A resort drawn on paper — the history of Courchevel

Almost every great European ski town began as something else first — a farming hamlet, a mining settlement, a monastery’s land. Courchevel did not. It began as an idea on a drafting table, conceived in 1946 by Laurent Chappis, a young planner working with the regional authorities of Savoie. Chappis proposed something that had essentially never been attempted in France: a ski resort built entirely from scratch, purpose-designed for skiing, on an empty high-altitude plateau at 1,850 metres with no existing village to constrain it.

The first lifts opened for the 1946–47 season. What set Chappis’s plan apart from the concrete-heavy resort developments that would later scar parts of the French Alps was his insistence on integration with the landscape — chalets that respected the contour of the mountain, a village centre designed for walking rather than driving, and crucially, the Altiport: a small mountain airstrip built directly into the ski area, allowing light aircraft to land on a sloped runway at altitude. No other ski resort in Europe has anything comparable. It became, almost immediately, a statement about who this resort was for.

Growth came in distinct waves. French and British skiers arrived through the 1950s and 60s. By the 1980s, Courchevel’s reputation had crossed into a different register entirely — a roster of European and Middle Eastern royal families, Hollywood actors and the first generation of post-Soviet wealth began treating the resort not as a skiing destination but as a winter address, on a par with Gstaad or St. Moritz but with considerably better snow and a noticeably younger energy. That reputation, and the five-Palace-hotel infrastructure that now serves it, is the direct legacy of a decision made in 1946 to build something from nothing.

Who’s been here — seventy years of the world’s most photographed winter address

No serious account of Courchevel can avoid its social history, because the resort’s identity has always been inseparable from the people who chose it. Unlike Aspen or Vail, which built their reputations primarily on terrain and Hollywood proximity, Courchevel’s mythology was constructed deliberately, almost architecturally, from its earliest seasons — a resort engineered for a clientele that didn’t yet exist when Chappis drew his plans.

The pattern accelerated through the 1970s and 80s as European aristocracy and the Gulf royal families established a winter presence that became semi-permanent — chalets bought rather than rented, staff retained year-round, entire floors of the early hotels reserved on standing arrangements. By the 1990s and 2000s, the post-Soviet wealth that reshaped luxury hospitality across the Mediterranean found its winter counterpart in Courchevel specifically — the resort’s combination of discretion, genuinely excellent skiing and an established infrastructure of high-end retail made it the obvious choice over flashier but shallower alternatives.

The Three Valleys — why nothing else compares

Les Trois Vallées — comprising Courchevel, Méribel, and Les Menuires/Val Thorens — is, by every measurable standard, the largest interconnected ski area on the planet. A single lift pass grants access to all three valleys via an uninterrupted network of pistes and lifts. It is entirely possible to start a ski day in Courchevel, take a lunch break in Méribel, ski the high glacier runs above Val Thorens at 3,230 metres in the afternoon, and return to a Palace hotel in Courchevel for dinner — all without removing your skis for longer than a chairlift queue requires.

Five Palace hotels — Courchevel 2026, decoded

A Palace rating is the highest official hotel classification awarded in France — a category sitting above standard five-star, governed and awarded by the state tourism authority Atout France. As of 2026, Courchevel holds five Palace-rated properties — Airelles, Cheval Blanc, Fouquet’s, L’Apogée and Le K2 Palace — more than any other ski resort in the world and more than most major cities. In practical terms, this means Courchevel is the only place on earth where a guest can choose between five genuinely top-tier luxury addresses while standing on the largest connected ski area in the world.

Dining — Michelin stars at 1,850 metres

After Megève, Courchevel is the most significant culinary destination among French Alpine resorts. The concentration of Michelin-recognised restaurants within a single mountain village is exceptional even by international standards.

Spa and wellness — recovery after the slopes

Courchevel has the highest concentration of world-class spa facilities of any ski resort on earth. Each of the five Palace hotels operates its own spa, and they differ meaningfully in philosophy and offering.

The Courchevel nobody talks about — summer in the Alps

In summer, Courchevel becomes a genuinely different place. The lifts that carry skiers in winter lift hikers and mountain bikers to 2,700 metres instead. The pistes, white in winter, turn into wildflower meadows thick with arnica, gentian and Alpine rose. Several Palace hotels remain open through summer — and the value proposition shifts dramatically in the visitor’s favour.

Practical information — understanding Courchevel before you go

Getting there — routes into Courchevel

Courchevel sits in the French département of Savoie, roughly 100km southeast of Geneva and 130km east of Lyon. There is no large international airport directly serving the resort — visitors arrive via a regional airport or by train to Moûtiers.