HAUTE ROUTE_2013

LODGING

Of the 15 nights on the hike, we stayed at hotels or pensions for ten nights and mountain huts for five.  We stayed at hotels (and requested rooms with private bathrooms) whenever they were available.  One could save money by staying in the dormitory style (“dortoir”) sections of pensions and hotels.  Mountain huts offered large dortoir style room as well as private doubles, triples, and quads. Hotel rooms typically featured two twin-sized beds pushed together and often did not have private bathrooms, but did some did have private sinks.  We hand washed our laundry on days when the day’s hike was completed early enough.  Breakfast was almost always included with the room, and we often ate dinner at the same place we spent the night. Simple take-away lunches could be purchased.

The hotels and pensions were usually very clean, neat, and simply furnished. Mountain huts naturally tended to be a bit smellier and dirtier, but the accommodations were still orderly and more than comfortable enough. Ear plugs and sleeping bag liners are highly recommended when sharing a dormitory style room with others. The staffs at all the hotels and huts we stayed at were invariably friendly, patient, and helpful.

We made no lodging reservations at all before we set out on the hike.  Instead, we asked the hotel staffs and mountain huts guardians to call ahead each day to the place we intended to stay at for the next day.  In theory, not having reservations weeks in advance of the trip could have been a disadvantage because the most popular huts may not have had any last minute vacancies.  However, we placed greater value on flexibility.  If we wished, we could have taken an alternative route for a particular stage, or rested an extra day because of poor weather.  By no means did laziness contribute to our not having made any reservations when embarking on the trip …