Courchevel 1850

Courchevel 1850 is the highest and most prestigious of the villages that make up the Courchevel resort, sitting at around 1,850 metres at the head of the valley in the Savoie Alps. Its height is the whole point: perched at the top of the lift system into Les Trois Vallees, it offers direct access to the largest linked ski terrain in the world, a domain of around six hundred kilometres of connected piste, and a snow record, on these high slopes, that ranks among the most reliable anywhere in the range.

The village itself is compact and unmistakably upmarket. The central Croisette, where the main lifts gather, sits above a cluster of streets lined with the boutiques of the leading fashion houses, jewellers and a concentration of Michelin-starred restaurants rare for a place this size. The residential quarters spread out from there: the exclusive, wooded Jardin Alpin, reachable by its own lift and lined with grand chalets set among the trees, and the sunnier slopes of Cospillot and Bellecote. A small altiport on the ridge above, among the highest airfields in Europe, allows light aircraft and helicopters to land on the mountain itself, a detail that has long shaped the address’s character. Wide, well-groomed runs drop straight back to the village doors, so the skiing here is as much about convenience as about terrain, with gentle slopes for beginners near the centre and the whole valley open to those who want to range further.

Winter is the reason to come, with the season running from December to April and the Christmas and February holiday weeks the busiest and most sought-after. In summer the village is far quieter but far from closed, as the surrounding slopes reopen for hiking, mountain biking and paragliding under long alpine daylight, and the altiport keeps the valley connected. The defining luxury of 1850 remains ski-in, ski-out access, with many properties opening straight onto the piste. For families and groups who want that convenience with the space and privacy of their own address, chalet rentals in Courchevel 1850 sit among the most requested in the Alps.