Day-by-day trail itinerary
Walker's Haute Route: 16-day itinerary
Two halves that have almost nothing in common. The first fourteen kilometres are Chamonix valley floor: river-level path through pine and larch, gravel track, and enough tarmac through Les Praz, Les Tines and Argentière that the day feels like an approach rather than a start. It is busy, level, and never more than a few minutes from a bus stop, a bakery or a station. Past Le Tour the valley runs out and the walking changes completely, onto open grazing and ski-area slopes climbing steadily to Col de Balme at 2191 m, a broad grassy saddle with a refuge on it and the French and Swiss border running through it. The descent is the first proper drop of the route, roughly 900 m on grass and stony path into the flat green floor of the Trient valley. Trient itself is a scatter of chalets round a pink church, and the section carries on past it, turning back up the valley on a rising forest track towards the Trient glacier. Everything from the col onwards is Switzerland: different money, different signposts, different hut culture.
Choose your pace
Compare Walker's Haute Route itineraries
A practical starting point
16 days from Chamonix to Zermatt
Use these daily distances and overnight stops as a starting point, then customise the trip in the planner.
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1
Day 1: Chamonix → Argentière
9.3 km · 369 m ascent · 2h52–4h02 (about 3h22, incl. ~34m of stops)
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2
Day 2: Argentière → Trient
14.7 km · 1,097 m ascent · 5h25–7h38 (about 6h22, incl. ~1h04 of stops)
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3
Day 3: Trient → Champex-Lac
14.0 km · 1,355 m ascent · 5h27–7h42 (about 6h25, incl. ~1h04 of stops)
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4
Day 4: Champex-Lac → Villette
14.5 km · 321 m ascent · 4h29–6h20 (about 5h17, incl. ~53m of stops)
Via Som-la-Proz, Le Biolley, Orsières, Chez-les-Reuses, La Rosière, Chamoille d'Orsières, Chamoille (Sembrancher), Vens, Sembrancher, Etiez, Vollèges, Levron -
5
Day 5: Villette → Verbier
6.7 km · 1,100 m ascent · 2h55–4h07 (about 3h26, incl. ~34m of stops)
Via Cotterg, Fontenelle-Dessous, Fontenelle-Dessus, Montagnier, Bruson, Champsec, Sarreyer -
6
Day 6: Verbier → La Ruine
9.8 km · 909 m ascent · 3h47–5h20 (about 4h27, incl. ~44m of stops)
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7
Day 7: La Ruine → Cabane de Prafleuri
9.6 km · 775 m ascent · 3h35–5h04 (about 4h13, incl. ~42m of stops)
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8
Day 8: Cabane de Prafleuri → Arolla
17.5 km · 795 m ascent · 5h56–8h23 (about 6h59, incl. ~1h10 of stops)
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9
Day 9: Arolla → La Sage
11.7 km · 496 m ascent · 3h56–5h33 (about 4h38, incl. ~46m of stops)
Via Les Haudères, La Forclaz VS -
10
Day 10: La Sage → Cabane de Moiry
10.4 km · 1,656 m ascent · 4h26–6h16 (about 5h14, incl. ~52m of stops)
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11
Day 11: Cabane de Moiry → Zinal
18.1 km · 648 m ascent · 5h58–8h25 (about 7h01, incl. ~1h10 of stops)
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12
Day 12: Zinal → Gruben
16.8 km · 1,294 m ascent · 6h13–8h47 (about 7h19, incl. ~1h13 of stops)
Via Ayer -
13
Day 13: Gruben → Sankt Niklaus
16.6 km · 1,148 m ascent · 6h01–8h29 (about 7h05, incl. ~1h11 of stops)
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14
Day 14: Sankt Niklaus → Randa
13.2 km · 1,423 m ascent · 5h11–7h19 (about 6h06, incl. ~1h01 of stops)
Via Herbriggen -
15
Day 15: Randa → Täsch
5.6 km · 460 m ascent · 2h06–2h58 (about 2h28, incl. ~25m of stops)
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16
Day 16: Täsch → Zermatt
13.8 km · 527 m ascent · 4h35–6h29 (about 5h25, incl. ~54m of stops)
Solve the practical questions
Plan Walker's Haute Route with confidence
Route-specific answers from Trailstrider's researched trail data, with the planner ready when you want to turn them into your own trip.