Marché de Les Houches (Village Market)
Every Wednesday morning the centre of Les Houches transforms into a compact but excellent outdoor market where valley farmers, cheese makers and honey producers set up stalls in the shadow of Mont Blanc. It is the best single place to taste and buy the produce that ends up on the region's restaurant tables.
What You'll Find
Stalls pile high with Beaufort d'alpage — the nutty, firm mountain cheese aged in high-altitude chalets — alongside rounds of fresh Tomme de Savoie and pots of génépi liqueur made from the aromatic Alpine herb. Local honey producers offer tastings of acacia, wildflower and sapin (fir tree) varieties that taste nothing like supermarket honey.
Charcuterie from the Savoie and Haute-Savoie regions fills another row: dried saucisson sec, smoked ham from the Vallée d'Abondance and thin-sliced viande des Grisons. Bring a cool bag if you plan to stock up seriously.
Beyond the Food
A handful of stalls sell hand-painted ceramics, linen tea towels printed with Alpine motifs and locally made beeswax candles — decent, unfussy souvenirs that feel genuinely regional rather than factory-produced. The market is small enough to cover in 30 minutes but pleasant enough to spend an hour if you stop for a coffee at the adjacent café.
The Wednesday market runs through the summer season from late June to early September. A smaller version operates on Saturday mornings, focused mainly on produce. Both are free to browse and the vendors are used to tourists asking questions in broken French — they are patient and proud of what they sell.
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