Marché Hebdomadaire des Contamines
Every Tuesday and Friday morning in July and August, the centre of Les Contamines-Montjoie transforms into a lively open-air market where local producers sell directly from the farm — raw-milk Beaufort, charcuterie from the Tarentaise valley, wildflower honey and freshly baked fouace bread fill the stalls around the church square.
What to look for
The star of any visit is the Beaufort cheese stall run by a cooperative from the neighbouring Hauteluce valley — ask for a wedge of Beaufort d'alpage, made only from the milk of cows grazing above 1,500 m in summer, and taste the difference immediately.
Look out for the honey producer who labels his jars by altitude: the high-pasture variety, harvested above 1,800 m, has a distinctive herbal bitterness from alpine wildflowers that supermarket honey never replicates.
Charcuterie from the Savoie — diots (small pork sausages), lonzo (cured loin) and dried mountain ham — make excellent picnic supplies for a day in the reserve; the vendors will vacuum-pack purchases on request.
Beyond the food stalls
Craft stalls sell locally carved wood objects, linen tea-towels printed with Mont Blanc motifs and handmade jewellery incorporating smoky quartz crystals found in the surrounding massif — all genuinely made in the region rather than imported tourist tat.
The market wraps up around 12:30 pm, after which many of the same producers head to the terrace of the nearby Bar-Restaurant Le Christiania for a glass of Savoie white wine — join them and you will learn more about the valley in an hour than any guidebook can tell you.
In winter a smaller Christmas market operates on selected weekends in December, with mulled wine (vin chaud), local jams and handmade decorations adding seasonal warmth to the village square.
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