What to do in Courchevel beyond skiing (and in summer)

In almost every group I host in Courchevel, there’s someone who doesn’t ski. A parent who gave it up, a sulking teenager, or a knee that reminded its owner of its existence on day two. And every time, the same worry: ‘what am I going to do with my days?’ It’s an excellent question, and the answer is richer than people expect, including in summer, a season nobody talks about and possibly my favourite here.

Let’s start with the resort’s best-kept secret, the one I give first and that nobody thinks of: the gondolas take foot passengers. You need no skis at all to go up for lunch at altitude, sit in the sun facing the Three Valleys and come back down late afternoon. Your family meets you up there at midday, and your day finally looks like a holiday rather than a wait at the chalet.

• Aquamotion, the resort’s large aquatic centre, in Courchevel Village: pools, waves, wellness area. Formidable on bad-weather days, and the only place I’ve seen teenagers put their phones down of their own accord.
• The spa, this is where Courchevel genuinely excels. Treatments at the chalet or in the palaces, to be booked ahead: the end-of-day slots go first.
• Dog sledding and snowmobiles, two classics that work at any age. Snowmobiling happens once the slopes close; places are very limited, so book before you arrive.
• Snowshoeing with a mountain leader, the real discovery for anyone who has never left a groomed piste. Two hours, silence, and a forest skiers never see.
• Tandem paragliding and scenic flights from the altiport, to see the domain differently. Weather-dependent: I always keep an alternative in reserve.

And then there’s the programme nobody admits to but everyone enjoys: a morning with no alarm, a long lunch, an hour of shopping in 1850 and a massage at four. I arrange it more often than heliskiing, and I have yet to receive a complaint.

In summer Courchevel changes face completely, and price. The mountain is green, the high pastures are open, the chalets people fight over in February suddenly become attainable, and you pass three people on a trail where you once queued for a gondola. For a family, it’s one of the finest mountain weeks you can have in France.

• Hiking, the heart of the summer. Lac de la Rosière for an easy family outing, the Petit Mont-Blanc for a proper day, and countless loops from the high pastures. A mountain leader changes everything: they pick the route to your pace and show you what you’d have walked straight past.
• Road cycling: the Col de la Loze, now a legendary Tour de France climb, goes up from the resort. If you ride, that alone is a reason to come. I have your bikes brought up, or rent them locally.
• Mountain biking and the bike park, for teenagers who find hiking ‘slow’. Supervised descents, equipment provided.
• Golf: the 9-hole course over by the altiport, at more than 1,800 metres. The ball flies further, and the excuse is excellent.
• Aquamotion, again, open in summer too, and very useful on a stormy day.

An honest warning, because this is where I rescue the most disappointments: in summer in Courchevel, the problem is never availability, it’s what’s actually open.

• The summer season is short: most lifts and shops run roughly from early July to the end of August. Outside that window the mountain is magnificent and the resort is asleep.
• The building works, and this is the point nobody ever mentions: in summer, Courchevel is one vast construction site. It’s the only window in the year to renovate chalets, rebuild lifts, resurface roads and get ready for the winter season. Depending on where you stay, you’ll have machinery and noise nearby, that’s the price of a flawless resort in December. I check what’s under works around your chalet before offering it to you.
• Most palace hotels don’t reopen until December. In summer you rent a chalet, which is the better formula for a family anyway.
• Which restaurants are open changes from year to year. I systematically check what is genuinely running on your dates before confirming anything; it’s exactly the sort of detail that ruins an evening.
• Mountain weather: storms arrive late afternoon. You set off early, come back for lunch, and keep the afternoon for the pool.