Across the Alps this December, six hotels open their doors for the first time, from three new houses in Courchevel 1850 to a Fouquet’s in Gstaad and two new hotels in the centre of Cortina.
Courchevel 1850. Photo: Courchevel Tourisme
Every December the Alps open a handful of new properties, and this year most of them are in two places. Courchevel 1850 gains three hotels, Cortina, which hosted the Winter Olympics in February, gains two in the middle of town, and Gstaad welcomes the first Fouquet’s in Switzerland. These are the six worth booking this season.
Sivolière Hôtel & Résidence, Courchevel
At the foot of the slopes among the pines of Courchevel 1850, Sivolière was opened in 1980 by Jean Cattelin, one of the resort’s pioneers, and reopens this winter as Sivolière Hôtel & Résidence after a rebuild that adds apartments for six to fifteen guests beside the hotel. The 35 rooms and suites and the public rooms have been redone by Caprini & Pellerin, the new spa covers 800 square meters around a 25-meter indoor pool, one of the longest in the resort, and ZIA serves Italian cooking from breakfast until late. Ski in and out onto the Three Valleys from the door. It opens on 3 December 2026, with a five-night minimum over the January weekends.
The new spa at Sivolière, Courchevel 1850. Photo: Sivolière Hôtel & Résidence
Fouquet’s Gstaad, Gstaad
At the edge of the village of Gstaad, in the house that was the Ultima Gstaad, the Barrière group opens the sixth Fouquet’s, after Paris, New York, Courchevel, Saint-Barth and Mykonos. It holds just 33 rooms, suites and apartments, with a spa of more than 800 square meters around a 15-meter indoor pool with Augustinus Bader treatments, and Zuma in residence as a pop-up for the season. Beside the hotel, a private chalet of nine bedrooms sleeps 20, with a cinema, a nightclub and a spa of its own. It opens on 4 December 2026.
Fouquet’s Gstaad, at the edge of the village. Photo: Hôtels Barrière
The First Cortina, Cortina d’Ampezzo
On Corso Italia in the middle of Cortina, The First Cortina is the Pavilions group’s debut in the mountains and the brand’s first address beyond Rome, in a building rebuilt by Studio Marincola. All 76 rooms and suites have a balcony or terrace facing the Dolomites and bathrooms in Saint Laurent marble, a Zuma brings the Japanese restaurant group to the Dolomites alongside Velo, a restaurant and pastry shop from Rome, and the spa of 1,000 square meters has an indoor pool and a hammam. The hotel sits in the village rather than on the slopes, so the lifts are a short drive or bus ride. It opens on 4 December 2026.
A suite at The First Cortina. Photo: The Pavilions
Le Graal Cortina, Cortina d’Ampezzo
On Via Marconi in the centre of Cortina, a 1920s palazzo that was the Hotel Italia opens as Le Graal, the first hotel of a new Italian group and a member of The Leading Hotels of the World. Achille Salvagni has designed the 30 rooms, 13 of them suites, in oak panelling, red lacquer and old ski photographs, up to the 100-square-meter Le Graal Suite and its terrace. Dining is split between the restaurant Le Monsù, a café and a bar, and the spa has an indoor pool, a cold plunge, cryotherapy and a private spa suite with a fireplace. It opens on 8 December 2026.
An Executive Suite at Le Graal Cortina. Photo: Le Graal
Saint Roch, Courchevel
A few steps from the Bellecôte piste in Courchevel 1850, a resort institution reopens as Saint Roch, the second mountain hotel of Maisons Pariente after Le Coucou in Méribel. The 37 rooms and suites, up to a penthouse of 244 square meters, are designed as a dacha of carved wood, stained glass and an art collection. Prunier, the Parisian caviar house founded in 1924, brings its cooking to the mountains, and the Tata Harper spa is built around an indoor pool in the manner of an Ottoman hammam. Not quite ski-in, ski-out, but the slopes start a few steps from the door. It opens on 18 December 2026.
A room at Saint Roch, Courchevel 1850. Photo: Vincent Leroux
Bourbon Hotel, Courchevel
In the Golden Triangle of Courchevel 1850, the former Hôtel des 3 Vallées becomes the Bourbon Hotel, the newest five-star of the Chapitre Six collection, with 31 rooms, including three suites. Inside, the chalet gives way to dark panelling, deep velvet and the low light of an English club, Simonetta serves a mountain trattoria menu of fresh pasta and Lake Garda recipes, a cocktail and vinyl bar sits by the fire, and the spa is built on contrast therapy with a lap pool, a sauna and a hammam in stone and onyx. Ski in and out from the door. It opens on 18 December 2026.
The dining room at the Bourbon Hotel, Courchevel 1850. Photo: Bourbon Hotel
Six hotels across three resorts, each open in time for Christmas. The January weekends have minimum stays of two to five nights, and the Courchevel hotels are likely to fill first. The hotels opening next year, from Gstaad to Cortina to the altiport above Courchevel, are in our guide to the 2027 openings.
