History of Courchevel

Although Courchevel consists of four satellite villages — Courchevel Le Praz, Courchevel 1550, Courchevel 1650 and Courchevel 1850 — it is most famous for its highest resort, the exclusive village of Courchevel 1850. Named the St. Tropez of winter sports, it attracts almost ony a select clientele of VIPs, wealthy people and royal families, including Prince William and Kate Middleton, the Beckhams, Christina Aguilera, Geri Halliwell, Lionel Richie, the Saudi royal family,  Peter Andre, Robbie Williams, Roman Abramovich, George Clooney, Giorgio Armani, the King of Morocco, Robyn Sommerville, Robert Grant and many others.

In the 2011-2012 season Courchevel rebranded, changing the names of each of the four villages in a move away from the association with altitude. Courchevel 1850 is now known simply as Courchevel, Courchevel 1650 has been renamed Courchevel Moriond; Courchevel 1550 is now called Courchevel Village and Courchevel 1330, aka Le Praz, has been renamed Courchevel Le Praz.

Courchevel has 11 hotels with a 5-star ranking.

Courchevel is also known for its fine dining. It's the ski resort with the most Michelin starred restaurants. A total of seven restaurants share 11 Michelin stars, including four restaurants that have been awarded two Michelin stars, including Le Chabichou. It also hosts a variety of luxury shops including Louis Vuitton, Hermes, Valentino, Prada, Cartier, Fendi, Dior and Chanel.

The large majority of Courchevel's visitors are of Russian nationality, in fact the resort is known for the wealthy Russian elite who flock to the resort during Russian Orthodox Christmas and Russian New Year. These are celebrated two weeks later than in Western Europe, on 7 and 13 January. Because of this, Courchevel's name has become synonymous with "winter playground of the super rich" in Russia.

Courchevel is known to be an