Journal — courchevel 1850
How Far Ahead to Book a Peak-Week Chalet
Christmas, New Year and February half-term work on a different clock to the rest of the season. The honest lead times for the big Alpine weeks.
Peak weeks run on their own calendar. Christmas and New Year chalets in Courchevel 1850, Val d'Isere and Megeve are largely committed by the previous spring — returning guests rebook on departure, and what reaches the open market in autumn is the remainder. February half-term follows the same pattern a few months behind: the good catered houses are spoken for by October.
Outside those weeks the picture relaxes. January is the buyer's market — superb snow, quiet pistes, and rates twenty to thirty percent below the festive fortnight, bookable a few weeks out. March holds its value for sunshine skiing but still offers choice into the new year.
The practical rhythm: decide the peak week a year ahead, put a hold on two or three houses, and confirm by late summer. For everything else, three to six months is comfortable, and last-minute January weeks can be genuinely good value. What never works is waiting for a peak-week bargain — those houses do not discount, they simply go.