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Courchevel


Courchevel is a French Alps ski resort. It is a part of Les Trois Vallées, the largest linked ski areas in the world. Courchevel also refers to the towns of Courchevel 1300 (Le Praz), Courchevel 1550, Courchevel 1650 (Moriond), and Courchevel 1850, which are named for their altitudes in metres. They are situated in the commune of Saint-Bon-Tarentaise. The resort centre of Courchevel is at 1,747 metres (5,732 ft). The somewhat misleading name Courchevel 1850 was chosen for marketing reasons to compete with arch rival Val d'Isère. It is the Jardin Alpin area of Courchevel 1850 (not the centre) which is actually located at 1,850 metres (6,070 ft).

Courchevel is in the commune of Saint-Bon-Tarentaise in the Tarentaise Valley, Savoie, Rhône-Alpes region.

The original resort was planned during World War II with a study in 1942 by the Vichy regime and in a doctorate by the town planner Laurent Chappis. Chappis was a natural choice to direct the development of the resort in the immediate post war years. Courchevel 1850 was significant, as it was the first resort in France to be constructed from scratch, rather than based around an existing village.

Within the Tarentaise Valley you find the biggest concentration of world-class ski resorts in the world. Most well known neighbour systems are Paradiski (Les Arcs, La Plagne) and Espace Killy (Val d'Isère and Tignes). A weekly lift ticket in Courchevel/Les Trois Vallées gives you a choice to ski one day in each of the other two systems mentioned. There were once plans to interlink all systems and resorts to create the - by far - largest ski area in the world. However that vision was ended with the creation of the Vanoise National Park.


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