Love Courchevel? Where to go next for the glamour, the polish or the food

St Moritz is the obvious answer for the glamour, and the altitude comes with it. The village is at 1,822 metres, higher than Courchevel 1850, and its lifts go higher than Courchevel's, to 3,303 metres. The glamour is its own: sunshine, a lake full of events, and plenty to do for anyone in the party who does not want to ski every day. Like Courchevel, it is upmarket and makes no secret of it.

The trade is the shape of the skiing. St Moritz's mountains are separate, Corviglia, Corvatsch and Diavolezza among them, and you travel between them rather than ski from one to the next. We measure about 106 kilometres around the town. The 350 kilometres you will see quoted is a pass figure across those separate mountains. By steepness the two are close, 24 percent of St Moritz's piste steeper than one in four against 26 at Courchevel, but there is far less of it. Go for the town as much as the skiing.

Madonna di Campiglio is Italy's version of smart. It is an elegant, sociable resort beneath the Brenta Dolomites, known for its grooming, and its three sectors are all lift linked, 155 kilometres in all. The village sits at 1,550 metres, about 200 below Courchevel 1850, and the lifts reach 2,580.

The trade is size and steepness. We measure about 115 kilometres around Madonna, well under half the 296 we measure around Courchevel alone, and the runs are much kinder. Only 18 percent of the piste is steeper than one in four, against Courchevel's 26. Italian grading is gentler than French: a Madonna red averages 19.7 percent, closer to a Courchevel blue at 17.5 than to a Courchevel red at 24.0. That is average gradient, and a run's grade is set by its steepest pitch, but it tells you how the week will feel.

For a confident cruiser who loves Courchevel for its polish, that means long, easy, beautifully kept days under the Dolomites. For anyone who goes to Courchevel for those 32 kilometres of black, it is the wrong swap.

Megève is the French answer, and the one that shares Courchevel's tastes: elegant, calm, upmarket and known for fine dining, with a cobbled old centre rather than a purpose built one. We measure about 189 kilometres of piste on its own domain. The 400 you will see quoted is a pass figure across several villages. Much of it is long, easy cruising: only 20 percent of the piste is steeper than one in four, and there are 35 kilometres of green. It still has 23 kilometres of black, for the days you want it.

The trade is altitude, and it is a big one. Megève's village sits at 1,113 metres, more than 600 below Courchevel 1850, and its lifts stop at 2,350. In a good snow year that hardly matters. In a thin one it is the whole week.