- The village, Courchevel 1850500m above the median of 1,350m across the 55 resorts we cover.
- 1,850m
- Top of the skiingRight on the median of 2,697m across the 55 resorts we cover.
- 2,697m
- SeasonThe standard Alpine season, shared by 42 of the 55 resorts we cover.
- December to April
Is Courchevel right for you?
Courchevel is really four villages climbing the same hillside, and each one has its own feel and its own price tag. The village sits at 1,850m and the skiing tops out at 2,697m, and the season runs December to April. On the piste it is a real strength for first timers, improvers moving from blue into red and confident intermediates.
Courchevel at a glance
- Area
- Three Valleys
- Best for
- Fine dining · Mileage chasers · Families with young children
- Fly to
- Geneva, Chambéry or Lyon
- Transfer
- About 2h by road from Geneva
- Doorstep skiing
- Widely available
Who Courchevel suits, and who it suits less
Best for
- Fine dining. Courchevel 1850 holds a cluster of Michelin starred kitchens, and a special occasion dinner there is the kind of meal people plan a whole trip around.
- Mileage chasers. From the Saulire you drop into Méribel and on towards Val Thorens, with 600 kilometres of Three Valleys piste and 150 lifts on one pass.
- Families with young children. Gentle greens around Pralong and Bellecote, ski in ski out doors in 1850 and the aquatic centre at 1650 make it easy with small children and heavy boots.
- Off piste. Experts have the steep, exposed couloirs off the Saulire and a spread of off piste that rewards a good guide, plus tree skiing towards Le Praz in poor weather.
- Snow sure. We measure 71 percent of the piste above 1,800 metres, and the skiing climbs to about 2,700 metres above the four villages.
Less good for
- Value for money. Even at the friendlier end you are paying for a premium, well run resort, so groups who put cost first will find better value elsewhere.
- Après. Après in 1850 is glamorous and priced to match, so groups after a cheap, rowdy session will be happier in the friendlier bars of 1650 and 1550.
Skiing from 1,300m to 2,697m, village at 1,850m (Courchevel 1850).
Where these heights are
- Lowest skiing
- 1,300mCourchevel-Le Praz.
- Village
- 1,850mCourchevel 1850.
- Top of the skiing
- 2,697mOur measurement of the highest marked piste.
- 53 runs green16%
- 136 runs blue41%
- 108 runs red32%
- 37 runs black11%
Counted by the resort, covering Les 3 Vallées, the whole linked area. No official kilometres by colour are published.
- Black piste
- 32km, 11% of the pisteLess than the median of 11% across the 55 resorts we cover.
- Ski area
- Les 3 Vallées, 600km
- Cross country
- 50km of trailsCourchevel's own trails, at 1850 and Moriond, graded green to black.
Sources
- Lowest skiing: les3vallees.com
- Lowest skiing: press.les3vallees.com
- Runs by colour: press.les3vallees.com
- Cross country: courchevel.com
- Ski area: press.les3vallees.com
- Top of the skiing: our measurement of the highest marked piste
- The steep end: our measurement of the OpenStreetMap piste map
The published figures were read on 29 October 2026.
296km of graded piste, measured ourselves.
- 179km green and blue60%
- 85km red29%
- 32km black11%
Of the 179km green and blue, 56km is green.
- First timersA real strength
- Improvers, blue into redA real strength
- Confident intermediatesA real strength
- Strong skiersFine
The spreadA resort that knows what it is. 60% of the piste is green and blue, and it scores 0.82 for evenness, where 1 is a perfect three way split between green and blue, red and black. Wonderful if that is your speed, and worth knowing if your group is mixed.
Longest pisteLevasset, 4.7km of blue with 748m of vertical.
Measured from the run geometry, Courchevel has 296km of graded piste: 179km green and blue, 85km red and 32km black. We do not print the resort's published kilometres until we have checked what they count.
Courchevel among its French peers
Of these five, Courchevel has the joint third highest village, 1,850m. The median across the 55 resorts we cover is 1,350m.
Know the mountain before you go.
The skiing
Long tree lined runs drop back to 1850, wide open bowls sit higher up, and the lift system is so quick you rarely stand in a queue. There is easy blue cruising for improvers and plenty of steeper ground for people who want to be tested.
The village and the evenings
1850 is the smart one with the designer windows and the Michelin kitchens, while 1650 and 1550 keep things calmer and much kinder on the wallet. You eat well at every level here, from a slope side plate of frites to a proper long lunch.
Beyond the skiing.
Free, and worth knowing
The floodlit sledge run, 1850 down to Village. Two kilometres through the forest, lit from top to bottom, so it works after dark and it is the best free thing in the resort. It starts at 1850 under the arrival station of the Praz gondola and finishes at Courchevel Village at the foot of the Grangettes gondola.
The ski jump exhibition at Le Praz. The 1992 Olympic jumps are still here, four of them, and there is a free exhibition at the stadium. You cannot jump, but you can walk in for nothing and watch training, which is a better hour than it sounds when somebody is throwing themselves off a K125.
The media library and the Micro Folie. A genuinely strong wet weather afternoon that costs nothing. A digital museum every Saturday, a virtual reality experience for ten and over, an immersive tour of Ancient Egypt built by Ubisoft, Japanese picture theatre for the three to fives, and film screenings for anybody over seven.
Cross country, and the children's sledging areas. Around seventy kilometres of groomed cross country trails across the villages, free to use, with a good spread from green to black. There are also free fenced sledging areas for small children at 1850 and at La Tania.
The walking paths. Five named groomed footpaths, maintained daily by the commune with the status published each morning. The Rosiere lake path from Moriond is the pretty one. There are nine marked snowshoe itineraries on top of that, including a balcony path linking La Tania to Le Praz.
A few of the rest
Moriond Racing. Three kilometres and four hundred and fifty metres of descent on a Formula 1 themed toboggan run, with eight tunnels, a carousel bend and a section they call the double serpent. You take the Ariondaz gondola up. Sledge, helmet and mask are all included. 20 to 50 euros.
Dog sledding. Twenty five minutes out to the Prameruel plateau behind a team of dogs, or thirty five minutes if you go in the evening, which is the better one. Priced per sled rather than per person, so it works out for a couple or a small family. Over 50 euros.
Ice diving and ice floating on Lake Praz. The lake at Le Praz freezes and you can get under it. Ice diving runs by day and by night, and the night sessions are the ones people write home about. If going under is a step too far, ice floating is the same lake in a drysuit on the surface. Over 50 euros.
These are our own picks, not paid placements. Prices and opening times change, so it is always worth checking before you set off.
21 places we would send you to
The one to pick if half the group is not skiing, because a tracked four by four comes up to collect them and that turns lunch into an outing of its own.
Three Michelin stars, the destination meal of the resort, and they will collect you from where you are staying and take you home again afterwards.
The bar chalet staff send people to, which is the recommendation that counts.
These are our own picks, not paid placements. Opening times and ownership change, so it is always worth checking before you set off.
Getting there
Fly into Geneva or Chambéry and take a transfer of two to three hours, or drive in easily on good roads and park up for the week.
- Genevaabout 2h by road
- Chambéryabout 1h30 by road
- Lyonabout 1h55 by road