A pristine blanket of snow welcomed me to Courchevel, nestled in the heart of the French Alps. For four unforgettable nights, my home was Courchevel 1850, the highest of the six mountain villages nestled along the alluring slopes of the world’s most chic ski area.
While glam and glitz are the bywords for Courchevel, this village takes the bar even higher. Palace hotels, exclusive chalets, Gucci branded gondola lifts, designer ski suits and jackets, and luxury boutiques with labels like Dior, Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Hermes and Prada envelope one in anextravagant wintery vibe in this celebrity hangout.
Courchevel 1850 is part of Les 3 Vallées, the largest expanse of ski slopes in the world, and the pistes here stretch across 150 km making this a vast winter playground.
Luxe Stays
I checked into Six Senses Residences & Spa, with 53 residences that vary from two to five bedrooms. My sprawling five-bedroom retreat had a spacious kitchen, a cosy drawing room and a balcony with incredible views of the snow-covered French Alps. Home to 47 hotels that are the epitome of luxury, Courchevel 1850 has five palace hotels fit to host royalty – in France, a five-star hotel with exceptional service is awarded a palace status. I dined in some of them.
At my residence, indulgence came in many forms. A private chef arrived to serve breakfast each morning, laying the table with warm croissants, salmon, bacon, juice, cheese, eggs of choice, fresh fruits and juice. As much as I enjoyed the lavish spread, I loved chatting with Chef Francesco, an Italian from Sisley, a former professional football player. The cost of hiring a private chef to craft your breakfast is 380 Euros.
Then it was time to get a feel of the silver powder along slopes famed to be the most groomed in the Alps. I made my way to the centre of town where skiers take one of the 50 lifts to access the 102 pistes which vary from bunny ones for beginners to challenging ones for experts.
Courchevel is not just a skier’s paradise. If gliding down a mountain is not on the agenda, buy a pedestrian lift pass to watch the action on the slopes over crepes or fondue at one of the many upscale cafes and picture postcard restaurants.
Lessons In Snow
I woke up to the magical sight of snow flurries the next day, which slowly turned into a proper snowfall transporting me to a fairytale wonderland. I thought my skiing lesson might get cancelled, but that fortunately didn’t happen. The skiing gear had already been delivered by my hotel to the ski lodge – a common practice here.
My first encounter with skis began by pulling on boots – they hurt my feet quite badly. “They are not supposed to be comfortable,” the shop assistant at the Six Senses boutique explained. I took the ski lift and headed to one of the bunny slopes. Although the guide patiently gave instructions on how to glide properly, I kept landing in aheap of snow, but that is part of the learning curve.
I however did experience the thrill of traversing the mountain. Sitting inside a tiny toboggan, I learned how to go ahead, slow down and halt and then tackled a 2-kilometre course with surprising ease, manoeuvring through tunnels and twists and gliding smoothly to the finish. Tobogganing became my favourite snow sport out of the many here such as snowboardingand mountain biking.
Gastronomic Indulgences
Courchevel spoils you for choice when it comes to gourmet dining as it’s home to seven Michelin-star restaurants. But apart from that, at everycorner, there’s also a high-end café, boulangerie, bar or restaurant. I was supposed to have my first meal at Bagatelle, one of the most popular restaurants along the slopes, but when bad weather shut down the lift, I headed to Il Rifugio, a lovely Italian restaurant, at the foot of the La Vizelle gondola lift. I sat on the terrace, sipping Aperol Spritz and biting into truffle pizza and ravioli, watching people whiz down the wondrous landscape.
Dinner that evening was at Le Comptoir de l’Apogéeat the palace hotel, Palace Apogée, part of the renowned Oetker collection. It was an exceptional introduction to the best of French gastronomy featuring dishes made with lobster, seabass, tuna and beef. Another two meals that come highly recommended are the massive buffet spread at La Table des Airelles, at Les Airelles, a palace hotel that reminds one of a picturesque fairytale castle. The buffet gets a new meaning when there are caviar, escargots and foie gras on the menu.
It is hard to pick a favourite among the several Michelin-star restaurants spread across the valley, but the fusion of French and Pakistani flavours by Chef Sylvestre at Sylvestre Wahid, was memorable. At this intimate, 15-seater restaurant at Hotel Les Grandes Alpes, think of spices, pickles and lentils mingled with lobster, crab and truffles. Each course was paired with a different artisanal bread. The chef even gets one involved in the cooking by asking you to pound spices for a course that follows.
With the vibe of understated luxury infusing the slopes, Courchevel is an alpine wonderland for those with a taste for the finer things. My experiencehere will linger with me for many years.
