La Cascade du Dard

A beautiful little place to take a snack after a long walk. The cascade is really at the corner, you just have to go up the stairs and you are there. We made it in the middle of the day and had already had lunch, so we had ice cream and a drink. Service is nice and quick. If you are doing this hike, stopping at this little place is. MUST, so don't forget your wallet, although they do take cards and now you can pay with your phone everywhere!!

We loved the chalet and the service! The food was lovely and it’s one of the best chalets in the mountain with the best views. We’ll def be back!

We have been numerous times but this time the staff member was quite abrupt. We did a hike and came to our usual oasis. We knew the menu, there was plenty of choice but my husband asked if he could have a mushroom omelette (lots of different omelettes on menu plus mushroom dishes, so we thought they would be able to do a mushroom omelette) The member of staff just said ‘No’ and kept very stony faced. We waited in case it was a joke or some explanation as to why they couldn’t put a few mushrooms in the omelette but she stood silent. We ordered plain omelette instead but could not understand why they were so unfriendly and inflexible about it. Other than that it’s a lovely little place

We ended up hiking up to see this waterfall one afternoon in August. It was my husband’s idea. We had two children with us (aged 5 and 7) and although rain was forecast my husband assured me the hike was suitable and safe. And it probably would have been if we’d followed what everyone else did where they turned right out of the Grepon car park and walked down a road at the side of the highway to start with. But instead we started at the other end of the car park and it was a very steep, narrow, long (and to my mind treacherous) hike up through the forest. It rained almost as soon as we set off and there was also thunder although fortunately we didn’t have any lightning. The climb seemed unending and it was very slippery in the rain trying to hold onto a child as well. That said I’m not much of a hiker and always worry we won’t survive difficult hikes. So we climbed forever and my worst fear was that when we finally got there we’d have to walk down again on the slippery rocks. It was one of those twisty turny sorts of paths a lot of the way and always steep with no let up. After about 1.5 hours we started to go down towards the waterfall and my worst fears were realised at it was really sloppy and some bits were just slidey mud! I was lucky enough to find a solid stick to use to stabilise me during the climb and I was particularly looking forward to it supporting me when I was coming down. There were a few bits on the way down where my husband could go perilously close to the edge to get a photo of the waterfall but we didn’t get to see it until we got right to the bridge immediately underneath it. The waterfall was probably very impressive but I wasn’t really in the mood for seeing waterfalls by then. But up a set of stairs there was a cafe which was actually open even though it was pouring down and as far as I was concerned we were in the middle of nowhere. It was such a lovely warm haven, and we had hot chocolates and coffees with chocolate bars as a treat. It was also fairly busy I subsequently discovered there was a car park about 3 minutes’ walk away so we weren’t as in the middle of nowhere as I’d presumed. And also there was a much easier walk back to Chamonix than the way we had come. So it only took about 45 mins or so until we were back in the Grepon car park. I so wish we had hiked up that way instead. It was still a bit hairy in places but compared to the hike up it seemed like a walk in the park. Overall we walked for over 3 hours but we survived the experience and I was so grateful to the cafe at the waterfall being open and serving such lovely drinks. (I think it only took cash rather than credit cards).

Had a drink here after our 2 mile hike from Chamonix. Lovely walk through the forest and then great waterfall at the end.