ABOUT MBFF, the website & blog

Welcome to 🏔 montblancfamilyfun!

I hope that you enjoy using this website / blog and that it helps steer you towards some great family fun and adventures 🏔 au Pays du Mont-Blanc (and even further afield!).

The idea for this website took shape in the shallow waters of Lac de Passy (see here for MBFF post), with the 🏔 majestic Mont-Blanc and the surrounding snowy peaks shimmering in the background.  It was a ☀️ hot and sunny summer’s day and my (then) 18-month old son was enjoying himself immensely splashing around . . . it was a lovely, serene moment, but I could still remember the recent challenges of entertaining a baby – and then a toddler – in our mountain valley during the ☔️🐸 WET, ☃️COLD or ❄️ SNOWY days of winter (or spring, summer or autumn, for that matter!).

Seven years on, with more time to test out visits and activities with the now nearly 8 year old and his little brother, and here is the fruit of our work!

The AIM of this website & blog is to help families in the Mont-Blanc environs (🏔 au Pays du Mont-Blanc, including the communes of the Chamonix Valley), and further afield, to find the right activities for themselves – whatever the weather ☀️🌧☔️☃️– be they local families, expats, regular visitors needing fresh inspiration or new tourists visiting the area.  I shall strive to cover different activities – both cultural and adventure-filled – and where there are FREE activities to enjoy, I shall happily highlight those!

You may find that some of the suggestions are too far for a day’s visit . . . all depends on where you are living or staying, of course.  From Sallanches, 🇨🇭 Geneva is a hop and a skip away (depending on traffic), and from Chamonix, 🇨🇭 Martigny in Switzerland and 🇮🇹 Courmayeur in Italy are a short drive away.

The warmest of welcomes,

Fiona and the montblancfamilyfun team!

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About ME

With readers increasing weekly, I thought it might be interesting to share a few bits of information about myself . . .

🇫🇷 🇺🇸 childhood – fairly itinerant, with a journalist father who worked as a correspondent in Paris and NY / my much-loved mum died when I was 13 and my brother 16, leaving my dad to bring up two teenagers solo;

📚 student years – modern languages guided the way . . . a year abroad in 🇲🇽 Mexico, followed by a degree in French & Hispanic studies at Nottingham University, with time abroad in 🇦🇷 Córdoba, Argentina . . . followed by a PGCE (secondary education) in French & Spanish;

‍🏔 working life – secondary school teacher (Spanish & French), EFL teacher, translator and interpreter, student guide, charity trek leader . . .

🧀 strange but true – I really, really HATE 🧀 cheese (being in a mountain refuge is tough for the first 5mins, and then I acclimatise 😉);

🇳🇮 passion – I have spent much of my student and working life in Latin America; the history and culture of this vast land is a passion and speaking Spanish a love (and quite rare these days);

📷 hobbies – reading, film, travel & discovery, art and photography, hiking . . . and sleep! 💤

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To make navigation of the website easier for you, I have colour-coded the different areas covered!

Colour code on website

Chamonix Valley (Chamonix, Argentière, Les Houches, Servoz & Vallorcine)

Passy & environs

Sallanches, Combloux, Cordon & Domancy

St Gervais, Le Fayet & environs

Megève, Praz-sur-Arly & environs

Les Contamines-Montjoie & environs

🇫🇷 Further France 🇫🇷

🇨🇭 Switzerland 🇨🇭

🇮🇹 Italy 🇮🇹

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How to contact MBFF

Please feel free to contact me with any fresh ideas that you might like to share, if you are organising a family event, or if you would like to contribute an article.

Equally, if you would like to work with me, then please contact me: montblancfamilfun@yahoo.com

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Facebook page

For up-to-date information and agendas for the 🏔 Pays du Mont-Blanc (and beyond), see MBFF FB page . . .