The perfect ski holiday in Courchevel, one of France’s most glamorous resorts

The best places to stay, eat, drink and ski in the most luxurious resort in the world’s biggest ski area

Courchevel is at one end of the world’s largest lift-linked ski area, the Trois Vallées, which has 600km of pistes and 160 lifts. With many north-facing slopes, the snow in the Courchevel valley is usually some of the best in the whole ski area, and there’s terrain to suit everyone from beginner to expert.
Courchevel’s five distinctly separate resort villages are linked by lifts, pistes and a road which winds its way up through Courchevel Le Praz and Courchevel Moriond to the highest base, simply known as Courchevel. On the way it bypasses roads leading to Courchevel Village and Courchevel La Tania. Its five personalities can be upped to six if you include the lower community of Saint Bon, which can be reached on skis when conditions are good, but lacks any lifts of its own. 
The local slopes comprise 150km of runs, of which 18 are green, 40 blue, 32 red and 12 black. There are also free lifts for beginners at most of the resort villages. The whole Trois Vallées lift system has lots of fast gondolas and chairlifts, for speeding around the huge area, which while catering for all standards is particularly good for mileage-hungry intermediates.
Stay on track with the essential facts from the resort below, and scroll down for our insider guide to a day on the pistes, expert ratings and advice. For further Courchevel inspiration, see our guides to the resort’s best accommodation, restaurants and après ski.

To confuse matters for visitors, four of Courchevel’s base villages were renamed in 2011 but more than a decade later, they are still commonly known by their old altitude-related (but not exact) names – in particular Courchevel, which was formerly Courchevel 1850. Moriond is often called 1650, Village 1550 and Le Praz 1300.
La Tania is set in the woods at 1,400m, and the sixth village is Saint Bon at 1,100m, home to Courchevel’s resort’s first hotel, the Lac Bleu, built in 1908. It first offered accommodation in 1925 and is still open. While there is a red piste down to Saint Bon, there’s no lift back up, but the free ski bus connects it to the other villages, with Le Praz three minutes away.
Courchevel Le Praz is an old, rustic village at heart. The main landmark is the ski-jumping hill, built for the 1992 Albertville Winter Olympics and still used today, in summer as well as winter. A gondola and a fast chairlift ascend from here to different parts of the slopes. The base area was remodelled in 2019, with a 10-person gondola replacing the old four-seater, and an underground car park. The lift connects Le Praz to Courchevel 1850 in under six minutes.
Next in altitude comes Courchevel La Tania, a good-value, family-friendly base from which to explore the slopes of its higher Trois Vallées neighbours. The resort was built for the 1992 Winter Olympics, and at 1,400m is about the lowest purpose-built French resort there is. Its wood-clad buildings sit comfortably in a pretty woodland setting – quite a contrast to the bleakness of many higher-altitude French ski stations.
Courchevel Village, set off the main road, is a quiet backwater, with a mixture of individual chalets and bigger block-like buildings and few facilities. It’s linked via the fast 10-seater Grangettes gondola or a fast chairlift to Courchevel 1850, and blue runs lead back into the village.
Although Courchevel Moriond is on the main road, the traffic isn’t intrusive and the village centre around the main lift base (a gondola reached by an escalator) has been attractively developed and is lined with varied shops, restaurants and bars. Opposite the lift another much longer three-stage covered escalator serves a big area of chalets lower down the hill. There is a huge water sports centre, Aquamotion, just below here and a toboggan run, Moriond Racing. A chairlift and blue run link this area to Courchevel 1850.
The highest village, Courchevel – aka 1850 – is also by far the biggest, spreading a good way up the hillsides. It’s the prestige place to stay, where the super-rich head to be seen and to flash their cash. It’s also the main lift hub, with gondolas from the centre heading up in three different directions, and mainly easy pistes back down. Courchevel is also home to huge numbers of luxury chalets and swanky hotels, plus some pricey shops. For everyday food shopping the lower resorts are more attractive – especially Moriond, which has a couple of boulangeries and friendly supermarkets.
All villages are also linked by an efficient and frequent free bus service.
The Aquamotion centre below Moriond is packed with features such as indoor and outdoor pools, a diving pool, a surfing area with a spectacular wave, a three lane water slide, wild water rapids, saunas, steam room, hot tub and climbing wall. There’s also a skating rink and fitness centre with gym, sauna and steam room in Courchevel 1850. Some hotel spa facilities are open to the public on payment of an entry fee.
Courchevel’s 150km of local slopes, including those of Courchevel La Tania, comprise 18 green, 40 blue, 32 red and 12 black runs. Each of the other main Trois Vallées resorts (Méribel, Les Menuires and Val Thorens) also has around 150km, giving a total of 600km of pistes – far more than anyone could hope to cover in a month, never mind a week. The lift system is excellent too, with lots of fast gondolas and chairlifts.
There are free lifts for beginners, but the two best villages for novices to base themselves in are Moriond (formerly known as 1650) and Courchevel (aka 1850). Both have nice long easy green runs for learners to progress on, as well as broad, gentle nursery slopes.
For intermediates of all standards, there is arguably no better ski area than the Trois Vallées, especially those keen to clock up as much mileage as possible. Around 75 per cent of the pistes are blue or red, and most are immaculately groomed each night – lists of freshly groomed runs are displayed at the main lift stations or lift pass offices and available on the Trois Vallées smartphone app.
Most black runs are pretty tame unless they have been left to form bumps. The main exception is the Grand Couloir above 1850, accessed by the Vizelle chairlift or the Saulire Express from Méribel. In normal times, it can be checked out by standing on the right hand side when riding up on the Saulire cable car – this lift has been closed for maintenance and repair, but is pegged to reopen in 2024. This is the widest of the Saulire couloirs and the only one still with official piste status. It’s steep but not extreme, and the scariest bit is the traverse along a narrow and bumpy ridge to reach it.
L’Éclipse, a slope created for the Courchevel-Méribel 2023 Alpine World Ski Championships, is a 3.3km-long track with a vertical drop of 970m, starting at Courchevel 1850, and plummeting beneath La Loze through trees before emerging in Le Praz village (1,300m). However, the main challenges for experts lie in exploring the off piste.
In 2019, the slow Creux Noirs chairlift in 1850 was removed when the FreeRide Lab space was opened. While there’s a red run and black run here, as well as access to the off-piste, they are not groomed.
The ESF Club Piou-Piou at Moriond, for kids aged three to five, is very well run. The Indiens blue run above Moriond has an Indian village part way down, making it extra fun for kids.
The Family Park above Courchevel 1850 is the main terrain park in the area, and has lines to suit different levels, with a variety of jumps, rails, tables and obstacles including, at certain times, an airbag jump. There’s also a fun boardercross here and a Children’s Village run by ESF which offers 12 acres of closed trails. There are two smaller “fun zones” above Moriond: Snake Park has a boardercross and Fun Park has large bumps. The Wood Park above Village (1550) has wooden rails and tables.
Courchevel’s appeal stretches almost as far as its ski area. The extensive slopes have something to suit everyone but intermediates will love the opportunity to clock up miles on the cruise reds and blues. Courchevel’s off-the-slope scene is just as popular as the skiing – it’s not only one of the most luxurious ski resorts in the world but with a multitude of bars and restaurants it’s great for a party too, whether at Christmas or new year.
Of Courchevel’s six villages, Courchevel (also known as 1850) has the biggest selection of hotels, particularly five-star establishments, some of which hold France’s prestigious and relatively rare accolade of palace status. These top hotels, and the ultra-luxurious chalets by the pistes, can cost upwards of £1,000 per person per night at peak times. There are some comfortable and more affordable options in the lower villages, but for those on a tight budget there’s not a great deal of choice. However, there are some self-catering apartments available, as well as some good-value catered chalets in Courchevel La Tania available through UK tour operators.
Unsurprisingly the hotel packages offered by Crystal (crystalski.co.uk) and Inghams (inghams.co.uk) to 1850 and 1650 are relatively pricey, but options do include apartments. Around half of the 80 holidays offered by Ski Solutions (skisolutions.com) are chalet-based. Le Ski (leski.com) and Skiworld (skiworld.co.uk) have exclusive use of some catered chalets. Tailor-made trips to top-end hotels and luxury chalets are available through Elegant Resorts (elegantresorts.co.uk), Scott Dunn (scottdunn.com) and Oxford Ski (oxfordski.com). Shared or private transfers from Geneva Airport are quickest and Travelski Express (uk.travelski.com) offers train-based packages via Moûtiers.
2024 opening date: December 6 2024
2025 closing date: April 21 2025
Courchevel opens on December 6, a couple of weeks after the higher Trois Vallées resorts of Val Thorens and Orelle, with links open from December 7. The main closing date is April 21, although Moriond and La Tania close a week earlier. Snow conditions in the Courchevel valley are often some of the best in the whole of the Trois Vallées ski area, thanks to its north-facing slopes, and even at busy times (Christmas, New Year and school holiday periods), the efficient lift system and wide slopes absorb crowds. The second half of January and March are quieter. Annual events include the International Festival of Pyrotechnic Art, which tours the villages of Courchevel during February and March.