In Courchevel 1850, you’ll find the chicest of French ski resorts, an article by Rich Report.
With its impeccable pistes, 600 km of Trois Vallees slopes, and more Michelin-starred restaurants than any other ski resort, Courchevel may attract a mixed crowd, but they tend to share one thing in common: wealth. There are more designer boutiques in this French ski resort than boulangeries, and its pistes, lifts, and layout stay one step ahead of its competitors with €40 million invested a year. It’s 1850 (the highest) that sparkles in town with flawless clarity thanks to the diamonds that line its vitrines. Foodie fanfare, Fendi ski suits, and Champagne-fueled capers of the lucky few make it easy to forget the main event. With a wide range of runs and off-pistes for every level and weather condition, Courchevel’s skiing is first class. Typically, they are drawn up with mid-morning vin chaud pit stops, followed by lobster, raclette, and tartiflette lunches. Mountain roads snake past snow-covered chalets, with their drives heated to keep out the snow and faint ski tracks leading to inconspicuous boot rooms for those who aren’t flying into Altiport. There are a handful of the best ski hotels in Europe among these hefty chalets-meet-Daschas, from modern Bond-villainesque marvels to high-altitude family piles that all riff on the Savoie style to different degrees, all extremely expensive. Room rates drop a little lower to 1650 when you slide a little lower down the piste.
Cheval Blanc Courchevel
Cheval Blanc Courchevel’s mustard exterior suggests a traditional, Savoyard scene of reindeer rugs and bannisters carved with twee hearts and cowbells. Alpine cosiness is instead expressed through sleek contemporary shapes and a minimalist spin on a variety of materials and textures – all adorned with art. The hotel’s enormous pool is animated by an abstract bear installation by Xavier Veilhan, while the lobby’s reception desk is adorned by an aerial print of skiers created by Andreas Gursky. With views of the Jardin Alpin and Bellcote slopes or 1850’s snowy chalet roofs, rooms feature lavish minimalism and Alpine flourishes such as reindeer-style cushions and leather handles. Some bathrooms have private hammams, while all have bathtubs decorated with Guerlain goodies and inbuilt televisions. Ski butlers supply guests with state-of-the-art skis before guiding them onto the slicked Jardin Alpin piste with or without an instructor a few floors below these decadent cocoons. Beginners can snow plow their way down Courchevel’s main green run or sprogs can access the family park from the lifts from the hotel, but intermediates and advanced skiers are also able to bomb down to La Croisette for the resort’s pine-flanked reds and blacks, or further into the Trois Vallées ski area that includes Courchevel, Meribel and Val Thorens with endless backcountry trails.
There’s more to skiing than just skiing. A variety of daily activities are offered by the hotel, such as dog sledding and guided forest walks. This slick, elemental spa offers a relaxed spin on après ski, with a heated pool reflected on a vast mirrored ceiling, and an outdoor hot tub and sauna steaming against the snow. However, the hotel’s real strength lies in its restaurants. Yannick Alénno’s alchemic-style dishes, such as scrambled scallops and black truffle and buttermilk, astound clipped diners at 1947 (the resort’s only three Michelin-starred restaurant). With John dory served with caviar or Wagyu beef ribs, the hotel’s main red leathered-and-lacquered restaurant dials things down (marginally). As well as the new Le Terrace – a sun-soaked scene of live music, Champagne, blue lobster and Tomahawk steak cooked on the outdoor grill – the indoor bar and Mongol-style cigar tent play to the resort’s louche side. Along with the skiers whoosh past, the cable cars resembled by Wes Anderson, whose occupants marveled at the fur-clad bon vivants below them.
Les 3 Vallées
In 1850’s Louis Vuitton and Hermes stretches, Hotel des Trois Vallees is a welcome anomaly to Courchevel’s spicy room rates. The 2013 overhaul of this achingly cool ski-in ski-out boutique harked back to its 1950s auberge roots as a well-stocked refuge for skiers and mountain enthusiasts. Dark, tarnished wood and a contemporary twist on a traditional fireplace are surrounded by low-slung leather sofas and Nordic-style armchairs. Wood-panelled chalet-style rooms are rendered cool with red retro chairs and double-pronged Scandinavian reading lights… all have balconies overlooking the slopes. As one of the Beaumier restaurants (which includes Les Roches Rouges on the Cote d’Azur and Le Moulin in Loumourin), the food is just as deliciously laid back and modern. It’s rustic-meets-retro L’Epicerie, where hipsters enjoy smoked trout, poté2 Savoyarde, and Croque Monsieur with grison beef. The white ski lift fanfare outside contrasts with the dark, gnarled woods, setting a cosy bass note. With the thigh-busting runs just a few cable cars away, who needs a gym when there’s a small spa, pool, ski shop, and boot room? In addition to bling boutiques, patisseries, and sleigh rides, La Croissette’s bling boutiques are just a short walk away.
Hotel Le K2 Altitude
Despite its Tibetan-inspired decor and menu, Hotel Le K2 Altitude’s interiors embody the louche-lodge Courchevel 1850 aesthetic. Upon entering, you’ll find a no-expense-spared scene of new-wealth glitz (cream carpets, thick oat-hued curtains, and deep red flourishes on a subdued and sumptuously textured canvas). The views of the peaks and the valley are as captivating as the hotel’s dizzying level of technology. A main building and adjacent chalets mimic a mountain hamlet formation, all clad in smooth wood with chunky snow-covered roofs, quietly tucked away amongst the white-dusted pines. A subdued chalet version of the London Gent’s club, Le Winston Klub (a subdued chalet spin on the London Gent’s club) is where the big guns come with their families to hobnob over whiskey and cigars with other steel titans and oligarchs. While they’re not on the piste with a private ski instructor or docked in the futuristic kids club, they spend time with their families. At L’Altiplano, or at Le Sakara in the main hotel, Sébastien Vauxion’s sweet and savory vegetables-meet-fruit wizardry suits long soaks in the tub to a film or podcast. Those who suffer from off-piste aches will find top-of-the-line therapists at the Goji Spa, followed by a post-treatment soak in the chalet’s private pool.
Portetta
Get closer to the region’s history and rustic soul at restaurants like La Table de Marie and Le Petit Savoyard, which are less flashy than 1850’s louche lobster and caviar scene. With easy-going terraces like Bel Air’s, you can hang your skis up come 2pm, while a string of hotels still offer ski-in, ski-out ease and only one lift away from 1850’s coveted access to the resort’s runs. Portetta is part of the team behind The Pigs scattered across the country. Due to its proximity to the Belvedere piste, the hotel makes it easy to cruise to the lifts in the morning. There are merlot-hued rugs, Alpine gingham banquets, country sofas, and a collection of taxidermy throughout the wooden-beamed and parquet-floored communal areas, where backgammon and early evening gin and tonics are typically enjoyed. A twee shuttered window in the bathroom and rich fabric headboards create a moody, Savoyard note in the rooms. Family or group accommodation is available in one of the separate lodges or in one of the open-plan lofts with crackling fireplaces to de-thaw after a hard day of skiing. In Cucina Angelina, Angela Harnett blends Italian cuisine with Savoyard classics. Pasta is made in-house from scratch every morning, and tiramisu is worth the wait. Wood-fired pizzas are washed down with Genepi shots and ‘Pistes Rouges’ (vodka and strawberries) on the terrace of the Fire and Ice Bar.
Les Airelles
In the snowy kingdom of Cheval Blanc Courchevel, a flamboyant palace bearing wildlife murals and architectural oomph dominates the Alpin Jardin slope. Les Airelles Courchevel’s Hans Anderson details were created in the 1990s, avoiding cold corridors and austere, dusty libraries. A combination of palace splendor and chalet coziness is evident in the raclette and charcuterie-laden Le Coin Savard restaurant (one of three in the hotel and four elsewhere) and the salons, where chandeliers and dim sconces illuminate sofas with traditional rugs. In the rooms, thick old-fashioned curtains drape over Alpine views, doors open onto intricately carved balconies piled with snow, and whirly murals above the beds add to the fairytale atmosphere. After a day on the slopes, guests can relax in the enormous, beautifully lit pool at the La Mer Spa or indulge in more focused pampering. The hotel has earned its Palace status because of its finely tuned service, with spruce staff dressed in traditional Savoyard uniforms one step ahead of guests, deboning fish with flair, spotting guests who had not had a 7pm cocktail and helping them get into their ski boots and onto the slopes, delirious from the hotel’s hearty breakfast buffet. There are three impossibly luxurious chalets within Les Airelles, which can accomodate up to 15 guests for weeks of high-altitude hedonism.
Aman le Melezin
The fortress-like heft of Aman le Melezin’s building is captivating even if it isn’t conventionally pretty. Perhaps it is due to its flawless symmetry, its razor-sharp design, or how it surges from its majestic mountain backdrop amid snow-covered pines. With an easy glide from its back door to the main lifts, Aman le Melezin is the snowy high-altitude counterpart to the group’s typically sun-drenched settings. Traditional Alpine cosiness is painted in contemporary strokes with blonde woods, mirrors, and cream and gray fabrics. Luxurious minimalism pulls the eye outside to the spine-tingling views of snow-sprinkled pine forests and magnificent peaks while ethereal morning light filters through cubic Mashrabiya screens and balconies set in clean squares. With its sauna, hammam, column-framed pool and fitness studio, Aman Le Melezin’s two-floor spa is well-suited to treating ski aches, while its Chamber Ski Piste rooms provide a private hot tub. An Aman-grade Thai massage may tempt you away from the slopes, and skitox devotees can enjoy expert nutritional guidance and personal training. Guests can enjoy a sake cocktail at the Melezin Bar, which boasts cinematic views of the slopes and gingerbread-style rooftops, or soak up the sun on the deck, where cigar smoke rises from the ground. Nama’s rich-hued dining room nods to the warm, Savoyard spirit (but not Aman’s trademark minimalism) as it offers delectable morsels of sushi and sashimi.
L’Apogee Courchevel
L’Apogée is opulent and extravagant to the nth’ degree, which you might expect from an Oetker hotel (siblings include Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc, Le Bristol in Paris, London’s Lanesborough). You can even take a magic carpet lift up to the Verdons slope to get you to the snow without having to take the dozen-or-so steps. Planning and persuasion were required for the building itself. There is a slickly designed kids’ club, cigar rooms, a sushi restaurant, and rooms with views over the valley that sink deep into the mountainside. There’s nothing classic about it, and there’s certainly nothing wabi-sabi about it, either. It’s an unexpected design. With her use of geometric shapes and colors, India Mahdavi has created almost a Wes Anderson-like scene; riffing on Alpine gingham with monochrome oversized checked carpets, mustard velvet tub chairs and an ocean liner vibe – there’s Art Deco shapes, bronze accents, and marble everywhere. In keeping with the design, the food is exquisite and elevated; a refreshing change from fondues and tartiflette. There is certainly a one-to-one ratio between staff and guests, even if the ratio is not officially one-to-one. You’ll feel very, very well taken care of.
Six Senses Residences
It’s a first for Courchevel, which is known for its high-falutin’ hotels and bells and whistles chalets, and for Six Senses, which is known for its winter sun and holistic wellness. Despite this, we find ourselves on the snowy approach to one of the more chi-chi resorts in the Alps, not in a hotel. This offering is thrilling because of its point of difference. There are apartments, two-, three- and four-bed turbo-smart crash pads providing all the room you need for a gathering of friends or family, decorated in charcoal-hued, burnt timber clean lines, and equipped with an extensive kitchen to handle exhausted evenings and a charming restaurant downstairs for breakfast. A mother’s heart swells with happiness when she sees children’s Netflix on the TV, a washing machine for soggy ski socks, and a kids’ club run by Scott Dunn, which not only offers top-quality day and evening care, slope-side outings, waffles and hot chocolate pitstops, but also pick-ups from the ESF ski school, so no schlepping back down the mountain at collection time. Besides therapists borrowed from Six Senses Douro Valley, there’s a proper pool for après laps, brilliant targeted muscle-warming treatments, and homemade salts and oils to take in the bath. All you need, nothing you don’t, plus the privacy of your own space without the larger commitment of a chalet is brilliantly distilled.
Hotel Barriere des Neiges
In December 2016, this opulent hotel from the Barrière Hotel group opened in Courchevel 1850 and has a prime location on the Bellecote piste. In addition to huge chalet-style rooms and marble bathrooms with mountain views, Barriers Les Neiges is known for its service. The ski room is huge, and staff jump up to put your boots on before you’ve even finished putting on your socks. Every morning, skis are ready and waiting at the edge of the piste with poles primed on either side, regardless of whether you decide to ski. Guests can also find bottled water, hot chocolate, marshmallows, homemade cakes and tarts in a corner of the room when they feel low during midday or teatime. Breakfast is similar: rainbow mounds of fresh fruit, endless varieties of bread, muffins, pastries, and waffles and pancakes made to order. Evenings are free for leisure activities. At BFire, an Argentinian restaurant by Mauro Colagreco of two-Michelin-starred Mirazur in Menton, you’ll find excellent steak and slow-cooked lamb, as well as churros with chocolate, caramel, and crème anglaise. Fouqet’s is a mountaintop version of the Parisian brasserie that serves hearty Savoyard dishes. The price tag of this super swanky hotel is high, but it’s well worth the cost.
