mont-Blanc is a town rather than a resort: about 1,035 m up a valley that runs to 4,807 m at the summit of Mont Blanc. Skiing here is not one linked area but five separate ones, reached by bus or train along the valley floor.
How to get there: Geneva is the nearest airport, roughly an hour away on the motorway through the Mont Blanc tunnel approach. Chamonix has its own railway station on the Mont-Blanc Express line from Saint-Gervais to Martigny in Switzerland.
Slopes and lifts: 155 km of pistes across five domains, served by 67 lifts. The Grands Montets above Argentière runs from 1,235 m to 2,800 m and is the serious one; Brévent and Flégère face Mont Blanc across the valley, mostly red runs with the view; Balme at Le Tour, at the head of the valley, is the wide, sunny beginner ground, with forest descents on the Vallorcine side; Les Houches, lower down, is the sheltered bad-weather option.
The Aiguille du Midi: the cable car climbs from the middle of town to 3,842 m. From there the Vallée Blanche descends more than 20 km with 2,800 m of vertical — a glacier route, not a piste, and one that is skied with a guide.
Off the snow: the Montenvers rack railway runs up to 1,913 m at the Mer de Glace.
Where you stay: Chamonix works as a town with a lift system attached, so most hotels and apartments are in the centre or in Argentière, and getting to the snow means the free valley bus or the train rather than clicking in at the door.
