Après-ski in Courchevel: a concierge's guide

Let’s be honest for a second: in Courchevel, après-ski matters almost as much as the skiing. After years orchestrating my clients’ stays here, I know the repertoire by heart: the terraces where you settle in the sun, the ones where it ends up standing on the banquette, and the evening tables you never land at the last minute. Let me open my notebook.

This is the thing nobody explains and that decides everything. In Courchevel, après-ski isn’t a moment but a succession of three, and missing the first means missing the other two.

• 3–5pm: après-ski on the slopes, still in ski gear, skis planted in the snow. It’s the most photogenic moment of the day and the one most people miss by skiing until the lifts close.
• 5–7:30pm, back to the chalet: spa, shower, and the only real pause of the day. Don’t skip it, it’s what lets you last the evening.
• 8:30pm, dinner, first seating. The one where you actually dine.
• 10:30pm onwards, the second seating and the festive addresses, where the table ends up standing and the evening tips over.
• Midnight, the clubs, for those still nominally planning to ski the next day.

Après-ski here kicks off while the sun is still out. My advice: don’t aim for 5pm. By then the best terraces are packed and you’re stuck outside in ski boots, trust me, nothing less glamorous. Get there earlier, or have them expecting you.

• Baies, my festive pick of the moment: a line-up of well-known DJs all season long, this is where the energy climbs.
• La Folie Douce, on the Méribel side: the high-altitude clubbing institution, worth doing at least once, and once is enough for many of my clients.
• Cap Horn, more champagne-and-a-view than wild, perfect if you want to stay elegant. One of the finest terraces on the mountain.
• Le Tremplin, at the foot of the 1850 slopes, so ideal right at the end of the day: you arrive on skis and walk home.
• Bagatelle, the lunch that slides gently into a party, for those who hadn’t planned on skiing that afternoon.

One practical point nobody anticipates: if you stop high on the mountain, check the time of the last lift home. On an area this vast, finishing the afternoon on the wrong side of the mountain means an hour by taxi, and at six on a Saturday, there aren’t any.

This is where Courchevel works its magic: you drop the skis, slip into the chalet spa, and head back out. A word from experience: the good evening tables, like the on-piste restaurants, book weeks ahead in peak season. Every year, on a 31st of December, someone asks me “a table for tonight, can you?” and every year I pull off a miracle. But between us, don’t count on it.

• Fifty Seats, festive and intimate at once, one of my favourites to open the evening.
• L’Ânerie, the mood takes off, and it never takes itself too seriously.
• La Mangeoire, the 1850’s historic festive institution.
• La Ferme Saint-Amour, chic Savoyard, guinguette style.
• Salto, at the Rosewood, contemporary Italian, my safe bet on the food.
• Matsuhisa, at Les Airelles, high-altitude Japan, for nights you want to make count.
• Kinugawa, the other Japanese spot I love.
• The starred tables: 1947 at Cheval Blanc, Slalom 1850, for the big night. Book from the autumn.

I’m asked this more often than people imagine, and it deserves a real answer rather than a shrug. Courchevel’s après-ski often boils down to champagne, but the resort has far more to offer someone who doesn’t want any.

• The chalet or palace spa, late afternoon, while everyone is still out. It’s the best slot of the day and it’s always free.
• The ice rink and the olympic pool, which save a great many family late afternoons.
• A night snowmobile once the pistes close, or a dog-sledding outing, both book far ahead, they’re the most limited-supply experiences in the resort.
• A hot-air balloon at sunrise over the Three Valleys, which is nothing like après-ski and remains the best memory my clients bring back from here.
• And simply the village of 1850 at dusk, shop windows lit, before the tables fill up.

Après-ski isn’t only about drinks. Some of my fondest client memories come down to three images: a snowmobile launched into the night once the slopes close, a treatment waiting for them back at the chalet, a hot-air balloon at sunrise over the Three Valleys. None of it is improvised, but message me ahead, and I’ll take care of the rest.