Airelles Courchevel, Les Airelles

Les Airelles is the house that invented alpine luxury as Courchevel knows it: an Austro-Hungarian façade at the edge of the Jardin Alpin piste, hand-painted frescoes, gingerbread-coloured panelling and garnet carpets. Thirty-two rooms and fifteen suites, metres from the lifts. La Table des Airelles is the house's fine-dining room, Matsuhisa comes in winter residency, and the Chalet de Pierres remains the institution for lunch on the slopes. The spa works with La Mer. The address for those who want the most fully committed version of the mountain setting.