Mont Blanc Tunnel night closures in November 2026

1. The nine closures in November 2026

The reference document is the « Provisional calendar August-December 2026 », published by ATMB and TMB-GEIE in its 7 August 2026 edition. It lists full closures of traffic, meaning the nights when the tunnel is shut in both directions. It remains provisional: the operator says it may change, and notes that an up-to-date version is available by QR code, in the TMB Mobility app and on tunnelmb.net.

Source: provisional calendar August-December 2026 (ATMB / TMB-GEIE PDF), checked on 22 October 2026.

Three reading rules help with this calendar. Each closure starts on a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, and ends at 6 am on Friday at the latest, so the Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights never appear. The nights of 1 November, 9 to 12 November and 27 to 30 November are not listed. Finally, the alternating traffic section of the same document is empty for August to December 2026. An operator notice, whose title mentions alternating traffic on October to December, could not be read: check it on tunnelmb.net.

December has four closed nights, from 14 to 18 December, each from 10 pm to 6 am, according to the same document. For a year-end trip, check these dates before you book.

An alert posted on the ATMB waiting-time page at 5:56 am on 22 October announces a full closure tonight, from 10 pm on 22 October to 6 am on 23 October, for maintenance. If you leave tonight or early tomorrow, this is the night that counts. The next series runs from 26 to 29 October, 10 pm to 6 am each night.

2. Getting through a night closure

When the tunnel is closed, no vehicle gets through in either direction. You have three options: wait for the reopening, take a detour via another pass or tunnel, or shift your departure. Leaving a few hours earlier or later can avoid the closure, for example by not setting off between 9 pm and 10 pm. This is common sense: no official source puts a figure on the saving.

Wait for the 6 am reopening

8 hours closed per night 9 closures in November Chamonix and Courmayeur Toll €55.80 to €56.40

A night closure doesn’t work like a traffic jam: it lasts eight hours at most, twelve on 24 November, and its calendar is published months ahead. Queues build up before the closure, on the French and the Italian side alike. Regional press and forums from 2023 and 2025 report waits of two to three hours at peak times. Waiting-time forecasts are available on TMB Mobility and on atmb.com; we found no publication lead time for these forecasts in the sources we read.

What to plan for

• Check the waiting-time forecasts the day before, then again on the day, in TMB Mobility or on atmb.com.
• Allow for eight hours of closure at most, and twelve on 24 November.
• Pay the toll once only, in the direction you’re travelling.
• Expect disruption one hour before and one hour after a full closure: the calendar flags vehicles travelling under escort.

Pixidia tip: the calendar is provisional. Check it again the day before you leave, as a closure can be added, moved or lifted.

If you’re staying in Courmayeur, a hotel listing shows a closure from 30 September to 25 November 2026, marked « dates not final »: check that the property is open before you book (see section 5). The excursion below is offered from Courmayeur and does not involve crossing the tunnel. Its price varies by date and number of travellers, and the time slots we saw are not guaranteed.

Monte Bianco Skyway Experience €147 per person for 2 adults (€294 in total), checked on 22 October 2026 for a 5 November departure. Slots checked from 2 to 15 November; no slot checked from 16 to 30 November. · ★ 5.0 on Viator (2 reviews)

Check availability

3. Detours and what they cost in time

The Great St Bernard Tunnel is an option to check, but no source we read confirms that it will be open in November 2026. No night closure has been reported for the Fréjus, although it means a long detour from Chamonix. The Simplon doesn’t link Chamonix to Courmayeur, and the Little St Bernard isn’t recommended in November without checking that it’s open.

Sources: TCS, closures and prices page for the Mont Blanc Tunnel (secondary source), OFROU / ASTRA, Simplon roadworks season 2026 (published 26 February 2026), French Hiking Federation (FFRandonnée), Great St Bernard pass in winter; checked on 22 October 2026.

The Great St Bernard Tunnel links Martigny, in Valais, to Étroubles, near Aosta. Its state in November 2026 is not confirmed by the sources we read. The mountain road over the pass, however, is generally open from June to mid-October, according to the French Hiking Federation. The tunnel still charges its own toll, even with the Swiss vignette, which costs CHF 40 in 2026 according to a secondary source.

The detour is measured in hours more than kilometres. A forum post from 2025 mentions about 150 km and three hours to get from Courmayeur to Chamonix without the tunnel. An online calculator gives 139 km and 2 h 16, without specifying the route, so that figure doesn’t let you price the detour. Before you set off, plan the route through Martigny and Bourg-Saint-Pierre.

The Fréjus Tunnel links Modane to Bardonecchia. From Chamonix, you go via Annemasse or Albertville, then head to Modane: the route is much longer than the Mont Blanc Tunnel. No night closure notice has been found for October or November 2026. The SITAF website returned a 404 error when we checked on 22 October, so check it directly before you leave.

4. Tolls and payment

The prices below come from secondary sources. The official site, tunnelmb.net, returned HTTP 403 every time we tried: confirm the amounts with the operator before you buy.

Sources: TCS, closures and tunnel prices page for the Mont Blanc Tunnel (secondary source), and Autopay Mobility, « Italy road tolls 2026 » (guide dated 5 December 2025); checked on 22 October 2026.

Only TCS distinguishes the two sides of Mont Blanc: €55.80 on the French side and €56.40 on the Italian side. Autopay gives €56.40 one way without distinguishing the sides. Our sources don’t explain the gap, so don’t attribute it to any VAT rate. Ten- or twenty-crossing passes exist, as do monthly subscriptions. You pay by bank card at the toll booth, or buy in advance online. trans.info, a secondary source, reports a 1.19% rise in 2026 rates for the Mont Blanc and Fréjus tunnels.

For a motorbike, an undated third-party guide gives about €36.90; for a class 4 lorry, about €406.70 one way. The operator has not confirmed either figure. The Great St Bernard costs less in tolls, but the detour adds fuel and time, so the choice depends on where you start.

5. Bus, train and fallback accommodation

The Chamonix-Courmayeur bus ran this summer: one daily service from 1 July to 3 September 2026, at €15 one way and €22 return, from Chamonix Sud and Courmayeur Piazzale Monte Bianco, according to chamonix.net. No winter 2026-2027 timetable is published in the sources we checked. Without confirmation from chamonix-mobilite.com, don’t plan a trip around this bus in November.

There is no direct rail link between Chamonix and Courmayeur. The Mont-Blanc Express links Saint-Gervais, Chamonix and Martigny via Switzerland, which doesn’t replace the tunnel for reaching Courmayeur. Carpools and long-distance buses link Chamonix or Geneva with Turin and Milan, but no direct service to Courmayeur is confirmed. If you’re considering a private transfer between Geneva, Chamonix and the Aosta Valley, ask for a quote giving the date and number of travellers: we found no prices in our sources.

For a fallback night, the Courmayeur hotel listing mentioned above is not enough to establish what’s open. Check that each property is open before you book.

6. Getting warned before you leave

The calendar is published months ahead, and alerts are dated on atmb.com. Three channels are useful. The TMB Mobility app, free on iOS and Android, shows traffic, access conditions and waiting-time forecasts. The « Mont Blanc Tunnel waiting time » page on atmb.com publishes dated alerts, a link to the calendar and webcams at both toll booths. Autoroute Info radio, on 107.7 FM, broadcasts the tunnel’s traffic information. The tunnelmb.net website, the operator’s reference site, could not be read during our checks.

7. Depending on your trip, and the mistakes to avoid

• Travelling with family: an eight-hour closure is long with children. If a closure falls on your route, bring something to keep everyone occupied in the car, or compare with the Fréjus if the detour is reasonable for your day.
• Tight budget: the Great St Bernard costs €33.50 in tolls according to TCS, against €55.80 to €56.40 for the Mont Blanc Tunnel, provided it is open in November 2026. Add the fuel for the detour before concluding it’s cheaper.
• First crossing: the trip takes about 17 minutes for 11.6 km, according to SeeChamonix (tourist website). Pay the toll once in each direction, by card at the booth or in advance online, and check the waiting-time forecasts on TMB Mobility before you leave.
• Lorries and transport vehicles: during long closures, traffic mostly diverts to the Fréjus. No source we read puts a figure on the diversion for November 2026.

Four mistakes come up again and again. Relying on a rule such as « closure at 7 pm or 8 pm »: the calendar doesn’t confirm it. Assuming alternating traffic at night this autumn without checking: the 7 August calendar doesn’t provide for it, but the operator’s notice still needs reading. Confusing the Mont Blanc Tunnel with the Vuache Tunnel on the A40, which has its own closures. Booking a winter bus without a published timetable.

What other guides don’t tell you

Five points stand out from reading the operator’s calendar and the press articles. Each one rests on an official source, or on a secondary source flagged as such, checked on 22 October 2026.

• The exact November dates are in a PDF published in August. Several articles repeat them approximately, and one of them leaves out the end of the Friday-morning series. Source: provisional calendar ATMB / TMB-GEIE, 7 August 2026 edition (checked 22 October 2026).
• The 7 August calendar provides for no alternating traffic from August to December 2026. Its corresponding section is empty, although some guides present alternating traffic as a general rule. An operator notice on October to December, whose title mentions alternating traffic, could not be read. Source: same ATMB / TMB-GEIE calendar (checked 22 October 2026).
• No long closure this autumn. At a press briefing on 2 April 2026, ATMB wrote that there would be « no long-duration closure in 2026 ». The multi-month closures mentioned concern 2027 and the years after. Source: ATMB press briefing, 2 April 2026 (checked 22 October 2026).
• The night of 24 November lasts 12 hours. It starts at 6 pm on the Tuesday and ends at 6 am on the Wednesday, while the other nights last eight hours. Few guides mention it. Source: ATMB / TMB-GEIE calendar (checked 22 October 2026).
• The ATMB night-closure page also covers other structures. It covers the A40 and RN205 too, including the Vuache Tunnel, which closes at night from 8:30 pm to 6 am. Don’t confuse the two. Source: ATMB night-closure calendar, A40 and RN205 (checked 22 October 2026).

Practical information before you leave

• Swiss vignette: it costs CHF 40 in 2026 according to L’Itinéraire, a secondary source. It does not replace the toll for the Great St Bernard Tunnel.
• Toll: pay once per direction, by card at the booth or in advance online (TCS and Autopay both list these payment methods).
• Waiting-time forecasts: TMB Mobility and atmb.com. Check them the day before and on the day, as the calendar may change.