L'Apogée Courchevel

The Jardin Alpin is the highest and quietest quarter of Courchevel 1850, a wooded slope above the village centre where the chalets stand among larches. At its top, where the ski jump for the 1992 Albertville Winter Olympics was built, L'Apogée Courchevel opened in December 2013. The name means the apex, and the hotel sits at the apex of the resort, with its own piste running down to the lifts.

History

The site had been used for the Olympic ski jumping and Nordic combined events in February 1992, when Courchevel hosted those disciplines for the Albertville Games. The jump was dismantled, and in the following decade the land was earmarked for a hotel. Oetker Collection, owner of Le Bristol in Paris, built L'Apogée as its first mountain property and opened it for the 2013-14 season. The hotel was conceived from the start as a chalet rather than a grand hotel: timber, stone, fireplaces and a dog in the lobby.

Architecture and design

The building takes the form of a large alpine chalet, with pitched roofs, timber balconies and local stone, set back from the road above the Jardin Alpin piste. India Mahdavi and Joseph Dirand, two of the best-known Paris designers of their generation, shared the interiors: Mahdavi brought colour, curves and patterned fabrics to the public rooms and bedrooms, Dirand the stone and clean lines of the restaurant and bar. The result is a mountain hotel without antlers or tartan. The lobby has an open fire, a library and a bar with a terrace facing the valley.

Rooms and suites

The hotel has 53 rooms and suites, including a penthouse across the top floor with a private terrace and hot tub, plus a separate chalet, L'Amarante, with five bedrooms, its own spa and staff. Rooms are large for the resort, panelled in pale wood with Mahdavi's colours in the fabrics, and most have balconies facing south over the valley. The suites take families of up to six.

Dining

Le Comptoir de l'Apogée is the main restaurant, serving French and alpine cooking around an open kitchen, with a terrace for lunch in the sun. Koori is the Japanese restaurant, opened in the hotel's later seasons, with sushi and robata. Le Bar de l'Apogée covers tea after skiing and cocktails before dinner, and the hotel serves breakfast in the restaurant until late morning for guests who skip the first lift.

Wellness

The spa is run with Sisley, the French skincare house, and has an indoor pool, a sauna, a hammam, a fitness room and treatment rooms. A ski room with boot warmers opens straight onto the piste, with a ski concierge to fit equipment and book instructors. The hotel's own ski-in ski-out access leads down to the Jardin Alpin lifts and the Trois Vallées, the largest linked ski area in the world, with 600 kilometres of piste.

Weddings and events

L'Apogée has a meeting room and private dining space for small groups, and the chalet L'Amarante serves as a private house for a family or a board. Winter weddings and private celebrations take over the restaurant and bar; the hotel is sometimes booked in full for a party. The season runs from December to April, and the hotel is closed in summer.

Location

Courchevel 1850 lies in the Tarentaise valley of Savoie, in the Trois Vallées. Geneva airport is about two hours by road, Lyon Saint-Exupéry two and a half, and Chambéry a little over one; the Courchevel altiport, two minutes from the hotel, receives small aircraft and helicopters. The railway station at Moûtiers-Salins-Brides-les-Bains, with TGV services from Paris in winter, is 25 kilometres below. As a luxury hotel in Courchevel it stands apart from the Croisette and the village centre, which are a few minutes down the slope by ski or shuttle.