Courchevel hotels: Palaces and five-star stays in 1850

Luxury hotels in Courchevel: six villages by altitude

Courchevel is the easternmost resort of Les 3 Vallées, on the left bank of the Doron de Bozel in the Tarentaise. Since 1 January 2017 it has also been the name of the commune, created when Saint-Bon-Tarentaise merged with La Perrière; the commune counted 2,290 residents in 2023.

The villages climb in steps. Saint-Bon sits at 1,100 m, Le Praz at 1,300 m, La Tania at 1,400 m, Courchevel Village at 1,550 m, Moriond at 1,650 m and Courchevel 1850 at the top. Lifts and free shuttles connect them all, so the choice is about atmosphere and altitude rather than access to the ski area.

The tourist office calls Le Praz the historic village, built around a lake, a bell tower and narrow streets below the Olympic ski jumps. Moriond sits on a naturally sunny balcony with a relaxed, family atmosphere; Village is quieter and practical; La Tania, in a forest clearing, was built to house competitors at the 1992 Albertville Games and favours simple architecture and a family feel.

Most searches for Courchevel hotels lead to 1850, and every hotel listed here is there. The tourist office describes it as the historic and symbolic heart of the resort, with direct access to the slopes and to the main cultural and sports venues.

Courchevel 1850 and its altiport

Courchevel 1850 was the first resort in France built from scratch rather than around an existing village. A wartime study of 1942 had marked out the site. On 3 May 1946 the commune of Saint-Bon signed over the land to the Savoie departmental council, which brought in the planner Laurent Chappis and the engineer Maurice Michaud to lay out the resort.

The altiport sits at the highest point of the resort. The town hall gives its altitude as 2,007 m and its runway as 537 m long and 40 m wide, with a slope of up to 18.5%. Created in 1961 and enlarged for the 1992 Olympics, it has been cleared of snow all winter since 1971; the municipality says no other altiport in Europe stays open through the whole winter. Most of its winter traffic is helicopters.

The tourist office notes that the runway lies a few metres from the pistes, so arriving skiers can head straight for the slopes while their luggage goes on to the hotel.

Hôtel Annapurna stands on the road named after the altiport. From the top of the Combe de la Saulire, facing Mont Blanc, the tourist office points out a view down over the resort's golf course, the Lac du Biollay and the altiport.

The Palaces of Courchevel 1850

Five hotels in the resort hold the Palace distinction on the list Atout France updated on 2 June 2026, and four of them are listed here. The title is granted for a fixed term: Les Airelles had it renewed in March 2026, and Cheval Blanc Courchevel, L'Apogée Courchevel, Le K2 Palace and Fouquet's Courchevel in April 2025.

Cheval Blanc Courchevel opened in 2006 as the first Cheval Blanc house, on the site of the former hotel-restaurant La Caravelle. It stands at the top of 1850 in the Jardin Alpin, with ski-in, ski-out access, and holds three MICHELIN Keys (as of 2026). Le 1947 à Cheval Blanc has three MICHELIN stars (as of 2026), and chef Yannick Alléno also cooks over flame at La Terrasse de Cheval Blanc, beside the slopes. More than 200 works of art are displayed through the house; the spa offers Guerlain rituals, with a pool and a banya, and the children's club is free. Peter Marino designed two of its chalets, with five and nine bedrooms.

Les Airelles sits at the foot of the Jardin-Alpin run, with ski-in, ski-out access. In 1988 Raymonde Fenestraz set out to turn a 1960s hotel here into her "château des neiges", and the entrepreneur Stéphane Courbit acquired it in 2007; its hand-painted façade and snowy towers recall a 19th-century Austro-Hungarian castle. It received the Palace distinction in 2011, among the first eight hotels ever to hold it. Executive chef Adrien Trouilloud oversees the restaurants, from La Table des Airelles to Le Chalet de Pierres on the slopes, and families have the Winter Camp kids' club, an ice rink for children and a heated treehouse. The hotel holds one MICHELIN Key (as of 2026) and gives 4 December 2026 as its next opening date.

L'Apogée Courchevel opened in December 2013 in the Jardin Alpin, at 5 Rue Émile Allais. India Mahdavi and Joseph Dirand conceived the hotel; for the 2025–26 winter, Kelly Wearstler, on her first European hotel project, redesigned its dining spaces, among them Beefbar Courchevel and L'Apogée Club, which runs from lunch to après-ski. A private 40-metre conveyor belt carries skiers from the slope straight into the ski room. The Spa L'Apogée by La Prairie has a blue mosaic pool, a hammam, a sauna and a salt sauna, and the hotel holds two MICHELIN Keys (as of 2026).

Le K2 Palace, at 238 Rue des Clarines, opened in December 2011 at the foot of the Cospillot piste, with ski-in, ski-out access to Les 3 Vallées. Capezzone Architecture designed it with the Himalayas in mind, and its owners are Philippe Capezzone and Jean Moueix. It received the Palace distinction in July 2014. L'Altiplano serves Peruvian-inspired cooking and Le Bottleneck grills and fondues; the 500 m² Goji Spa by Nescens has a pool, and the hotel holds three MICHELIN Keys (as of 2026).

Rosewood, Aman and Annapurna

Rosewood Courchevel Le Jardin Alpin, at 38 Sentier du Jardin Alpin, sits at the top of Courchevel 1850 with direct access to the piste. When it opened, the MICHELIN Guide presented it as Rosewood's first winter resort. Tristan Auer designed the interiors with the resort's 1960s golden age in mind, in timber, wool and stone with copper highlights. SALTO serves an evening menu inspired by the Alps of Northern Italy, and fondues at lunch on its panoramic terrace. The hotel has a 17-metre indoor pool, the Asaya spa with a family spa and an adults-only lounge, and two MICHELIN Keys (as of 2026).

Aman Le Mélézin looks over the Bellecôte piste, the mountains and the village. Outside, the building follows the lines of a French château; in the rooms, cedar walls and ceilings frame a pared-down, high-minimalist look. Some rooms and suites have private terraces with a Norwegian hot tub facing the piste. Two floors are given over to wellness, with a 14-metre indoor lap pool, a hammam, a sauna, a cold plunge pool and a yoga studio overlooking a Japanese garden. From February to April, weather permitting, Yakiniku serves lunch on the terrace, where guests grill premium cuts over embers at the table. The hotel holds two MICHELIN Keys (as of 2026).

Hôtel Annapurna stands at 734 Route de l'Altiport and describes itself as the highest hotel in Courchevel 1850. Christiane and André Pinturault opened it in December 1974 and named it after the 1950 French expedition to Annapurna led by their friend Maurice Herzog; the founding family still owns it. The hotel lists its restaurant Alpage as Michelin-starred (as of 2026), the spa has a 15-metre lap pool and a heated outdoor pool, and children aged 3 to 10 have the La Banquise des Petits club.

Courchevel and Les 3 Vallées at a glance

Courchevel's own ski area has 150 km of marked slopes, much of it above 1,800 m, and snowmaking covers more than half of the pistes. The tourist office steers beginners to the wide green and blue runs of Pralong, Ariondaz and Bellecôte, and stronger skiers to Jean-Blanc, Jockeys and the Combe de la Saulire.

The rest of Les 3 Vallées is close, with the Col de la Loze, the Praz gondola and the Vizelle chairlift among the main gateways; even Val Thorens, at the far end, is four lifts away. In 2026–27 Courchevel opens on 4 December and the links between the valleys the following day.

Getting to Courchevel from Geneva, Lyon, Chambéry and Moûtiers

Every road route ends the same way: motorway to Albertville, the RN90 dual carriageway to Moûtiers, then, in the tourist office's words, 30 minutes up a wide, clear road to the resort. From 1 November to 31 March, cars driving to the resorts must have winter tyres or carry snow chains or socks.

Moûtiers-Salins-Brides-les-Bains is the railhead, about 25 km below the resort. Altibus line S65 runs from the bus station in the station car park to Courchevel all year, more often in the ski and summer seasons. The tourist office points to Altibus, a booking platform for the regional coach lines, for transfers from Chambéry and, in winter, from Geneva and Lyon airports. In winter 2026–27, Eurostar's snow train from London calls at Moûtiers every Saturday between 19 December 2026 and 20 February 2027, with a change at Lille Europe.

Olympic hills, world championships and the Col de la Loze

Courchevel has staged two major championships. At the 1992 Albertville Games, the Tremplin du Praz in Le Praz, with its 90 m and 120 m hills, hosted the ski jumping and Nordic combined events. In 2023 the resort shared the Alpine World Ski Championships with Méribel; they ran from 6 to 19 February, with the men's individual races on L'Éclipse in Courchevel.

Summer is a real second season; in 2026 the resort stayed open until 30 August. The Col de la Loze, at 2,304 m, links Courchevel and Méribel by a cycle path opened in May 2019 and closed to motor vehicles, with gradients up to 24%. The Tour de France finished at the summit in 2020 and 2025, and in 2023 at the Courchevel altiport.

On foot, the Combe de la Saulire walking route drops 930 m over 6.3 km and is open from May to October, weather permitting. For grey days, Aquamotion opened in December 2015 as an indoor water and leisure complex with pools, a spa area and a climbing wall.

Méribel, Les Arcs and the wider Tarentaise

On skis the neighbouring valley is a short hop, and our page on Méribel in the commune of Les Allues covers its villages and its listed hotel. By road, everything runs back through Moûtiers. Further up the Isère, Bourg-Saint-Maurice and Les Arcs have the last station on the valley line, where a funicular climbs from the station to the ski villages.

Chambéry is the city that both motorway routes, from Lyon and from Geneva, pass on the way in. For other mountain addresses, see our five-star hotels in the French Alps, and our guide to checking a hotel's location and transport before booking, useful when comparing luxury hotels in Courchevel, where the altitude of an address changes the whole trip.