Courchevel 1850 Luxury Ski Resort

Courchevel 1850 has the reputation for being the world's best ski resort. Immaculate pistes, superbly interlinked skiing on the vast 3 Valleys ski area amidst beautiful scenery are just some of its features. Add to this an astounding range of bars, restaurants, chic boutiques and nightspots and it's no wonder that Courchevel is so highly rated.

The Courchevel ski area, with 63 ski-lifts, and 117 downhill skiing runs with an accumulated length of 150 km, guarantees you quality snow cover (thanks to its 562 snow cannons) and the skiing of your dreams, from the beginning to the end of the season. Whether you're a beginner or an advanced skier, a back-country enthusiast, a family skier, or a rider, Courchevel offers the skiing experience you're looking for.

The Courchevel valley has a ski area that goes from 2,738m to 1,300m and which quite simply has something for everyone, including some of the best-groomed motorway cruising pistes in the world. In fact the maintenance of the runs here rivals the standards found in the finest North American resorts, with two-thirds of the total piste area now being groomed each night. The snow-making systems are also very impressive 35% of its skiable terrain is now covered by man-made snow. For the winter of 2003/2004 the Creux and Fruit drag lifts were replaced by the four-seater Gravelles chairlift and another 19 snow canons were added on the Biollay/Pralong sector, bring the number of snow guns in the Courchevel valley to 562.

Courchevel is not one but four quite separate resorts at different altitudes above the Bozel Valley, linked on piste but with little else in common. A free bus service connects the different villages.

Courchevel 1850 is the international resort with the jet-set image. Like its stylistic rival, Megève, a high proportion of its designer-clad visitors come here to see and to be seen. A covered mall houses expensive boutiques, and a couple of supermarkets cater for the more mundane needs of self-caterers. The secluded Jardin Alpin sector is a Millionaire’s Row of sumptuous chalets and shockingly expensive hotels tucked away in trees that provide at least an illusion of privacy.

Courchevel 1650 is 200m vertical lower down both the mountain and the price scale. Many would argue that this is le vrai Courchevel, with its year-round population and atmosphere of the farming community it once was.

Courchevel 1550 is away from the heart of the skiing. It is little more than an attractive cluster of apartment buildings, chalets and a few hotels, but looks set to expand as it becomes better integrated into the Trois Vallées. A new six-person lift up to 1850 is being installed for this season, and the main piste has been widened.

Le Praz (Courchevel 1300)is a farming village at the foot of the lift system and a cheap base for Courchevel’s skiing. Two gondolas (‘always free of queues’) swiftly take you up towards the Col de la Loze, which connects with La Tania, or to Courchevel 1850.