The truncated line
It was meant to reach Mont Blanc's summit before the war stopped it.
Florian Pépellin — CC BY-SA 4.0 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Rémih — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Rémih — CC BY-SA 4.0
Yes on a clear summer day, especially for anyone who does not want physical effort: the journey itself is the pleasure, an hour and a quarter of climbing through changing scenery, and the upper station puts you at the edge of the climbers' world without climbing. But it is **outside Chamonix** and consumes a half to full day with the travel. If you have only two days: the Aiguille du Midi and the Mer de Glace come first.
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The Mont Blanc Tramway is **the highest railway in France**: a small rack train of red-and-white carriages climbing from the town of **Saint-Gervais** (580 metres) to the **Nid d'Aigle** — the "eagle's nest" — station at 2,372 metres, through forest, meadow and mountainside in about an hour and a quarter each way. Construction began in 1907 with a far greater ambition: it was meant to reach **the summit of Mont Blanc itself**. The First World War stopped the project at the Nid d'Aigle, and the line has stayed truncated at the edge of the Bionnassay glacier ever since — and that defeated ambition is part of its charm. From the upper station the paths begin toward the Tête Rousse refuge, which is **the classic route up Mont Blanc**: you will see climbers with their gear step off the train and walk on into the ice. For the ordinary visitor: an exceptional mountain train journey with views that require no physical effort at all.
It was meant to reach Mont Blanc's summit before the war stopped it.
The "eagle's nest" at the edge of the Bionnassay glacier.
Climbers step off here on their way up Mont Blanc.
Saint-Gervais-les-Bains / Les Houches, Haute-Savoie