Words: India Gladstone
One day of skiing may not seem like a trip worth making. But if you get the opportunity to go to Courchevel for 48 hours, you go. And when that 48 hours includes spending two nights in one of the most luxurious, high-end – and brand new – apartment blocks in Europe, you definitely go. If you’ve never been to Courchevel 1850 before, let me set the scene for you. Courchevel itself is actually split into a series of smaller villages, starting at the bottom on the resort with La Praz 1300, and moving slowly upstream through Courchevel 1550 and 1650, before eventually ending up at the highest point 1850, where I spent the weekend.
Courchevel 1850 is still known as France’s most exclusive and luxurious ski resort: the street that the Six Senses Residences is on is lined with designer shop after designer shop, and we’re talking seriously high-end stuff, from Louis Vuitton to Chanel and everything in between – and that’s just the start of it. The second I stepped out of the taxi in this incredible, tiny town, I was whisked to the Le Cap Horn mountain-side restaurant filled with impossibly chic and over-the-top clientele, where waiters spray magnum after magnum of Möet & Chandon – just for fun. So far, so extravagant.
The rest of the weekend was a wild ride that was in equal parts as lavish and awe-inspiring as this first hour; starting with an exclusive and mind-blowing first run down the slopes the next morning with British free-skier Bella Seel – before any of the ski lifts had even started running. I assumed that this experience would be hard to top, but the rest of the weekend exceeded my expectations. From eating lunch directly in front of Mont Blanc, where I sat with panoramic views around the whole of Courchevel and beyond, to driving a skidoo into the sunset, my 48 hours in Courchevel now seems like a distant memory, but it’s a memory I’ll cherish for a long, long time.
Beyond all of the materialism that is inevitable in a massively expensive, exclusive resort like Courchevel, the real reason why it still attracts so many visitors is undoubtedly because of its great skiing and its very raw and real beauty. Les Trois Vallées – the mountains within Meribel, Courchevel and Val Thorns – is a pretty spectacular place to find yourself in for the weekend. Everywhere you go are views and landscapes that even the imagination can’t quite conjure up; especially at this time of year where the snow-fall is heavy and the sun shines brighter than it has done all year. Even the locals who eat, sleep and breathe Courchevel 1850 are still in awe of its beauty – you don’t even have to ask them, it shows in their faces when they talk about the place.
To match the beauty of the landscape, I’m lucky enough to be one of the first guests to spend the weekend in the newly opened Six Senses Residences, the very first residential development in Courchevel 1850. The residences feature a collection of 53 unique and luxurious apartments, available to both rent and buy. Sale prices start at €1.5 million for the smallest and climb to €9.65 million for the largest. And while these prices make each apartment as exclusive as the resort, they are truly spectacular. All of the show apartments in the residences are designed exclusively by Morpheus London, and are inspired by their surroundings, with an intrinsic and subtle mountain theme running throughout – whether that’s in the details of the kitchen cabinet or the shape of the dining room table.
The London-based company have also created exclusive design packages and are on hand to create the perfect home-from-home experience for the lucky owners. And although the interiors are undoubtedly some of the most luxurious I’ve ever had the pleasure of being in, I never once felt that the space I was in was overly precious, or that it couldn’t be touched – and I mean that in the best way possible. Although each apartment imbues a relatively rustic feel at first, with a log burning fire on the balcony and a wine rack that my grandfather would enjoy, it blends this with the modern – the whole space is temperature-, music- and light-controlled via on tiny iPad in the main reception room. A home from home in my wildest dreams.
Six Senses prides itself on having anything the owners need, at any point in the day, at the click of a button or a ring on the phone. Want your skis and boots taken to the exclusive Six Senses cabin on the slope so you don’t have to carry your skis? No problem. Want to book a full body massage at the giant, underground spa (set for completion in November)? Of course. Feel like parking your private jet on the mountain range and having your skis ready to be used the second you step off it? That can be done. The name of the game at Six Senses is pure luxury, where each resident is made to feel like the last man standing and the most important one in the world. A bucket list destination? I think so, and one that I can’t wait to get back to.
Prices: A week’s apartment rental: €6,000 to €40,000. Available to buy from €1.5 million to €9.65 million.
All interiors photos courtesy of Morpheus London and Courchevel images by Rich Roberts.
Visit Six Senses Courchevel here.
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