A catered chalet is the one form of ski accommodation that improves the whole week rather than just the nights: a chef who knows what time you came off the mountain, a manager who has already booked the restaurant, boots dried before breakfast. This guide covers the five Alpine resorts where we hold them — and, because of the date, it starts with what is still open over Christmas and New Year rather than with advice to book early.
The early window for the festive fortnight has closed. Our own guidance, in the questions at the foot of this page, is to book those weeks in spring; the Swiss collection asks for twelve months. Both are right, and in mid-September both mean the same thing: the useful question is no longer when to book, but what remains.
01 · The two weeks that decide the seasonChristmas & New Year 2026/27
Interest in our own chalet pages rose roughly fivefold in a single month this September. The wider market reads the same: chalet operators report strong early demand concentrated on the peak dates, with individual properties already fully booked for New Year. Nothing about that is a reason to hurry for its own sake — but it is the reason a September enquiry gets a shortlist rather than a catalogue.
Where to start for the festive weeks
Two resorts take most of the festive enquiries, for different reasons. Courchevel 1850 is the one to ask about if the week is built around the table and the village; Zermatt if it is built around the mountain and the walk home through a car-free town. Both are covered in full below — these are the houses to name when you write to us.
- Christmas Day 2026
- Friday 25 December
- New Year’s Eve 2026
- Thursday 31 December
- Christmas week
- Arrive Saturday 19 or Sunday 20 December, depending on the chalet’s changeover day
- New Year week
- Arrive Saturday 26 or Sunday 27 December — the more contested of the two
- Both weeks
- Seven nights minimum at every chalet in this guide, and a number require the full fortnight
Because Christmas falls on a Friday, the fortnight splits into two clean seven-night weeks rather than the awkward overlap of some years. Good news if you want one week, awkward if you need flexibility: a chalet with a Saturday changeover cannot be made to start on a Sunday, so your dates rule out properties before your budget does. It is why the form below asks for the week first.
02 · FranceCourchevel 1850
If a single resort defines the catered chalet at its most glamorous, it is Courchevel 1850. The highest of the Courchevel villages combines designer boutiques, Michelin-starred restaurants and a casino with direct access to Les Trois Vallées, the largest linked ski area in the world — some 600 km of piste, of which Courchevel’s own sector accounts for around 150 km. It is also where the festive weeks disappear first.
True ski-in/ski-out over three floors, with a pool fed by waterfalls and a swim jet, a hammam, a private elevator, and access to the facilities of the K2 Palace next door.
View the chalet ›
Indoor pool, wellness suite, steam room, sunken hot tub and gym — and a table that seats the whole party, which is what decides a festive booking for fifteen.
View the chalet ›The largest of the three: five levels in Nogentil, fifty metres from the Bellecôte piste — close enough that skis go on at the door, which with children is worth more than any amenity.
View the chalet ›03 · SwitzerlandZermatt
Zermatt runs without cars, skis to 3,883 m, and holds the most all-encompassing catered standard in this guide — chefs, daily massages and chauffeured transfers written into the rate rather than offered beside it. The village sits at 1,620 m but the glacier skiing above it is the most snow-sure in the Alps, which matters in a December week.
A chef serves breakfast on seven days and dinner on six evenings, with an electric taxi from the station on arrival and departure — Zermatt’s version of a car.
View the chalet ›The most complete inclusion list here: private gourmet chef, all food and chosen drinks, champagne on arrival, two thirty-minute massages daily, ZAI skis, UGG boots and a chauffeured taxi around the clock.
View the chalet ›The one built for a family Christmas: chalet manager, chef and hosts, dinner on six nights, a children’s supper on six, Perrier Jouët and a premium spirit bar.
View the chalet ›04 · SwitzerlandVerbier
Verbier is the serious skier’s choice and the most sociable of the Swiss resorts: 410 km of linked 4 Vallées terrain, some of the steepest marked runs in Europe, and an aprés-ski scene that has outlasted several generations of it. The chalets run large, which suits the way groups actually travel here — friends rather than families, and often a mix.
Chalet 1936 is the reference point: around a thousand square metres, seven bedrooms sleeping twelve with quarters for four staff, and a dining room for sixteen — which is the number that matters when the party is larger than the beds.
05 · FranceMéribel
Méribel sits at the geographic centre of Les Trois Vallées, which makes it the strongest choice for a mixed-ability group: you can ski in a different direction each day and still meet for lunch. Quieter than Courchevel in the evening, and with a notably high concentration of genuinely ski-in/ski-out chalets.
Our Méribel houses include Chalet Alpaca. Availability and specifications are confirmed against your dates — see the Méribel collection.
06 · FranceVal d’Isère
Val d’Isère is the high-performance option: 1,850 m, linked to Tignes across the Espace Killy, and reliably snow-sure from the start of December to the end of the season. The village has more character than most purpose-built resorts and a stronger dining scene than its reputation suggests.
See the Val d’Isère collection for the current line-up; our specialists hold the chalets that are not listed publicly.
07What “catered” actually includes
The word covers a range, and the range is the thing to ask about. At the fullest end — Chalet Zermatt Peak is the clearest example — the rate carries the chef, all food and drink, daily massages and a chauffeured car. At the other, a chef cooks breakfast and six dinners and you buy the wine. Neither is better; they are different holidays with different numbers attached.
- Almost always included: chalet manager or host, daily housekeeping, breakfast and afternoon tea, dinner on six nights, linen and towel changes, luxury bathroom products.
- Usually included in Switzerland: arrival and departure transfer within the resort, in-chalet ski and boot fitting, lift-pass delivery.
- Sometimes included, worth confirming: all food and beverage costs, house wine and spirits, one staff night off, childcare, in-chalet treatments.
- Normally extra: lift passes, instructors and guides, equipment hire, helicopter transfers, lunches, event fees.
Across Verbier and Zermatt, catered chalets typically run $5,500 to $11,000 per night in high season, with the Swiss collection starting around $2,500 and flagship estates passing $36,000 per night for the peak weeks. Festive rates are confirmed in writing against your dates before anything is held. Full collections: Swiss Alps chalets · Courchevel 1850.
Questions we get asked
It is September. Is it too late for Christmas or New Year?
For a free choice of the best chalets, yes — those weeks are decided in spring, and the Swiss houses ask for twelve months. For a stay, no. Every season leaves properties uncommitted into the autumn, and some release late when a provisional hold lapses. What changes is the process: instead of choosing from everything, you tell us the week and we tell you what is genuinely held. Give us both changeover options if you can, because a Saturday chalet and a Sunday chalet are different shortlists.
When should I book for winter 2027/28?
Spring 2027 for the festive fortnight and February half-term — March through May is the window in which you choose rather than accept. Twelve months ahead is the Swiss norm for Christmas and New Year. For January and March, six to nine months is comfortable, and spring skiing can often be confirmed inside sixty days.
Which resort suits a mixed-ability group?
Méribel, for its position at the centre of Les Trois Vallées — strong skiers can head one way and beginners another, and everyone is a short ride from the same lunch. Courchevel works equally well for the terrain but costs more in the evening. Zermatt is the best answer if one part of the group would rather not ski at all: the village is genuinely pleasant to spend a day in.
How much does a catered ski chalet cost?
In the Swiss collection, from around $2,500 per night, with catered chalets in Verbier and Zermatt typically between $5,500 and $11,000 per night in high season and flagship estates above $36,000 for peak weeks. Festive weeks carry their own rates and seven-night minimums. Every quote is confirmed in writing against your dates, with the inclusion list attached, before anything is held.
Do you arrange transfers, passes and instructors?
Yes, and on a ski week that is most of the work. Airport transfers, helicopter legs where they make sense, lift passes, instructors, guides, equipment fitting and restaurant bookings are handled by your dedicated concierge before you travel. In Zermatt, where cars stop at Täsch, the transfer chain matters more than anywhere else in the Alps.
Related reading: the winter holidays guide for the wider season, and Christmas & New Year villa rentals if the decision is still snow versus sun.
A chalet specialist will come back within 24 hours with what is genuinely available for your dates across all five resorts — and say so plainly if a week has gone.
