July and August in Haute-Savoie can be wonderful — and overwhelming. Car parks full by 8am, trails that feel like queues, mountain huts booked out two months ahead. Yet even at the peak of summer, there are routes where you will meet only a handful of walkers, or none at all. You just need to know where to look, and more importantly, where not to go. If you want to go hiking in Haute-Savoie without fighting the crowds, here is how to do it.
Avoid the most photographed spots
The first step to beating the crowds is straightforward: stay away from the most photographed places. The famous waterfalls, the turquoise lakes reachable in under an hour, the summits plastered across social media — these attract the vast majority of visitors. If you want solitude, you need a different target. Secondary summits, forest cols, quiet alpine pastures that barely register on hiking apps: that is where you will find silence.
It is not about distance or difficulty. Some perfectly accessible hikes are completely unknown simply because they do not look dramatic in photographs. Yet they offer remarkable views, rich wildlife, and the special atmosphere of places that most people cannot be bothered to find.
The inner Chablais: an almost untouched summer playground
The lakeside Chablais, around Évian and Thonon, gets its share of summer tourists. But turn inland, towards the wooded hills of southern Chablais, and you enter a different world. Beech forests, discreet alpine meadows, farms still very much in operation. The trails are well-maintained and well-marked, but walkers are few.
The village of Bellevaux is an excellent starting point for this area. From this quiet village, several routes lead into truly wild alpine zones. The loop from Bellevaux to Lac de Vallon is one such example: a mountain lake without the usual crowds, surrounded by pastures where cows still take priority over tourists.
The quiet side of the Vallée du Giffre
The Vallée du Giffre draws thousands of hikers every summer, particularly to its gorges and impressive waterfalls. But this valley has two faces. On one side: the well-known, well-signposted sites listed in every tourist brochure. On the other: a network of secondary trails climbing to forgotten hamlets, anonymous ridgelines, and dense forests where total quiet reigns.
The village of Onnion captures this second Giffre perfectly. Perched above the main valley, it gives access to little-documented but rewarding walks. The same goes for the Pététoz forest on the Ramaz side: the Pététoz forest walk via La Ramaz sees few visitors even in high season, offering shade, coolness, and a pleasant variety of forest scenery.
Shift your start time: simple but remarkably effective
Beyond choosing the right trail, departure time makes all the difference. In July and August, most day hikers set off between 9am and 11am. If you leave at 7am, you will have the first two or three hours in complete peace. The sun is still low, the light is beautiful, and the heat has not yet taken hold. By the time others are pulling into the car park, you are already well on your way.
Tuesdays and Wednesdays are statistically the quietest days, far ahead of weekends. If you have the freedom to hike mid-week, make the most of it. The difference is striking on trails that, on a Saturday, can see dozens of people walking in line.
How to find forgotten routes
- Use topographic maps rather than guidebooks. Marked trails that do not appear in guides are often the wildest.
- Ask the tourist offices of small villages, not the big ski resorts. They know the overlooked routes in their area.
- Be wary of so-called secret trails on social media: they become popular very quickly.
- Choose departure points from little-known villages rather than the well-equipped car parks signposted on every hiking app.
- In high season, avoid loops whose trailhead requires no approach walk: easy access mechanically draws more people.
Protect the quiet places
Finding a little-known spot is good. Not turning it into the next trending destination is better. When you discover a quiet hike that genuinely delivers, resist the urge to post it with geotagged photos across every platform. What you value in these places is precisely their calm. That calm is fragile.
The same applies to behaviour on the trail: no music, no litter, respect for crops and livestock. Alpine pastures that see few visitors are often active farming areas. Farmers and shepherds rely on walkers being discreet and considerate.
Summer in the mountains does not have to mean crowds. You just need to step off the beaten track, literally and figuratively. Haute-Savoie has magnificent routes that even locals have never walked. Take the time to find them, set off early, and enjoy a mountain that many assume has been swallowed by the masses.