Why Courchevel, when the choice is yours.
Courchevel is, by some distance, the most established luxury address in the French Alps. Cheval Blanc, Aman Le Mélézin, Les Airelles, Le K2 Palace, Le Strato, Hôtel Barrière, L'Apogée — six palaces and as many five-star houses, sharing one mountain. It is the resort where everything works the way it is supposed to.
And yet Courchevel is not a single village. It is four — Le Praz at 1300, Village at 1550, Moriond at 1650, and the upper station at 1850 — each with its own temper. Le Praz keeps the larch forests and the original alpine architecture; it hosts the bobsleigh track and the longest gondola in France. 1550 is residential, almost provincial. 1650 looks east, takes the morning sun first, and reads as the family altitude. 1850 is the address that earned the postcards: the altiport, the palaces, the long ski-in boulevard of the Bellecôte.
The clientele is older than Val Thorens, more international, considerably more discreet. The skiing feels gentler per metre — wider trails, longer arcs, less wind. But the off-piste behind Saulire and Creux Noirs, the Aiguille du Fruit's couloirs, the Roc Merlet face — these are quietly among the most demanding descents in the 3 Valleys. Most guests do not know this on arrival. They tend to know it by Wednesday.
Courchevel is the resort where the lift queues are short, the snow is groomed by midnight, and the conversation in the gondola is in any language but French. Antoine Sangouard, founder
What we ski here.
Courchevel offers the most legible mountain in the 3 Valleys. The major lifts — Verdons, Saulire Express, Vizelle, Chenus, Creux Noirs — fan out from 1850 like spokes from a hub, which means a single instructor can re-orient a family from beginner slopes to off-piste in less than fifteen minutes. Snowtailors plans most Courchevel days around three or four anchor points and lets the rest follow the snow.
Where we take beginners
The bowls of Pralong, beneath the Verdons gondola. Wide, south-facing, with a magic carpet at the lower station and one of the gentlest blue runs in the Alps — Bellecôte itself, which loops back to the village door. For very young skiers, we work from the altiport flat — yes, the airstrip — which doubles as a children's ski area when no aircraft is on approach. It is an unusual sight, and an unusually patient one.
Where we take intermediates
The Saulire face and the Creux Noirs cruise. From the Saulire summit at 2 738 metres, the descent unwinds for nearly five kilometres — Combe de la Saulire, Combe des Pylônes, Marmottes — before the lift system returns you to where you started. On a good day, we will cross to Méribel via the Saulire ridge for lunch and bring the family back over the Vizelle in time for tea. Intermediate weeks routinely cover 200 kilometres of pistes within Courchevel before any 3 Valleys connection is attempted.
Where we take advanced and expert skiers
The Aiguille du Fruit. Specifically — when the snowpack reads correctly — the Couloir Tournier, a committed forty-degree entrance dropping into a hidden valley behind Creux Noirs. This is among the more serious descents in the 3 Valleys, never attempted lightly, and only with the right instructor and the right day. The Roc Merlet face holds dry snow into March; the Saulire couloir descents (Grand Couloir, Couloir des Pylônes) are accessible in good visibility with avalanche kit. For spring skiing, the long itinerary down to Le Praz through the larch forests is one of the quietest great runs in France.
Where we meet you.
Most of our Courchevel guests sleep at one of the village's six palaces — Cheval Blanc, Aman Le Mélézin, Le K2 Palace, Les Airelles, Le Strato, Hôtel Barrière Les Neiges — or at L'Apogée from the Oetker Collection, or in the Six Senses Residences on the Belvédère slope. We hold working relationships with each concierge desk. Your instructor walks through the ski room, collects your equipment from the locker, and waits for you at the door at the time you specified the night before. There is no lift gate to find, no rendezvous to confirm.
For arrivals at the Courchevel altiport, we coordinate directly with Sky Valet and AeroAffaires. The slot time is treated as the start of the ski day: equipment is fitted at the chalet during the descent, the instructor meets the aircraft door, and most guests are skiing within ninety minutes of touchdown. For arrivals at Geneva, Lyon or Chambéry, we keep the same logic — chalet first, ski second.
A 5-day programme to taste the place.
This is what a typical week with Snowtailors looks like for an intermediate family of four arriving on Saturday at the altiport. Every detail is adjustable — the schedule below is illustrative, never imposed.
The gentle morning
Three hours, on Pralong and Bellecôte. Your instructor watches more than teaches — reading skiing, fitness, jet-lag and the dynamic between family members. Lunch at Le Chalet de Pierres on the Verdons piste, a quiet planning conversation for the week.
Across to Méribel via Saulire
Full day. The Saulire summit, descent to Méribel via the Combe de la Saulire, lunch at La Folie Douce or the quieter Le Plantin, return through Vizelle. The first day on which the family realises the area is properly large.
Behind Saulire
Off-piste morning for the strong skiers in the family. The hidden bowls behind Saulire, then a long descent through the larches toward 1550. Lunch at Le Cap Horn — tableside service on the Altiport piste, planes landing forty metres away.
Children's morning, parents' off-piste
Two instructors. The children spend the morning on Pralong with one; the parents take the Vizelle gondola with the other for a guided session on the Aiguille du Fruit shoulder. Reunite at Le Chabichou or, weather depending, at L'Écailler in 1850 for a long lunch.
The long crossing — Cime Caron and back
The full traverse to Val Thorens via Méribel, summit of the Cime Caron at 3 230 metres, lunch at Les Chalets de la Masse, and return to Courchevel by the last lift. Sixty kilometres on the day. The week's hero ski.
Friday is, traditionally, optional. Many guests in Courchevel ask for a final morning of free skiing without an instructor; others request a half-day around 1650 for a final slow lunch at Bistrot Le C. We organise either with twenty-four hours of notice.
Hôtels & chalets we know intimately.
Courchevel concentrates more five-star accommodation per square kilometre than any ski village in the world. A working relationship with each of the addresses below means we are usually permitted to walk through the ski room, leave equipment in your locker, and coordinate morning timings with the concierge directly. None of this is paid placement — they are simply the houses we ski with most.
- Cheval Blanc Courchevel, Palace — LVMH's flagship in 1850. Ski-in via the private corridor to Bellecôte.
- Aman Le Mélézin, 5* — discreet, original, with the Bellecôte piste at the back door. Our most-requested address.
- Le K2 Palace, Palace — the Capezzone family. Ski room access, a working relationship with the head concierge.
- Les Airelles, Palace — the Oetker Collection's grande maison. Family suites, ski-in from the Bellecôte.
- Le Strato, Palace — the Boix-Vives family. Quiet, sporty, the chairlift Loze Express twenty metres from the door.
- Hôtel Barrière Les Neiges, 5* — Barrière's mountain house. We hold preferred booking for last-minute slots.
- L'Apogée Courchevel, Oetker Collection — slope-side on Le Jardin Alpin, family-friendly with a quiet luxury.
- Six Senses Residences Courchevel — the new arrival on the Belvédère slope. Ski-in, ski-out, equipment delivery.