Most UTMB recce trips are sold as four-day camps that move from hut to hut. You can also recce the course one section at a time and sleep in the same bed every night, using the valley train, the Swiss buses and the Flégère gondola, which climbs from Les Praz to the race's last aid station. This guide splits the 2026 route into eight day trips and explains how to reach each one, and get back, from Les Praz and Les Bois, the two hamlets at the foot of that gondola, and sets out what a fixed base can't do.
- A UTMB course recce in day trips: the 173.6 km (108 miles) of the 2026 route split into eight runs, leaving two stretches that don't work as day trips. One goes from Les Contamines to the Col de la Seigne via Les Chapieux, a hamlet in Savoie, and the other from Arnouvaz in Italy to La Fouly in Switzerland, over the Grand Col Ferret. You still see part of both on out-and-back runs: the Col du Bonhomme from Les Contamines and the Col de la Seigne from Courmayeur on the first, the Grand Col Ferret from La Fouly on the second.
- From Les Praz, you can recce the last 18.3 km without a car. The train to Vallorcine takes 29 minutes (2026 timetable), and you follow the route back to Chamonix from there. The Flégère gondola, at km 166.6, lets you split it in two.
- Without a car, six of the eight runs work by train and bus, Switzerland included, with a regional coach back from Les Contamines. The two Italian runs need a car, and even with one, the two missing stretches can't be run in full as day trips.
- The window runs from late June to mid-September, never during race week. In 2026, the bus up to the Col des Montets stopped on 6 September.
UTMB course recce in day trips rather than hut to hut
A course recce means running all or part of a race route in advance to get to know the ground. From a fixed base, three things change: what you carry, how you handle the weather, and how the group fits around the runner. It can't reproduce the fatigue of a multi-day camp, and it only works well from a base close to both the valley train and the gondola.
The same bed every night, and the day's run picked by the weather
On a hut-to-hut trip you carry a pack for several days and book the huts in advance, whatever the weather does. On day trips you run with a day pack and choose the section to suit the forecast, and a wet day becomes a rest day. Family and friends who aren't running come along for the week, and meet the runner at the end of the day by train or gondola.
What day trips don't test, and what they show you better
A hut-to-hut camp strings together 40 to 50 km a day for four days. Day trips don't reproduce that build-up of fatigue, so if you want to feel it, keep the hut-to-hut format for at least part of the loop.
What you do get is the end of the course in daylight, a section most UTMB runners reach in the dark. You can spot the descents, the flat stretches and the places where you can pick up the pace again.
A base on the valley train and at the foot of La Flégère
From Chamonix, two things get you onto the route without a car. One is the valley train, the Mont-Blanc Express, a single line from Saint-Gervais to Vallorcine near the Swiss border, with a station in most villages along the way. The other is the Flégère gondola, which climbs from Les Praz up the Aiguilles Rouges side of the valley.
Its top station, at around 1,880 m, is also called La Flégère, and it's UTMB's last checkpoint, with a drinks-only aid station, at km 166.6. In winter the same gondola serves the Flégère ski area.
Les Praz and Les Bois have both on the doorstep. They're neighbouring hamlets about 3 km (2 miles) up the valley from the centre of Chamonix-Mont-Blanc, on the road to Argentière, with Les Praz first and Les Bois just after. Further up the valley come Argentière, the Col des Montets and Vallorcine.
Chalet Bonami is in Les Bois, with the Flégère gondola five minutes away. The gondola's bottom station is 550 m on foot, and Les Praz train station about 400 m, also five minutes away. When you arrive, the chalet hands you the valley's guest card, the carte d'hôte, valid for your whole stay.
It gives you free train travel on journeys between Servoz, the village below Les Houches, and Vallorcine. Buses aren't free with it, Chamonix's included. It only gets you a discount on bus passes of two days or more, and drivers don't sell those, so buy them before you board.
To get back from the centre, bus line 2, which runs all year, stops at "Les Praz Flégère" and "Les Bois".
Your UTMB course recce, section by section
UTMB, the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc, loops round the Mont Blanc massif, 173.6 km on the 2026 route. It starts from the arch, the start and finish gantry in the centre of Chamonix, and runs through Les Houches, Saint-Gervais, Les Contamines and Les Chapieux before crossing into Italy at the Col de la Seigne.
From Courmayeur it follows the Italian Val Ferret, crosses into Switzerland at the Grand Col Ferret and carries on through La Fouly, Champex-Lac and Trient. It comes back into France at Vallorcine and finishes under the same arch.
Every run goes in the race direction, apart from the out-and-backs to the passes in runs 5, 7 and 8. Runs 1 to 5 need no car: you reach the first ones on foot or by train, the later ones by train and Swiss bus. Runs 6 and 7, in Italy, need a car, and run 8 comes last: it leads to the Les Chapieux stretch, and you get back from it by regional coach or by car.
The eight runs fall into six areas, each with its own section. Two stretches don't work as day trips, and the table lists them as not covered.
| No. | Area | Section | 2026 course km | Distance | Ascent | Getting there | Getting back |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | End of the course | Vallorcine → La Flégère → the arch | 155.3 to 173.6 | 18.3 km | about 900 m | Train to Vallorcine | Flégère gondola, or on foot to the arch, then bus |
| 2 | Start | Chamonix → Saint-Gervais | 0 to 22.9 | 22.9 km | about 1,000 m | Bus or on foot to the arch | Train from Saint-Gervais-Le Fayet |
| 3 | Border | Trient → Vallorcine | 144 to 155.3 | 11.3 km | about 800 m | Train to Le Châtelard, bus to Trient | Train from Vallorcine |
| 4 | Switzerland | Champex-Lac → Trient | 127.5 to 144 | 16.5 km | 857 m | Trains to Martigny and Orsières, then bus | Bus to Le Châtelard, then train |
| 5 | Switzerland | La Fouly → Champex-Lac, plus the out-and-back to the Grand Col Ferret | 114 to 127.5 | 13.5 km, plus the out-and-back | about 500 m, plus the climb to the pass | Trains to Martigny and Orsières, then bus | Bus to Orsières, then trains |
| 6 | Italy | Courmayeur → Arnouvaz | 81.3 to 99.4 | 18.1 km | 1,252 m | Car through the Mont Blanc Tunnel | Italian Val Ferret shuttle to Courmayeur |
| 7 | Italy | Courmayeur ↔ Col de la Seigne | Col de la Seigne (km not marked) to 81.3 | Out-and-back, length set from the GPX track | Depends where you turn | Car through the Mont Blanc Tunnel | Car |
| 8 | Les Contamines | Saint-Gervais → Les Contamines, plus the out-and-back towards the Col du Bonhomme | 22.9 to 32.4 | 9.5 km, plus the out-and-back | about 500 m, plus the climb | Train to Saint-Gervais-Le Fayet, Valléen gondola up to the village | Regional coach to Le Fayet then train, or car |
| Not covered | Les Contamines | Les Contamines → Col du Bonhomme → Les Chapieux → Col de la Seigne | 32.4 to the Col de la Seigne (Les Chapieux at 52.2) | about 20 km to Les Chapieux, plus the climb to the pass | 1,389 m to Les Chapieux | Not covered by a day run | n/a |
| Not covered | Italy and Switzerland | Arnouvaz → Grand Col Ferret → La Fouly | 99.4 to 114 | 14.6 km, part of it on run 5's out-and-back | about 800 m | Not covered by a day run | n/a |
These distances come from the official UTMB 2026 profile, and the route changes from one year to the next, so take that year's official GPX track with you. The profile doesn't mark the passes (Col des Montets, Grand Col Ferret, Col de la Seigne, Col du Bonhomme), so the GPX track is what tells you how far to go on the out-and-backs.
On cost, the guest card's free train between Servoz and Vallorcine is the only free travel, and you pay for the rest: the Flégère gondola, Chamonix's buses, the train to Saint-Gervais-Le Fayet (Saint-Gervais's station), the Valléen gondola, the Les Contamines coach, the Swiss trains and buses (in Swiss francs), the bus and shuttle on the Italian side, and the Mont Blanc Tunnel toll. Gondola fares are on the website of the Compagnie du Mont-Blanc, which runs Chamonix's lifts. Swiss fares are in the online timetable of the SBB, the Swiss railways, and the tunnel toll is on the tunnel's own website.
Run 1 · The end of the course, Vallorcine to the arch, without a car from Les Praz
The run starts in Vallorcine. You get there by train from Les Praz, 29 minutes in 2026, then follow the route to La Flégère: 11.3 km and about 900 m of ascent. The gondola takes you back down to Les Praz, where you set off that morning.
The rest, from La Flégère to the arch, is 7 km and drops more than 800 m. You can run it the same day or keep it for another morning, taking the gondola up and running down into the centre, where bus line 2 brings you back to Les Praz in eight minutes. On the 2026 profile, La Flégère is the highest point of this whole final section, at around 1,880 m.
The Col des Montets is the road pass between Argentière and Vallorcine, further up the valley from Les Praz and Les Bois, and the route crosses it after Vallorcine, at around km 159 on the profile.
For a shorter run, summer bus 21 goes up to the pass from the "Les Bois" and "Les Praz Flégère" stops, four times a day in 2026, the first just after 8am. From there you run to La Flégère and skip the climb from Vallorcine. Allow 7 to 8 km from the pass, and check it on the GPX track.
If you run with a dog, note that from the pass the route crosses the Aiguilles Rouges nature reserve, where dogs are banned, even on a lead.
In summer 2026, the last gondola down from La Flégère was at 5pm, or 6pm from 11 July to 30 August. If you miss it, you walk down along the route, 7 km and more than 800 m of descent to the centre of Chamonix, and take the bus home: line 2 during the day (check its last departure on the timetable), then the N1 night bus, which ran from 8.35pm in 2026 and stopped at "Les Praz Flégère" and "Les Bois".
To get back to Les Praz without going through the centre, the tourist office's walk from Chamonix up to La Flégère can also start from Les Praz. It's steep and graded difficult, so find that branch on the map before you take it downhill.
The last train from Vallorcine to Les Praz left at 8.10pm, and no trains run at night. On a run that finishes in Vallorcine you come back by train, so leave yourself some margin.
Run 2 · The start, Chamonix to Saint-Gervais
This is the only run that begins in Chamonix itself, with no train on the way out. You get to the arch by bus or on foot, then follow the start of the race through Les Houches and over the Col de Voza to Saint-Gervais: 22.9 km and about 1,000 m of ascent.
You come back by train from Saint-Gervais-Le Fayet station, about 45 minutes from Chamonix. The station is below the village, and the Valléen, a gondola that runs all year, takes you down in about five minutes. Le Fayet is outside the guest card zone, which only covers journeys between Servoz and Vallorcine, so buy a ticket for this one.
Run 3 · Trient to Vallorcine, across the border
Run 3 also starts with the valley train, this time beyond Vallorcine. You change there and carry on into Switzerland as far as Le Châtelard-Frontière, the first Swiss station over the border, where a bus runs to Trient all year, with extra services in summer.
From Trient, the route comes back into France at Vallorcine: 11.3 km and about 800 m of ascent. The train then takes you back to Les Praz in half an hour.
Runs 4 and 5 · The Swiss side, La Fouly to Trient
The Swiss side is further away by train. You go as far as Martigny, about 1 hour 40 from Les Praz with the same change at Vallorcine, then take the St-Bernard Express to Orsières and a bus on to Champex-Lac or La Fouly. The train to Orsières and the bus come on top of that, so check the full timetable on the SBB website to see when you'll start running.
Run 4 goes from Champex-Lac to Trient, 16.5 km and 857 m of ascent, and you come back by bus to Le Châtelard, then by train. Run 5 goes from La Fouly to Champex-Lac, 13.5 km and about 500 m of ascent.
You can start run 5 with an out-and-back from La Fouly towards the Grand Col Ferret, the border pass runners cross as they come over from Italy. It lies on the 14.6 km between Arnouvaz and La Fouly, and the GPX track tells you how far to go. The whole stretch stays out of the plan, because it starts at the head of the Italian Val Ferret, which you reach by car through the Mont Blanc Tunnel, and ends in Switzerland, a long way from that car.
Runs 6 and 7 · The Italian side, Col de la Seigne to Arnouvaz
Runs 6 and 7 need a car, as Courmayeur is on the far side of the Mont Blanc Tunnel. There is a scheduled bus between Chamonix and Courmayeur, but in summer 2026 it only ran four times a day and had to be booked, which leaves little slack for a day's running.
Run 6 goes from Courmayeur to Arnouvaz, about 18 km and 1,252 m of ascent, at the head of the Italian Val Ferret. That's a different valley from the Swiss Val Ferret of run 5, on the other side of the Grand Col Ferret. The only public transport back to Courmayeur, where you left the car, is the Val Ferret shuttle, so check its summer timetable with the Courmayeur tourist office before you set off.
Run 7 is an out-and-back from Courmayeur to the Col de la Seigne, running the route in reverse. The pass marks the border between France and Italy, and runners cross it on their way from Les Chapieux. It sits on the 29.1 km from Les Chapieux to Courmayeur (1,551 m of ascent in the race direction), so you turn round at the pass or before, with the GPX track to judge the distance.
In autumn the tunnel closes on some nights, and a closure of several weeks has been announced for autumn 2027, with no dates set as of November 2026. Check the closure dates before planning a September recce on the Italian side.
Run 8 · Saint-Gervais towards the Col du Bonhomme, and Les Chapieux out of reach
Run 8 picks up where run 2 ends: you take the train to Saint-Gervais-Le Fayet and the Valléen gondola up to the village. From there you run to Les Contamines, 9.5 km and about 500 m of ascent.
From there you can add an out-and-back towards the Col du Bonhomme. The pass is on the stretch from Les Contamines to Les Chapieux, about 20 km and 1,389 m of ascent in all, and the GPX track tells you how far to go.
Les Contamines isn't on the railway, which ends at Le Fayet. To get back, a regional coach, line Y84, runs from Les Contamines down to Le Fayet station, so check its summer timetable before you set off. Otherwise someone from the group drives over to collect the runner.
You can't run the Les Chapieux stretch as a day trip from Chamonix. The hamlet sits at the head of a valley in Savoie, on the far side of the Col du Bonhomme, and no road crosses the pass. You see the Col de la Seigne from the Italian side on run 7, and if you're set on running this stretch in full, you'll need a night in a mountain hut, as on a hut-to-hut camp.
Planning a UTMB course recce week
Once you know the eight runs, the questions are when to come and how to fit them into a week with a group.
Late June to mid-September, never race week
The window follows the transport timetables. In 2026 the summer train timetable ran from 13 June to 13 September, the Flégère gondola was open from 20 June to 13 September, and bus 21 to the Col des Montets ran from 20 June to 6 September. The next summer's timetables come out in the spring.
From 7 to 13 September 2026, the train and the gondola were still running, but bus 21 wasn't, so no bus went up to the Col des Montets. Lines 1 and 2 run all year, and line 2 still stops at "Les Praz Flégère" and "Les Bois".
Early in the season the highest passes can still hold snow, so for those in Italy and Switzerland, check with the tourist offices in Courmayeur and La Fouly before you go.
Race week, the last week of August, is the one to avoid. It ran from 24 to 30 August in 2026, and the 2027 dates haven't been announced yet. That week the roads to Les Contamines, Saint-Gervais, Courmayeur, La Fouly, Champex, the Col de la Forclaz, Trient and Vallorcine were closed to cars while the runners came through, and the trails belong to the race.
Read more: Where to stay for UTMB: which part of the Chamonix valley, and when to book
Eight runs in seven days, with a rest day
This plan fits into a week, with six days of running and a rest day in the middle, so count eight nights if you arrive the day before and leave the morning after. Two of the days combine two runs in the race direction, but the order of the days follows the transport rather than the route. You only need cars for Italy, and to get back from Les Contamines if the coach times don't suit.
| Day | Runs | Transport |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Run 1, Vallorcine to the arch | On foot, train, gondola or bus |
| 2 | Runs 2 and 8 back to back, Chamonix to Les Contamines (32.4 km, 20 miles) | On foot, coach and train or car back |
| 3 | Runs 4 and 3 back to back, Champex-Lac to Vallorcine (27.8 km, 17 miles) | Swiss trains and bus out, train back |
| 4 | Rest | |
| 5 | Run 5, La Fouly to Champex-Lac, plus the Grand Col Ferret | Swiss trains and buses |
| 6 | Run 6 or run 7 | Car through the tunnel |
| 7 | The other Italian run | Car through the tunnel |
Days 2 and 3 are long, and each run also works on its own if you add a day. There's no spare day in the plan, so if the weather costs you one, a run gets dropped. Les Chapieux stays out unless you add a night in a hut, and you only see the Grand Col Ferret on the out-and-back from La Fouly.
Days 1, 3 and 5 all start on the valley train. Groups of more than nine have to tell the railway 48 hours ahead, at [email protected], so send that email once the week's plan is set.
Bonami's tip: start with the end of the course, 29 minutes away by train, which needs neither a car nor a Swiss timetable. After that you can swap the days around. Put the two Italian runs, the furthest from the chalet and the only ones through the tunnel, on the days with the most settled forecast, even if that means moving them earlier in the week.
Car or no car, flying into Geneva
If you fly in from the UK or further afield, the nearest airport is Geneva, about an hour and a quarter by road from Chamonix. You can reach the valley without a car. Coach companies run transfers from the airport, and trains leave from Cornavin, Geneva's main station in the city centre.
You need cars on three days at most: the two Italian days, through the tunnel, and, if the coach doesn't suit, the day the runners need collecting from Les Contamines. You can hire them at Geneva airport for the whole stay, or come by coach or train and hire them in Chamonix, from a car hire agency, just for those days. The chalet's outdoor car park takes at least four cars.
If you drive from the airport, the quickest route uses a short stretch of Swiss motorway, which needs the vignette, the annual Swiss motorway toll. Geneva airport has a Swiss and a French sector, and only cars hired on the Swiss side come with a vignette as standard, so if you hire on the French side, ask the hire company about it. With the train doing the Swiss runs, you never need to drive in Switzerland during the week.
What the rest of the group does during the recce
Not everyone in a mixed group runs the same section. On day 1, the fastest start in Vallorcine and go all the way to the arch, while the others take bus 21 up to the Col des Montets and stop at La Flégère. Everyone then heads back in their own time, by gondola from La Flégère or by bus from the arch.
On day 3, some of the group can run just from Trient to Vallorcine, and come back by train from there.
On the Les Contamines day, if the group drives back rather than taking the coach, every car needs a driver who isn't running that stretch, so the number of cars depends on how many runners there are and how many people can drive. If almost everyone in the group is running, split the runners into two waves on different days, each driving for the other, or put that stretch on a day when family or friends can drive. In Italy the cars wait in Courmayeur, so the runners drive them back themselves.
On the other days, family and friends can take the gondola up to La Flégère to meet the runner at the race's last aid station, or on day 3 take the train to Vallorcine to be there when they finish. Anyone taking a day off can stay at the chalet, where the spa has a steam room, a sauna and a hot tub, and the gym has a treadmill and a rowing machine.
In the evening, wet shoes go on the boot dryer in the ski room, and the day's kit goes in the laundry room, with its washing machine and tumble dryer. The chalet sleeps up to 14, ten in bedrooms with their own bathroom and four more in the bunk room. It's let as a whole house, so even a group of four books all of it.
Outside race week the minimum stay is three nights, or five during UTMB week, and you choose your arrival day, so a recce fits a long weekend as well as a full week. Chalet Bonami is let direct: tell us your dates and we'll reply within 24 hours.
Read more: UTMB chalet in Chamonix: one base to head out from every morning
UTMB course recce: frequently asked questions
These are the questions that come up when people plan a recce week.
How many days do you need to recce the whole UTMB course?
Four on a hut-to-hut camp, running 40 to 50 km a day between huts. From a fixed base it takes seven, six days of running and one of rest, leaving out the Les Chapieux and Grand Col Ferret stretches. With three or four days, stick to the runs that need no car: the end of the course, the start, the border and the Swiss side.
Can you recce the UTMB course without a car?
Not all of it. Runs 1 to 5 work by train and bus: the end of the course, the start, the border and the Swiss side. So does the Les Contamines run, with the regional coach back down to Le Fayet station, but Italy needs a car, and the Les Chapieux stretch needs a night in a hut.
When is the best time to recce the UTMB course?
From late June to mid-September, outside race week. In 2026 the Flégère gondola ran from 20 June to 13 September, and the bus to the Col des Montets from 20 June to 6 September. From 11 July to 30 August the last gondola down was at 6pm rather than 5pm, which gives you more slack on the end-of-course run.
Can you recce the course during UTMB week?
No. During race week, the roads into the villages on the course close to cars, and the trails are full of runners. If you're coming back to run the race itself, or to follow a runner, see where to base yourself for race week.
Where can I find the official UTMB GPX track?
The organisers publish the GPX track for each edition, and their partner Suunto makes it available to download. Use that year's track rather than an old one, as the route changes between editions, and the official profile gives the kilometre mark of every checkpoint.