Two five star hotels open in Courchevel 1850 in December 2026: Bourbon and Hotel Saint Roch. Plus a first Michelin star for L'Altitude, new cabins on the La Tania gondola, the resort's 80th anniversary and the 22 December World Cup slalom.
Two five star hotels open in Courchevel 1850 in December 2026. That has not happened in the same month here for years, and it is the reason this winter is different from the last one. Below is what is new for 2026-27, what opened last winter and is often still described as new, and what each change means for the week you book.
In short
- Bourbon Hotel, 31 rooms, opens in Courchevel 1850 in December 2026, ski-in ski-out.
- Hotel Saint Roch, 37 keys, opens on 18 December 2026 on the Bellecôte piste.
- L'Altitude, at K2 Altitude in 1850, takes its first Michelin star.
- La Tania gondola runs 52 new eight seat Poma cabins from December 2026, replacing 1990 equipment.
- Courchevel turns 80: opening night on 4 December 2026, FIS women's World Cup slalom on 22 December 2026.
- Season dates: 4 December 2026 to 18 April 2027. Six day adult pass, 421 euros.
1. Season dates and passes
Courchevel and Courchevel Le Praz open on Friday 4 December 2026 and close on Sunday 18 April 2027. Courchevel La Tania runs from 5 December 2026 to 11 April 2027. The full Les 3 Vallées ski area opens on 5 December 2026 and closes on 18 April 2027. Val Thorens, reachable from Courchevel, opens earlier, on 21 November 2026, and stays open to 2 May 2027. All of these dates depend on snow cover and can move.
The pass for winter 2026/27 costs 421 euros for an adult six day Three Valleys pass, 345 euros at the child and family rate, and 84.20 euros for a single adult day. Online sales open in October. Our ski pass guide explains which pass fits which kind of week, and the season dates guide covers the calendar in more detail.
Two dates matter for your chalet. La Tania closes a week before the rest of the resort, so a mid April week works in 1850, Village, Moriond and Le Praz, but not in La Tania. And the first week of December is skiable in Val Thorens before Courchevel opens, which is worth knowing if you want the chalet quiet and the lifts turning.
2. Two new five star hotels in 1850
Bourbon Hotel, operated by Chapitre Six, opens in December 2026 on the site of the former Hotel des 3 Vallées. It has 31 rooms, including 3 suites, and ski-in ski-out access. The interior architecture is by Studio Henry, with artistic direction by Pierre Alexis Guinet, and the concept deliberately breaks with the alpine chalet look. The reference is a private London club: dark wood, deep velvet, low lighting. The restaurant, Simonetta, is Italian, run by executive chef Simone Zanoni, who was previously at Le George at the Four Seasons George V in Paris. There is a vinyl bar with a fireplace, and a spa built around contrast therapy, with pool, sauna and hammam.
Hotel Saint Roch, by Maisons Pariente, opens on 18 December 2026 on the Bellecôte piste. It has 37 keys, a spa with a pool, a fitness room, a kids club, a restaurant and a ski shop. The interior architecture is by Friedmann & Versace. It is the fifth property in the collection, after Lou Pinet in Saint Tropez, Crillon le Brave in Provence, Le Coucou in Meribel and Le Grand Mazarin in Paris.
Two more indoor spaces open at the same time. La Sivolière adds a 25 metre indoor pool, the longest in the resort, with sauna, hammam and fitness area. The Maya Hotel opens Maya Well, a wellness space for its guests only, with sauna, hammam and sensory shower.
What this changes for a chalet booking: both hotels sit in Courchevel 1850, and both bring restaurants and bars that non residents can book. A chalet on the Bellecôte side puts you a few minutes from Saint Roch on foot and on skis. If your group wants hotel dining without hotel bedrooms, that walking distance is worth choosing for.
3. A new Michelin star
L'Altitude, the fine dining restaurant of K2 Altitude in Courchevel 1850, receives its first Michelin star. The kitchen is run by chefs Guillaume Duchemin and Davide Sessa. It joins an already dense set of starred tables in the village, which we list in the Michelin restaurants guide.
A new star changes availability before it changes anything else. Tables in 1850 are reserved months out for the festive fortnight and February. If dining out is the plan for two or three nights of the week, book the chalet first and the tables the same day, and pick a chalet you can walk home to at night.
4. On the mountain
The La Tania gondola gets 52 new eight seat Poma cabins from December 2026, replacing equipment installed in 1990. The cabins have larger windows and better seating. La Tania has always been the quiet way into the ski area, and the lift was its weak point. Our La Tania guide covers the village itself.
At the Chenus summit, a new 300 square metre south facing wooden panoramic terrace opens, looking across to La Saulire. It is open to skiers and to pedestrians, and it has integrated seating. The renovated top station also gains an indoor picnic area, which matters on a cold day with children.
The Fera Lumia toboggan run, which links Courchevel 1850 to Courchevel Village, has been renovated with new lighting for night descents. Two new photo landmarks, in the shape of the resort snowflake, go up at the Le Signal summit and at the Col de la Loze.
Sonny: The children love the toboggan run.
Read together, these changes push value down the mountain. La Tania and Courchevel Village both get better this winter without moving up a price bracket, and a family chalet in either village now buys a shorter lift queue and an evening toboggan run.
5. The resort turns 80
Courchevel celebrates its 80th anniversary through the season. The opening night is on 4 December 2026 at the Forum ice rink. The programme includes a special edition HEAD ski, a commemorative book published with Editions de La Martinière, a 52 minute documentary made with Montagne TV, and a board game on the history of the resort.
The FIS Alpine Women's World Cup slalom runs on 22 December 2026 at the Emile-Allais stadium, under floodlights. The Pyrotechnic Art Festival runs across February and March 2027. The Winter Legacy closing event is in April 2027.
The 22 December race falls inside the festive fortnight, which is already the hardest week of the winter to book. Our Christmas guide sets out how early that week goes. If you want to be in the resort for the slalom, treat the chalet as the booking that has to happen first.
6. Already open, still worth knowing
Four things are often presented as new and are not.
The Chenus gondola entered service in December 2025. It is a Poma installation with 54 ten seat cabins, moving 2,400 people per hour on 11 pylons instead of 15, replacing a lift that had run for 55 years. Returning guests who last skied here two winters ago will meet it for the first time, but it is in its second season.
Sonny: It is the gondola you take to go to Bagatelle. It goes up really fast and the comfort is better, and that is what a guest feels when the cabins change.
Fouquet's Courchevel was rebranded from Hotel Barrière Les Neiges in December 2025. Same address on the Bellecôte piste, same 42 rooms and suites, with Loulou for Italian cooking and a terrace that fills in the afternoon.
Rosewood Courchevel, Le Jardin Alpin opened in December 2025 and enters its second season. It has 51 rooms and suites in the Jardin Alpin quarter, interiors by Tristan Auer, and the SALTO restaurant.
Sundance Moriond is 41 residences with hotel services, a restaurant and a spa. It is open, not an opening.
Two dining arrivals from December 2025 also return: MayaBay at the Maya Hotel, and POM Thai on rue des Verdons.
The practical use of this list is simple. A chalet in Jardin Alpin, on Bellecôte or in Moriond now sits next to a service offer that is one season into running properly, rather than one that opens the week you arrive.
7. Looking ahead to 2030
Courchevel is set to host at least nine events at the 2030 Winter Olympics, including the men's and women's downhill and super-G, plus ski jumping at the Le Praz Olympic facilities.
That is three winters away, and it already explains the pace of change here. Lift replacement and station rebuilds are being scheduled against a 2030 deadline rather than a normal renewal cycle, which is part of why two seasons have brought this much. Le Praz is the village to watch. It is the lowest of the five at 1,300 m, the least expensive, and it holds the Olympic jumping site.
8. What this means for your booking
The two new hotels open in the same fortnight as the first French school holiday period. French school holidays run from 19 December 2026 to 2 January 2027, and from 6 February to 6 March 2027. Those weeks price differently from the rest of the winter. Measured on our own catalogue on 21 August 2026, at constant basket against a normal January week, Christmas runs about 39 per cent above and February half-term about 35 per cent above, while New Year runs about 81 per cent above and the February peak about 73 per cent above.
Three practical calls follow from this winter's calendar.
If the 22 December slalom or the 80th anniversary opening is the reason for the trip, book now. That is the tightest week of the season and the race sits inside it.
If you want the new hotels and their restaurants without festive pricing, look at the week of 11 January or the second half of March. Saint Roch opens on 18 December, so by mid January both new houses have had a month to settle, and the mountain is quieter.
If the group is large or the budget is at the top of the range, the constraint is not price, it is inventory. Across the five villages, weekly rates run from about €1,050 to more than 200,000 euros, and the properties above 50,000 euros a week are a small set that books first for February and New Year. Send the dates and the headcount before the shape of the group is final. Dates can be held. A specific house, in February, usually cannot.
The new hotels do not decide where you stay. Bourbon is on rue Park City. Saint Roch is on the Bellecôte piste. They are not next to each other, so there is no quarter that is next to the new hotels. Walking to one of them is a comfort. It is not a reason to choose a chalet.
Sonny: If you come for what is new and you stay in Courchevel 1850, it does not matter which quarter you are in. You will enjoy it, there is no problem. We are not talking about 40 minutes by car. Inside 1850 everything can be done in less than 10 minutes, with a driver.
That holds for Courchevel 1850 only. From Moriond, Courchevel Village, Le Praz and La Tania the drive is longer, and those ten minutes do not cover it.
How people in a chalet really use the hotels. Most of the people who rent a chalet stop in the palaces, the hotels or the restaurants of the resort in the morning, and again after skiing. They go there for lunch and they use the lounges too.
Sonny: At Cheval Blanc there is a piano bar. You can have a drink there and it is really nice. But every five star hotel has its own thing.
Rosewood, I think, was a big success in its first winter. It is all new, it is beautiful, and the terrace is good. Loulou, at Fouquet's, is a great table. They did a huge job last winter and the atmosphere is great. I love it.
What you have to check is the view.
Sonny: There are a few chalets where the view is touched by building works. You have to take it into account when you choose your chalet.
I will be honest with you. There are construction sites in some quarters this winter. One of them is public: the Lily of the Valley hotel, at the Altiport, is announced for December 2027, so it does not open this winter. The description of a chalet does not tell you what is in front of the windows this year.
What it means for the place you pick. Do not choose the quarter for a new hotel. Choose the chalet for itself, check the view, and go to the hotels with the driver. If you still want to walk, the page already tells you where things are: Saint Roch and Fouquet's are on Bellecôte, Rosewood is in Jardin Alpin.
