A country without cars, where it is forbidden to travel with motorized vehicles. We are in Chamois, in the Aosta Valley, the only means allowed is the bicycle. Certainly a place to spend stress-free holidays in contact with nature.
If the car, traffic and haste torment you 365 days a year, you could choose Chamois, in Valtournenche, as a destination to switch off. This tiny town at high altitude (1900 meters above sea level) has already chosen for many years ban cars on its territory and it is in fact a sustainable land with zero traffic. The village, located on a mountain pasture where farmers and breeders once lived, is made up of a handful of small towns or hameaux with characteristic stone and wooden houses. From the bottom of the valley it was reached, in the past, via a mule track with a two-hour walk all uphill.
The only possible solution today is to drive your own car to Buisson, park for free in a parking lot near the lifts and take the cable car, which runs every half hour and with 1 euro brings the citizens of Chamois and tourists to the town. A fundamental prerequisite is to travel light. Everything you carry around is on your shoulders or in any case must be carried alone. Once in the village, it seems to have gone back in time. The square with the church, the fountain, a single emporium which sells everything from souvenirs to bread to clothing.
The pedestrian streets unfold in all directions, in fact Chamois is made up of small towns but it is an autonomous municipality, a small municipality with few inhabitants who live all year round and are very courageous. The ban on using the car also applies to them and the only vehicles that are seen circulating are the tractors used in the summer for agricultural work. However, if you are the type of tourist who cannot give up bringing the whole house with you, a tractor luggage transport service it can be booked for cable car-accommodation transfers and vice versa
If you choose to take a holiday in Chamois, the most used means of transport will therefore be the feet, because from the town there are many walks towards the surrounding mountains, including that splendid "balcony of the Matterhorn" which, passing through Cheneil - another oasis of tranquility - leads to in front of the summit. Actually there is also a chairlift, in more trononi which is useful to reach the Lod lake, located above the village, a very popular outing where three restaurants are also located. The chairlift is also used in winter by skiers.
Chamois, thanks to the important choice made to preserve nature and the rural environment is one of Alpine pearls, a transnational project that brings together Alpine resorts particularly involved in the development of environmentally friendly transport and forms of sustainable tourism.
The cable car from Buisson allows, for a negligible sum, to take the cable car up to Chamois as well own bicycle, but since this ecological vehicle is very stimulated it is It is also possible to rent two-wheeled vehicles, made available at the Bar Funivia right at the entrance of the town, especially in the summer. With the bike you can go through numerous paths in the woods surrounding the town.
All that remains is to enjoy the peace of Chamois, the green of the meadows, the mountains and the tip of the Matterhorn which, depending on where you are, suddenly appears, the perfectly restored casettas with the exteriors of ancient woods called rascard, the water present everywhere with its gurgling.
As for hotel accommodation, there are only two hotels, mostly private homes. There Maison Cly has 4 stars, The Bellevue it has 2. But for a low cost solution I point out that al Lod lake they rent rooms (Affittacamere del lago) while another valid alternative is the L'Ermitage refuge, suitable for families with children or groups of friends.
