Mer de Glace
France's largest glacier, and the markers showing where it reached each decade.
Duration
3 hrs – 4 hrs
Difficulty
●●○○○
Best time
In the morning
Open
Every day
Entry price
To confirm
The Mer de Glace is France's largest glacier: seven kilometres long. The Montenvers rack railway has climbed to it since 1908, and it is the journey down that tells the story.
At the top, markers along the descent stairway give the year the ice reached that level: 1990, 2000, 2010. You now go down more than five hundred steps to reach the cave cut into the glacier each year — in 1988 the station overlooked it directly. It is the most concrete demonstration of glacial retreat open to the public.
Getting there
Montenvers train from Chamonix station, twenty minutes. A gondola then a stairway of over five hundred steps drop to the glacier.
What the price covers
paid Montenvers railway, rate to be confirmed; the ice cave is included or extra depending on the ticket
What to bring
- Walking shoes
- Headlamp
Rules on site
The descent to the glacier is over five hundred steps, to be climbed again on the way back: it is not trivial. The ice cave closes at times for works, and the train does not run between seasons.