Arosa or Courchevel: the same shape of mountain, at two sizes
The Ski Snug teamUpdated 12 October 20266 min read
Arosa and Courchevel look like an odd pair until the numbers go side by side. Our matching puts Arosa closer to Courchevel than any other resort we cover. Both villages sit at around 1,800 metres, both are snow sure on our measure, and the shape of the skiing is near enough the same: 35 percent of the piste is gentler than 15 percent at each, and about a quarter is steeper than one in four.
So this is not a choice between two kinds of mountain. It is a choice of size, country and mood. Courchevel is the polished heart of the Three Valleys, glossy and upmarket. Arosa is a gentle, sunny bowl in Switzerland, linked to Lenzerheide, and families are what it does best. The numbers first.
The numbers, side by side
| Figure | Arosa | Courchevel |
|---|---|---|
| Village altitude | 1,800 m | 1,747 m at Courchevel 1850, with lower villages down the valley |
| Top of the skiing, measured | 2,848 m | 2,697 m |
| Linked ski area | Arosa Lenzerheide, 225 km, all linked | The Three Valleys, quoted at 600 km, not yet measured by us |
| Piste we measure around the village | 183 km | 295.5 km |
| Green and blue | 97 km blue and easier, 53% of the piste | 178.5 km, 60% of the piste |
| Black | 14.5 km, 8% of the piste | 32 km, 11% of the piste |
| Marked off piste itinerary | 8.5 km | 4.5 km |
| Piste steeper than one in four | 24% | 26% |
| Piste gentler than 15% | 35% | 35% |
| Piste at or above 1,800 m | 65% | 71% |
| Season | December to April | December to April |
| Nearest airport | Zurich | Geneva or Chambéry |
The rows that describe the shape of the skiing, steep and gentle, barely move. The rows that describe the quantity of piste all go one way. Courchevel has more piste, more easy piste and more than twice the black.
Size: Arosa is big for Switzerland, Courchevel is big for anywhere
Arosa Lenzerheide is 225 kilometres, and it really is one domain: a single cable car joins Arosa's valley to Lenzerheide's, and three sources agree on the figure exactly. We measure 183 kilometres of piste around Arosa, the most of the 15 Swiss resorts we cover. That is plenty of skiing for a week.
Courchevel is on a different scale. The Three Valleys is quoted at 600 kilometres and genuinely linked, though we have not measured it ourselves. Our own measurement of the piste around Courchevel comes to 295.5 kilometres, the most of the 55 resorts we cover and 112.5 more than around Arosa. On the quoted figures or on ours, Courchevel wins comfortably.
Whether that matters depends on who is going. A family with young children will not run out of Arosa. A group of strong intermediates who count their runs will notice the difference by Wednesday, and Courchevel has Méribel and Val Thorens in the same linked area when they do.
Altitude: level at the door, Arosa higher at the top
Arosa's village sits at 1,800 metres, the second highest of the 15 Swiss resorts we cover. Courchevel 1850, despite its name, is at 1,747 metres, so Arosa is 53 metres higher at the door. That is a rounding error next to the choice within Courchevel itself, which steps down the valley through Moriond to Le Praz, the old village. Where you book there changes your height more than which resort you pick.
The top is where Arosa surprises. The skiing we measure there reaches 2,848 metres, 151 above Courchevel's 2,697. Courchevel has a little more of its piste up high, though: 71 percent of it is at or above 1,800 metres, against 65 at Arosa.
On our measure both count as snow sure. At Arosa, 65 percent of the piste we measure is above 1,800 metres, up to 2,848 metres. At Courchevel it is 71 percent, up to 2,697. Nobody can promise snow, and on these figures neither resort gives the other much to envy. Call it a draw.
The skiing: the same shape, with more at both ends in Courchevel
At Arosa, 24 percent of the piste is steeper than one in four. At Courchevel it is 26, exactly what a typical resort we cover has. Neither is a steep resort and neither is a soft one.
97 km blue and easier 53%72 km red 39%15 km black 8%
179 km blue and easier 60%85 km red 29%32 km black 11%
Marked off piste itinerary, kept out of the piste totals: Arosa 9 km, Courchevel 4.5 km.
The difference is quantity at each end. Courchevel has 178.5 kilometres of green and blue, the most of any resort we cover, and 55.7 kilometres of that is green. Arosa's 97 kilometres of blue and easier is the most of the 15 Swiss resorts we cover, and still a little over half of Courchevel's.
The black runs tell the same story. Eleven percent black sounds modest. At Courchevel's size it is 32 kilometres, second only to one resort of the 55 we cover. Arosa has 14.5, about what a typical resort has. Arosa does have more marked off piste itinerary, 8.5 kilometres against 4.5, and its longest, Freeride Praden, drops 745 metres in 2.2 kilometres.
The measured gradients show what each colour feels like. They are averages per run segment, and a run's grade is set by its steepest pitch, so read them as the feel of a week rather than a verdict on any one run. Grades are also set country by country, so the fair test is each resort against its own country. Arosa's blacks average 32.4 percent, the steepest of the 15 Swiss resorts we cover and well over the Swiss average of 26.7. Courchevel's average 31.3, against a French 29.6. Both have blacks that earn the colour.
Who each one actually suits
Arosa suits families first, and anyone after sunshine and skiing that is snow sure on our measure. Our read on it is gentle and sunny rather than glossy. It suits a group flying to Zurich, a family whose children are past the nursery stage and onto blues, and people who want one linked area that is big by Swiss standards rather than the biggest going. Strong skiers get steep blacks and more marked itinerary than at Courchevel, though less than half the black.
Courchevel suits nearly everyone, which is the point of it. It is really four villages stepped down the mountain. Courchevel 1850 is the famous one, with the smart shops and some of the most serious restaurants in the Alps. Moriond is sunny, family friendly and quieter in the evening. Le Praz, at the bottom, is the old village, with larch chalets and a slower pace. A free bus links them. When the weather closes in, the tree skiing towards Le Praz is the best answer to a flat light day, and strong skiers have the Saulire couloirs. Non skiers have the aquatic centre at Moriond and plenty of terraces. The après runs from champagne at the top to a quiet drink by the fire at the bottom.
The bit nobody tells you
Courchevel's blues are harder than Arosa's. They average 17.5 percent, the third steepest of the 17 French resorts we cover and well over the French average of 16.2. Arosa's blues average 15.4, close to the Swiss average of 15.0.
For a confident skier that is a footnote. For an improver fresh off the nursery slopes, it can be the gap between cruising the blues and gritting their teeth down them. Courchevel's answer is its greens: 55.7 kilometres of them in the piste we measure, with the beginner areas at Pralong and Bellecôte above 1850. If your improvers will happily stay on green a day or two longer, Courchevel loses nothing. If they are itching to call themselves blue run skiers, Arosa is the kinder place to do it.
So, which one
you would rather ski in Switzerland, fly to Zurich and have a gentle week in a sunny bowl; if your group is a family with children moving onto blues; or if you want the higher top and more marked itinerary, and 225 linked kilometres is plenty.
you want the most skiing of any resort we cover, at every level: the most green and blue, the second most black, and the rest of the Three Valleys beyond. Also if the food, the trees and the choice of village, from glossy to old Savoyard, are part of why you are going.
It is the same shape of mountain as Arosa, at much the same height, with more piste of every colour on it. Arosa is the right answer when what you want is the gentle, sunny Swiss version, and it is a very good one.