Le Lavancher is a hamlet located on a plateau above Les Tines and Les Bois about 5 kilometers from the center of Chamonix. It is arguably one of the most visited hamlets in the Chamonix Valley as some of the nicest and most popular parts of the Petit Balcon Nord take you through Le Lavancher. The trails from the north going to Le Lavancher are beautiful with a nice wide open fields giving a great view of the Mont Blanc Massif and it is quite rare to have a such nice big open space so close to the valley floor. The approach to Le Lavancher from the south is through beautiful forest with large boulders brought down from the mountain by the Mer de Glace glacier. We got a nice trail starting from Le Lavancher that takes you to the Chapeau snack bar. It is one of our favorites for families. 

There are no shops in the hamlet but there are quite a number of holiday rental places. It also has two hotels: the fairly large 4 Star Hotel Jeu de Paume and Les Chalets de Philippe which offers small private chalets of various sizes. Both hotels have a gourmet restaurant which is a great start or ending of a hike or run. We have done this multiple times and its always great.

Public transport to Le Lavancher is bit more complicated than many of the other hamlets in the Chamonix Valley. The nearest train station is in Les Tines and requires a bit of a walk to the Le Lavancher. There is a bus stop along the main road at the bottom of Le Lavancher which also requires a bit of a walk up but definitely shorter than the walk up from the Les Tines train station. Our preferred way of reaching Le Lavancher is using the trails. The Petite Balcon Nord runs through Lavancher so you can appraoch it from either the Argentiere side or the Chamonix side. There are many other trails connecting Le Lavancher to Les Tines, Les Bois and the surrounding areas.