Courchevel

Courchevel, a cluster of villages perched between 1 300 and 1 850 metres above sea level in the Tarentaise Valley of France’s Savoie department, combines an alpine population of scarcely two thousand permanent residents with a ski area spanning some 605 hectares within the world’s largest linked domain, Les Trois Vallées. Situated in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, the resort draws a predominantly international clientele to its 493 kilometres of interconnected pistes, its steep altiport runway, and its concentration of luxury palaces and Michelin-starred dining establishments. Beneath its veneer of exclusivity lies a history of deliberate post-war planning, Olympic-calibre infrastructure, and an evolving profile that now encompasses summer arts festivals and environmental stewardship at the edge of the Vanoise National Park.

From the earliest Vichy regime studies of 1942 to the doctorate-informed vision of Laurent Chappis, Courchevel emerged as France’s first entirely purpose-built mountain resort. Chappis, alongside engineer Maurice Michaud, resolved to forsake the model of adapting existing villages and instead establish a network of sites at altitudes of 1 300 (Le Praz), 1 550 (today’s Courchevel Village), 1 650 (Moriond) and 1 850 metres—now simply “Courchevel”—each conceived with a distinct character. Inaugurated in 1946, Courchevel 1550 served as the initial foothold for tourism infrastructure, its primitive hamlet giving rise to hotels such as the Roc Merlet. Two years later, Chappis oversaw the development of Courchevel 1850 on the broad Tovet pasture, its angular facades and low-pitched roofs revolutionizing alpine architecture and earning, in 1998, an inscription in the supplementary inventory of historic monuments for the urban ensemble.

Courchevel’s rapid growth through the 1950s and 1960s mirrored France’s embrace of winter sports as mass recreation. Yet it retained a thread of community rooted in Le Praz and the communal capital of Saint-Bon-Tarentaise at 1 100 metres, where free shuttles link traditional stone houses and the 12th-century church of Saint Bon to the snowline above. By 1952, Moriond’s “Sunny Balcony” had earned its nickname not solely for sunlit slopes but for an autonomous ski sector managed by the Société des Téléskis de Moriond—a precursor to the Société des Trois Vallées (S3V) formed in 1946 and today charged with lifts across the Three Valleys. A decree in 1959 unified Moriond’s terrain within Saint-Bon’s jurisdiction, consolidating local governance even as national agencies would soon funnel investment into Olympic venues.

The inauguration of Tremplin du Praz’s ski jumps in January 1991 prefaced the Albertville Winter Olympics of 1992, when Le Praz hosted ski jumping and Nordic combined, and La Tania—built expressly for competitors—joined the valley mosaic. The local Forum ice rink, opened in December 1990 at a cost of 38 million francs, provided training facilities before the Games distributed events across Albertville, Méribel and Pralognan-la-Vanoise. The altiport’s runway, originally established by Michel Ziegler in 1961 and later extended to welcome Dash 7 aircraft for the Games, underscored Courchevel’s strategic importance despite its famously steep 18.5 percent gradient and 525-metre length. Pilots require special certification to navigate the valley approach, and the airport remains ranked among the world’s most perilous.

The resort’s expansion into the twenty-first century combined opulence with operational sophistication. By 2011, France’s hotel classification introduced a sixth “palace” star; Courchevel claimed two of the nation’s first eight such palaces in Jardin Alpin. Fourteen hotels in the resort now bear five-star status, and seven establishments hold Michelin stars—Le Chabichou among them with two stars, and Yannick Alléno’s Cheval Blanc boasting three. Alongside couture boutiques by Louis Vuitton, Hermès, Chanel and others, the resort offers what has been described as the most expensive pharmacy in France. Its clientele hails largely from Gulf states and affluent Russian circles who time their visits to coincide with New Year and the Russian Orthodox Christmas on January 7, cementing the first fortnight of the month as high season.

Yet luxury coexists with challenges that test the community’s resilience. In the pre-dawn hours of January 20, 2019, a fire swept through seasonal workers’ quarters at Courchevel 1850, claiming two lives and injuring twenty-two. One hundred and thirty firefighters responded, their swift action preventing even greater tragedy and highlighting the narrow margin for error amid steep streets and tightly packed chalet façades. The incident prompted stricter safety protocols in worker housing and renewed investment in communal fire services.

Courchevel’s commitment to year-round vitality has seen the addition of major leisure and cultural venues. December 2015 marked the opening of Aquamotion, a 15 000-square-metre aquatic complex featuring indoor and outdoor pools, diving pits, slides, spa facilities and three dining venues, all designed to diversify the post-ski offering. In November 2013, the L’Envolée sports centre in Le Praz provided a 1 000-square-metre gymnasium, fitness zone and multi-purpose room, serving elite athletes and casual visitors alike. Currently under construction in Le Praz, L’Alpinium aims to enhance connections to Courchevel 1850 and expand parking, acknowledging that improved inter-village mobility remains crucial in a resort that spans five settlements yet carries the name of its highest altitude site.

The appointment of Courchevel and Méribel as co-hosts of the 2023 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships reaffirmed the valley’s global standing. Races commenced at the newly minted L’Éclipse course on Saulire summit before concluding at the valley floor in Courchevel Le Praz—a testament to decades of piste engineering and snowmaking. Since Lake Ariondaz was commissioned in 2007, the resort deploys up to 617 snow cannons to cover 43 percent of its terrain, mitigating seasonal variability. The Fédération Française des Stations de Montagne records that, at peak capacity in the early 1970s, the area supported some 28 000 tourist beds; today, the Trois Vallées collectively offers over 126 000 beds, with Courchevel’s share hovering around 32 000.

Architectural patrimony remains a defining aspect of Courchevel’s identity. The chalet-style buildings conceived by Denys Pradelle and Chappis in Courchevel 1850—Lang, Joliot-Curie, Petit Navire and others—were inscribed as historic monuments between 2005 and 2012, each exemplifying the mid-century fusion of modernist simplicity and alpine vernacular. The chapel of Our Lady of the Assumption, completed in 1959 and enlarged in 1970, stands among thirty protected sites scattered across the commune. Such recognition affirms what early planners envisioned: a resort not merely grafted onto mountainsides but one that harmonizes built form with landscape.

Access, both physical and administrative, reflects Courchevel’s layered development. Although the commune of Courchevel was established in 2017 through the merger of Saint-Bon-Tarentaise and La Perrière, its town hall remains in Saint-Bon, preserving continuity with the pre-resort era. Road links extend from Le Praz through La Tania to Méribel via the Col de la Loze and from Saulire to the Allues Valley, enabling skiers to traverse Paradiski and Espace Killy on a weekly lift pass. Proposals to interconnect every Tarentaise system were halted by the creation of the Vanoise National Park in 1963, safeguarding alpine ecology even as tourism soared.

The resort’s governance combines public stewardship and commercial enterprise. Courchevel Tourisme, an EPIC-structured tourist office funded by local taxes, allocated a budget of €5.3 million in 2015 toward promotion and events. Meanwhile, S3V—originally funded by the General Council of Savoie—manages ski lifts and slopes as a mixed-economy company whose principal shareholders include the departmental council, the communes of Saint-Bon-Tarentaise, Les Allues and La Perrière, and S3V employees. By 2008, S3V operated 85 lifts across the Three Valleys—yet another indicator of Courchevel’s role in a network whose total surface area exceeds 2 100 hectares.

Despite its pedigree and resources, Courchevel confronts the imperative to modernize. In recent decades, Poma’s detachable chairlifts have replaced historic “eggs,” and the Grand Jour cable car—once the world’s largest—has given way to faster, higher-capacity installations. Snowmaking remains energy-intensive, a concern noted by France’s Court of Auditors in 2011 when it recorded a €5 million annual cost for 130 000 m³ of snow production. As climate trends shift, the resort balances reservoir management and piste orientation to preserve reliable conditions for elite events and recreational skiers alike.

Embedded within this continuum of adaptation is Courchevel’s expansion into culture and sport beyond winter. The International Festival of Pyrotechnic Art has drawn spectators to Courchevel 1850 each summer since 2003, while contemporary art exhibitions animate village galleries. Mountain biking and hiking trails, though less trafficked than those in neighboring Méribel and Les Arcs, invite exploration of forested plateaus and glacial valleys. A nine-hole golf course at Jardin Alpin blends alpine panoramas with fairways, a nod to year-round recreation. Sister city ties with Park City, Utah, underscore shared expertise in mountain tourism and have even lent Courchevel a red-graded run named “Park City.”

Through seven decades, Courchevel has sustained a dual identity: a crucible of architectural innovation and a bastion of high-end hospitality, all the while retaining the rhythms of alpine life in its quieter hamlets. Its slopes—once charted by Chappis on wartime cartography—now host world championships, and its lanes, once devoid of hotels, now channel global wealth. Yet behind the façade of palaces and designer boutiques lies the persistence of small-scale villages, the hum of lift motors, and the steady stewardship of natural terrain that has defined both the resort’s origin and its promise. In an era when mountain destinations confront environmental, economic and social pressures, Courchevel remains a testament to deliberate planning, architectural ambition and the enduring allure of snow-clad peaks. Its narrative, still unfolding, balances exclusivity with community, spectacle with serenity, and innovation with respect for the land—an alpine odyssey guided by careful vision and human endeavour.