A Beginner’s Guide to Courchevel 1850.

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Hey everyone! Since this is my first blog on a brand new site I wanted to take the time to introduce myself. Hi! I’m Laura Elise Barrett (soon to be Larkins). I recently moved to London from Los Angeles and am having an incredible time exploring new places. I love to travel, so I decided to start a brand new blog outlining all my new adventures. I am here to share some fun travel destinations and tips, think of me as your go-to friend who will help you plan an awesome trip without over scheduling. I’ll go places first and make all the rookie mistakes, so you don’t have to.

My first trip of 2020 was to Courchevel 1850 and DAMN was it amazing!! This super chic location in the French Alps had been at the top of my list of destinations I wanted to go to for a while now. There were, however, some challenges along the way to getting there. No travel blogs or review websites (at least that I could find in English) really outlined the whole process from start to finish, so I was left kind of winging it when trying to make travel arrangements and reservations. So I decided to make one.

Here is a thorough guide of all things Courchevel 1850 from how to get there, where to stay, and things to do.

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GETTING THERE:

  • Unless you have a small private plane or a rich uncle with a helicopter, you’ll need to fly into Geneva first. Once you land in Geneva you have a few options to get over to Courchevel. You can rent a car OR you can book a transfer. The transfer options kind of overwhelmed me until I stumbled upon www.seecourchevel.com - this website was extremely helpful. Here you can select that you are seeking an airport transfer and local companies can bid for the job. You can book a private shuttle (more expensive) or a shared shuttle (less money, but takes a little longer). We ended up booking a shared shuttle with Three Vallee Transfers, it cost about $250 round trip for 2 people (so keep that in mind for your budget when booking this trip) and we were very happy with their service, I would highly recommend them.

WHERE TO STAY & THINGS TO CONSIDER WHEN BOOKING YOUR HOTEL:

  • Let me start by explaining that there are 3 “Vallees” in the area. Courchevel 1650, Courchevel 1850, and Meribel. You’ll probably be happy staying in any of them. There are ski lifts that can take you over the mountain to the other towns anyway (as long as you have a 3 vallees ski pass) and they’re all gorgeous, but 1850 seemed to tick the most boxes for me (good shopping, variety of restaurants, walkable main street area, and right off multiple ski lifts), so that is where we ended up.

  • We stayed at Hotel New Solarium. The staff was friendly, the restaurant and bar wasn’t overly fancy or difficult to get a table at, it had a ski rental shop in the building, it had a nice little spa and sauna, a full breakfast was included, and it was right off a ski lift. The room itself was however, a fairly basic accommodation with no frills, which for us was completely fine. I would happily stay there again. If you’re looking for a super luxury experience though, you may want to look into other options.

  • If you’re aiming for a bit more luxury have a look at L’Apogee Courchevel we did not stay there, but I have it on good word that it’s a wonderful experience.

  • Pretty much all of the hotels that we walked by appeared to be acceptable, so I am sure no matter where you end up you’ll be happy and taken care of, however something to consider (which we did not) is that some hotels have complimentary shuttles that will take you around town to restaurants, bars, and shops, which will save you quite a bit on taxis, which are very expensive (think 25 euros to go one mile).

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SKIING:

  • Most of the hotels will help you get your ski passes at their reception desk. Our hotel charged a 3% concierge fee to do so, but for us it was worth the convenience.

  • If you would like to save yourself the fee, you can get your ski passes from the Courchevel 1850 Tourism center.

  • I would recommend purchasing the “3 Vallee Pass” so that you can explore all three mountain ranges and take any lift you want (you can basically use the lifts like taxis/buses, it’s pretty incredible).

  • If you need to rent skis or snowboards, most of the hotels have rental places either in them or nearby. Renting was extremely easy.

  • This is not a beginner’s mountain. If you haven’t done this in a while, or are new to it all together, sign up for a lesson, I wish I had.

APRES SKI:

  • Around 2 PM most people begin to wrap up their skiing for the day and head to an Apres Ski (after ski cocktails). There are abundant options for places to go, so it’s tough to narrow them down, but I have done that for you!

  • On day one we went to Le Tremplin - I’ll be honest, we kind of just wandered in here because we were hungry without knowing much of what it was so we were a bit surprised by it turning into a full blown club 20 minutes after we sat down. But, we rolled with it, because, why not? The atmosphere was fun, lively, and there was a lot of dancing on tables (that’s pretty much a thing everywhere in Courchevel). Le Tremplin has multiple different seating areas so pay attention to where they’re seating you as the menus are different. The back area has a full menu of french cuisine and seafood, the front only serves pizzas and cocktails. We ended up getting seated in the front area before we knew this, but pizza sounded amazing after a long day of traveling anyway so we stayed where we were and got two pizzas to share, one with artichokes and peppers, the other with blue cheese and waygu beef, both were delicious. BONUS POINTS: Le Tremplin is very easy to get to, so this would be a great location for those who are traveling in groups in which not everyone skis (as some apres ski locations can only be gotten to by ski lift) AND we did not need a reservation.

The Artichoke and Peppers pizza

The Artichoke and Peppers pizza

The Waygu Beef pizza.

The Waygu Beef pizza.

  • The next day, off the recommendation from a friend, we went up to Le Cap Horn for Apres Ski. Be warned this place is EXPENSIVE, don’t say I didn’t warn you. That said, it is indulgent and iconic and worth every penny. There are multiple ways to get up to Cap Horn which include taking the free town shuttle buses (they come about every 40 minutes and leave from Courchevel 1850 town center), taking a taxi (this cost us about 35 euros from town center), OR you can take a lift up and ski down to it. On the way up, you’ll also get to see the Courchevel Altiport, where you can watch helicopters land. That afternoon we decided to go all out and share a bottle of Rose, a seafood tower, and a chicken leg in a morel mushroom sauce. I WANT TO DROWN IN THAT MOREL MUSHROOM SAUCE!! Le Cap Horn was a blast, complete with more dancing on tables, confetti canons, and line dancing. Just be sure that if you’re taking the bus, you pay attention to the schedule for the last shuttle down, otherwise you’ll be paying for a taxi (which are a lot harder to get once you’re up there). Pro Tip: MAKE A RESERVATION AND BE ON TIME.

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Seafood Tower at Le Cap Horn

Seafood Tower at Le Cap Horn

Chicken Leg in Morel Mushroom Sauce - Le Cap Horn

Chicken Leg in Morel Mushroom Sauce - Le Cap Horn

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  • On our last day we decided to head over to Meribel for Apres Ski. On everything I had been reading prior to this trip, La Folie Douce seemed to be the stand out place for the best Apres Ski party. I was a bit discouraged when I read that you had to be a skier or snowboarder in order to get there though as many of the runs were too advanced for me and I was concerned I wouldn’t be able to get there. But good news!!! IT TURNS OUT ALL THOSE PEOPLE ARE LIARS! You do need the 3 Vallee Pass in order to make this work, but here is how to get from Courchevel 1850 to La Folie Douce - Hop on the VERDONS lift all the way to the top, to your right there will be a bigger gondola called SAULIRE, it’s a pretty darn impressive uphill mountain bus, get on it, and take that to the top. On your right again is the MERIBEL SAULIRE EXPRESS, take that DOWN one stop (and get your phone out because this view is bananas). After you get off La Folie Douce is there on the left. There is a small hill you can ski or snowboard down to get there faster, but if you’re not a skier, if you stay to the left you could walk it. Just be sure to check the time for the last COURCHEVEL SAULIRE lift down and plan for the time it takes to get the MERIBEL SAULIRE EXPRESS back up to it. It is, unfortunately, well before La Folie Douce closes, but if you miss it, you’re looking at a 2 hour bus ride home, or a VERY expensive taxi. That all said and done, La Folie Douce was epic. All the blogs I read prior to going claimed it was super expensive, but it was half the price of Le Cap Horn, so I guess I was a bit relieved and didn’t feel it was all that bad. We got a bottle of rose, the steak tartare, and a beef stew that was to die for. After we ate the real party started. There was colorful fog, fireworks, a live band, and of course - more dancing on tables. LA FOLIE DOUCE IS A MUST SEE! Don’t let the journey to get there discourage you. Pro Tip: You’ll need a reservation for the sit-down restaurant (La Fruitiere), but you don’t need one for the standing bar area which also has a concession stand for more casual food.

The Courchevel Saulire Lift to Meribel.

The Courchevel Saulire Lift to Meribel.

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DINNER + NIGHTS OUT.

  • On our first night we were pretty exhausted from traveling (and pretty full from devouring 2 pizzas at Le Tremplin), so we opted to have a very casual dinner at our hotel. We shared a cheese plate, had an espresso, and called it a night early so we could hit the slopes feeling fresh the next morning.

  • Night 2 we ended up at L’Aventure - we stupidly did not make a reservation, but they graciously let us have a meal seated at the bar, we got a French cheeseburger and the Truffle Artichoke Salad (probably one of the top 10 salads I have ever had). L’aventure is inside a building called L’Anerie and it’s probably one of the most unique spaces I have ever seen. From the outside it doesn’t look like much, but after you walk in and get passed the coat check, you’ll see that it is a 3 story French paradise. All 3 floors boast different restaurants with varying menus and themes. There were candelabras on the tables and the casual attire of the earlier apres ski disappeared a bit. As we were eating at the bar, I witnessed a bunch of young, cool, very well dressed people arriving to dance the night away. Around 11 PM, as dinner started to wind down, the bartenders put out ash trays, and all the trendy French people lit up their cigarettes as the music got louder and the lights got more dim (you can still smoke inside in France, it isn’t my favorite thing). We sipped a few gin and tonics and left around 1 am, even though it seemed like things were just warming up. Pro Tip: MAKE A RESERVATION!! We got lucky but I wouldn’t make that mistake again.

  • La Mangeoire. Another incredible restaurant that turns into a club around 11. This is probably one of the hottest spots in Courchevel, so be sure to set yourself up in advance.

  • There are a ton of fantastic restaurants in the three vallees, truthfully we didn’t have a single unimpressive meal. You do need to remember to make reservations just about everywhere though and if you have kids, I’d advise to finish dinner before the cigarettes come out.

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Overall, Courchevel 1850 was an epic adventure. In all it’s feigned pretentiousness, the people were overwhelmingly helpful and it wasn’t all that difficult to get into places. You don’t really need to be the “who’s who” to go where you like, you just need to remember to make reservations. www.seecourchevel.com is the best resource their is for this, so USE IT!



Xoxo,

Laura Elise Barrett





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