The Haute Route
The Definitive Alpine Trek.
An epic trek between the world’s most revered mountaineering centers, Chamonix to Zermatt, Mont Blanc to The Matterhorn. With incredible hiking over high passes and alongside jaw-dropping glaciers and offering the adventure of a lifetime, The Haute Route is a true classic.
Key information

July / August / September 

Duration: 13 days

Grade: Strenuous 

Airport:  Geneva

Accessing the wild, high-level plateaux of the Grande Desert

4 * Spa hotel in Chamonix and Zermatt

Private vehicle support provided on request

At A Glance
 
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Days 1 - 6

Beginning in Chamonix you hike the Grand Balcon to enjoy views of the Mont Blanc massif including glaciers, aiguilles and Mont Blanc itself. Ascending to the Col de Balme on the Swiss border you begin the downhill trek to Trient, Switzerland.

From Trient you navigate the Trient Glacier to the Fenettre d’Arpette and into the Arpette Valley, heading towards your destination of the lakeside village of Champex-Lac. From Champex-Lac you descend through traditional alpine villages and picturesque farmsteads to reach Sembrancher. The Lac de Louvie offers the setting as you hike to Col, traversing the Grande Desert, and Rosablanche glacier before descending to your destination, the Cabane de Plafleuri.

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Days 7 - 10

Setting out from Cabane Plafeuri you ascend the Col du Roux towards Lac Dix and the Pas du Chevre heading towards your overnight destination of Arolla. Day Seven offers a welcome rest day, the opportunity to explore Arolla, enjoy a day hike or have lunch in the village of Evolene.

Refreshed, you set out from Arolla towards the Moiry dam and an ascent of the Cabane de Moiry, a stunning setting for your overnight stay.

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Days 11 - 13

An early descent from our refuge is followed by a hike up into the Sorebois Pass and a trek into the iconically Swiss village of Zinal, hiking to the Meidan Pass and the hamlet of Gruben. Day Eleven includes forested trails and the steady climb up to the Augustbordpass before taking the cable car and train to Zermatt, at the foot of the Matterhorn.

Zermatt is the perfect location for a day hike to the base of the Matterhorn, a stunning train journey to the Gornerglat glacier or simply a day spent exploring this amazing town. A farewell dinner to celebrate your completion of the Haute Route is a fantastic way to conclude the trip, before departing to your onward destination.

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Need To Know

 
Accommodation
3 x nights in rustic mountain refuges

2 x nights in family run 2 * hotels

2 x nights in 1* basic rural hotel

1 x night in lakeside 3* hotel

4 x nights in 4* fabulous central Hotel with Spa facilities in Chamonix and Zermatt

What’s included

All accommodation

All breakfasts, lunches and dinners, drinks on first and last night (apart from 2 lunches & 1 dinner in Zermatt)

Lifts / gondalas apart from last day in Zermatt

Private vehicle support can be provided on request.

Guides
Our guides are exceptionally experienced with a passion for sharing the mountains, flora and fauna with you. All qualified and licensed International Mountain Leaders they will bring the trip alive.

We adopt an excellent guiding ratio meaning we can cater for differing levels within the group and offer extra add-ons where appropriate, such as taking in a side peak or giving two different trail choices.

One Guide – 1 – 7 clients

Two Guides – 8 – 14 clients

Booking and Price

Cost: Please contact us for details.

Single Supplement available in most hotels

We manage every booking independently to ensure attention to detail and provide a personalised service.

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Terms & Conditions

Terms and Conditions (updated Jan 2019)All trips are sold subject to these Terms and Conditions (hereinafter T&Cs). 

1. Insurance

All clients need to be adequately insured for all activities they are taking part in. Insurance must include repatriation and details should be provided at the beginning of each trip.

All European clients should obtain a European Health insurance card (EHIC), however, this is not a substitute for travel insurance.

2. Health and fitness

Trip members have the responsibility to select a trip appropriate to their abilities and interests. In order to assist with this, all trips are graded and we welcome the opportunity to discuss trip details/answer questions in advance of your reservation. Trip members must be in sufficiently good health to undertake the trip, and if unsure seek medical advice in advance. For your own safety, you need to inform us of any medical conditions in advance or at the start of the trip. Trip members are also required to bring adequate clothing/equipment as advised in the pre-departure information.

3. Dietary Requirements

We endeavor to work with clients and accommodate their dietary requirements. However such is the nature of adventure travel we may be limited to specific menus e.g remote Mountain Huts, Tea Houses in the Himalaya’s etc. We fully encourage you to contact us in advance to discuss your requirements then we have every opportunity to explore options thereafter.

4. Cancellations and Fee Schedule Per Person

91 days or more prior to departure – €250 cancellation fee

61 – 90 days before departure – 25% of the trip cost

46 – 60 days before departure – 50% of the trip cost

45 days or less: 100% of trip cost

Fees are calculated from the date we receive written cancellation notice which can be via email. If clients are unable to access email and cancel over the phone we will confirm in writing the cancellation.

If you cancel 91 days or more prior to departure, it may be possible to transfer to another trip without occurring any fees. Please discuss this with us in the first instance.

With specific departures, there may be an increase in cancellation fee if the accommodation provider T & Cs mean we are liable for payment.

4.1 Cancellation due to COVID travel restrictions.

If your chosen destination country or the country where you reside have restrictions in place due to COVID, meaning you are unable to travel, you have three options:

4.11 Postpone your trip until a later date.

4.12 Take a credit note and use against a future trip with LBH.

4.13 Request a full refund.

If any other reasons prevent you from travelling, including quarantine measures then our normal (4) T&Cs will apply. We recommend that you check with your travel insurance provider to fully understand your level of cover.

5. Complaints

If you have a complaint, please contact us as soon as possible, in the first instance your leader is often your obvious point of contact. This ensures we have every opportunity to explores solutions to the problem(s) arising and we will do all we reasonably can to resolve the complaint. You must tell us within 4 weeks after your holiday of any complaints that you feel have not been dealt with properly.

6. Alterations By Us

We will tell you as soon as reasonably possible if we must make any alteration to your holiday. Most alterations are minor, but very occasionally we might have to make a major alteration. A major alteration is a change of location or to a lower standard of accommodation for a substantial part of your holiday, a change in start/finish dates or necessary price rise in your holiday caused by rises in costs (e.g. exchange rates, internal transport etc). You may then choose as follows:

  • To accept these alterations
  • To withdraw from the holiday, in which case we will repay all monies paid to us including your deposit and this is the sum of our liability to you
  • To accept an alternative holiday that we may propose to you, in which case if the proposed holiday is a lower price we will pay you the difference and if it is a higher price we may ask for the difference.

You must inform us of your choice as soon as possible after we contact you.

7. Group Leadership

On a guided holiday your leader is responsible for the safety and enjoyment of the whole group and has sole discretion, on behalf of Live Breathe Hike, to exclude temporarily a participant from the group. They may also choose to terminate the participants holiday without the possibility of a refund if the leader thinks the participant is likely to endanger the group safety or spoil its enjoyment.

8. Your Responsibility

Mountain holidays by their very nature are adventurous, with a certain level of risk is undertaken. Individuals need to conduct themselves in a safe and responsible manner at all times; responding to advice, guidance, and instruction that may be given by the group leader / experienced professional and take all reasonable actions to eliminate accidents or injury.

9. Our Responsibilities

We will take all reasonable care to ensure that the information we give to you is accurate, including on our website, in your schedule and information pack. We will do all that we can to provide the service as described in the information we give to you. We are not liable if any failure is:

  • Attributable to anyone other than us
  • Attributable to a third party unconnected to us, and unforeseeable or unavoidable
  • Due to unusual and unforeseeable circumstances beyond our control and could not have been avoided even if all due care had been taken
  • Due to an event which even with all due care we could not foresee or forestall

10. Cancellation By Us

Live Breathe Hike reserves the right to cancel any trip prior to departure for any reason whatsoever, including insufficient signup or logistics problems that may impede trip operations. The refund of all land payments received shall relate Live Breathe Hike from any further liability.

Live Breathe Hike must normally make substantial payments to its suppliers far in advance of the scheduled trip departure date. If a trip is canceled due to force majeure; (acts of God, war, strikes, earthquake, flooding etc), Live Breathe Hike will promptly refund the portion of the trip cost not already advanced to suppliers and use its best efforts to recover and refund the balance as promptly as possible. However, Live Breathe Hike does not guarantee recovery of any or all of the advance payments made.

11. Additional Costs

Live Breathe Hike shall not be liable for (a) expenses such as additional nights and meals not specified in the individual trip itineraries, but which may required to get to from a trip start or end; expenses due to the delay of a trip for any reason (e.g. bad weather, trails conditions, land slides, flooding, sickness etc); (c) expenses occurred in recovering lost luggage by airlines, belongings left behind on a trip or in shipping purchases or other goods home from abroad; (d) visa and other incidental costs.

Live Breathe Hike reserves the right to take photographic or film records of any trips, and may use any such records for promotional and/or commercial purposes without payment.

Words Can't Express..

How much we appreciated you’re experience, enthusiasm, and encouragement. This is truly a trip of a lifetime.

THANK YOU for being so amazing.

Truly Amazing....

You were such a wonderful team and really compliment each other.