The Courchevel Season, Week by Week: Snow, Crowds and Prices

There is no single best week in Courchevel. There is a best week for you, and it depends on whether you are optimising for snow, for space, for daylight, for price, or for the fact that your children's school will not let you leave.

Here is what each part of the season is actually like.

Early December

The resort wakes up. Lifts open progressively, high terrain first, and the lower runs come online as the base builds.

Snow: high and variable. Good up top, thin at village level.

Crowds: almost none.

Price: the lowest of the season.

Best for: keen skiers who want empty pistes and don't mind limited terrain, and anyone who values a quiet village.

Mid December

The sweet spot before the rush. Terrain fills in, the village comes fully to life, and the Christmas lights go up while the resort is still calm.

Snow: generally reliable, base building.

Crowds: light.

Price: still low.

Best for: couples, and families with pre-school children who aren't tied to term dates. This is the most underrated week of the year.

Christmas week

Festive, full, and expensive. The resort at its most decorated and its most sociable.

Snow: usually good, occasionally a lean year.

Crowds: heavy.

Price: near peak.

Best for: families for whom Christmas in the mountains is the point. It is worth it if that's what you want, and poor value if it isn't.

New Year

The busiest and most expensive week of the season, by a distance. Courchevel at full volume.

Snow: as Christmas.

Crowds: at maximum.

Price: peak.

Best for: groups who want the occasion and the atmosphere, and who are booking a year ahead. Not the week to come for the skiing.

Early to mid January

If you asked us to pick one fortnight, it would be this one.

The resort empties out completely after New Year. Snow is usually at its best of the season — cold, dry and well-covered. Everything is open. Restaurants that were impossible in December have tables. Lift queues effectively do not exist.

Snow: typically the best of the season.

Crowds: the lightest of the main season.

Price: the lowest of the main season.

Best for: almost everyone who isn't tied to school dates. Serious skiers, couples, groups who want value without compromise.

The trade-off is daylight and temperature. Days are short and it is properly cold. Most people consider that a fair exchange.

Late January

Much the same, warming slightly, days lengthening. Still quiet, still good value, still excellent snow.

Best for: anyone who wants January conditions with a little more daylight.

February half-term weeks

The busiest sustained period of the season. The French holiday zones rotate across several weeks, the UK half term lands in the middle of them, and Dutch, Belgian and Swiss holidays overlap.

Snow: usually excellent.

Crowds: heavy, and heaviest in the overlap week.

Price: peak.

Best for: families with school-age children, who have no alternative. If that's you, book early — the good properties for these weeks go a year in advance.

If you have any flexibility at all, the week either side of the overlap is materially quieter and cheaper for very similar conditions.

Early March

The connoisseur's answer. Long days, strong snow, prices easing, crowds thinning.

Snow: still very good, with more sun.

Crowds: moderate and falling.

Price: below peak.

Best for: groups who want the best combination of conditions, daylight and value in the whole season. If January is the skier's month, March is the holiday-maker's.

Mid to late March

Spring skiing begins. Warm afternoons, long lunches on terraces, excellent light. High terrain holds well; lower runs soften in the afternoon.

Snow: good high, variable low.

Crowds: light outside Easter.

Price: good value.

Best for: families with younger children, mixed-ability groups, and anyone whose favourite part of the day involves a terrace.

Easter moves year to year and brings a spike with it wherever it lands.

April

The season winds down. Sunshine, soft snow, very good value, and a resort in a noticeably relaxed mood.

Snow: high terrain only, and best in the morning.

Crowds: light.

Price: the lowest of the season.

Best for: confident skiers happy to ski early and stop at lunch, and anyone who prioritises sun over conditions. Worth staying higher up the hill at this point in the season.

The short version

For the best snow and the emptiest resort: early to mid January.

For the best all-round week: early March.

For the best value: mid December or April.

For the atmosphere: Christmas and New Year, and know what you're paying for.

If you're tied to school dates: February half term, booked a year ahead.

Planning around it

Tell us what you're optimising for and we'll tell you which weeks to look at — and, just as usefully, which weeks to avoid for what you have in mind.

If your dates are fixed, we'll tell you honestly what that week is like so you arrive with the right expectations rather than the brochure's.