Having spent the night in Troyes as a stop over, we left at 8.30am for what should have been a 5 hour drive to Chamonix. However, after numerous service station stops (the first being at 10am as kids wanted KFC!!!?) a one hour wander around Carrefours deciding on lunch and allowing Izzy into Claire’s Accessories we eventually arrived at about 4.30pm!

Chamonix is such a pretty town and we had booked an apartment on AirBNB just outside the town in Les Praz. The apartment was beautiful, amazing views and on the ground floor next to the swimming pool so before I could even unpack the kids wanted to go swimming.

^{Our apartment for the week}

Stuart was not joining us until Wednesday evening (when he was flying in to Geneva) so we decided to spend Tuesday chilling and having a wander into Chamonix. It was about a 15 minute walk along the river to reach the town. Chamonix looks like your typical Alpine village with stunning views of the mountains in the background. It is full of lovely shops – although they are very pricey!

^{Our walk into Chamonix}

Kids then spent the afternoon in the pool and in the evening we watched a storm brewing over the mountains

Stuart was due to arrive late Wednesday evening and we had to pick him up from the airport. Therefore, we thought we should go and explore Geneva for the day which was just over an hours drive away. We set off early and headed to Mont Saleve which promised views over Geneva. We drove up the mountain and found a parking space near the view point. We could see the lake & the water fountain and watched planes land at the airport – we were actually quite high at 1097 metres so the planes were flying in below us.

We then headed into Geneva – we decided to park at the airport and then train it into the city. It must have taken an hour to find the airport arrivals carpark as I kept missing the exits and couldn’t follow the road signs! However on parking we walked to the train and within 15 minutes were in the centre of Geneva.

Geneva was nice but I probably wouldn’t return. The streets were smart, the lakeside area was good for a wander but after an hour or so we were a little bored. We found a little pizza restaurant for tea (which ended up being really expensive – Switzerland is not cheap) and then headed back to the airport to await Stuart’s arrival.