Ski Season 2026/27: Getting to the Alps in Style

The 2026/27 ski season is shaping up to be one of the most exciting in years. Courchevel alone has four new luxury hotels opening in December, new gondolas are replacing ageing lifts from Chamonix to the Dolomites, and in February the best skiers in the world gather in Crans-Montana for the Alpine World Ski Championships.

What has not changed is the journey up the mountain. A great week in the Alps can still start with a long queue for a shared coach, a winding drive behind a dozen other transfers on a Saturday afternoon, and a tired arrival long after dark. It does not have to.
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Here is what is new in the Alps this winter, the events worth planning a trip around, and how to get from the airport to the slopes in comfort.

The new luxury hotels opening this winter

Courchevel

No resort has more to show off this year. Maisons Pariente, the family behind Le Coucou in Méribel, opens Saint Roch in Courchevel 1850 on 18 December, with 37 rooms and suites topped by a 244 square metre penthouse, a restaurant run by Prunier, and a Tata Harper spa. The Bellecôte run starts a few steps from the door.

Also in 1850, the Bourbon Hotel from the Chapitre Six collection opens on 18 December with 31 ski-in, ski-out rooms and Simonetta, a trattoria by the Michelin-starred chef Simone Zanoni. Sivolière Hôtel & Résidence opens on 3 December with 35 rooms and suites and an 800 square metre spa built around a 25-metre indoor pool.

For families, Bârma at Courchevel La Tania opens on 5 December. It sits directly on the Moretta run, with 75 rooms and suites, a Susanne Kaufmann spa with a salt grotto, a large brasserie and a dedicated children's room. Elsewhere in the 3 Vallées, in Les Menuires, the °Fahrenheit Seven group opens its third Alpine hotel on 11 December, with a glass-walled pool, a restaurant at 2,300 metres and DJs on the terrace.

Chamonix and the Portes du Soleil

Chamonix gains Le Morgane in the town centre, a 54-key hotel from Temmos with a balcony or terrace for every room and a spa with an indoor pool. In Morzine, Garance Hotel & Spa opens in December in the former Hôtel des Airelles, with 65 rooms and a Nordic spa.

Switzerland, Italy and Austria

In Verbier, The Ski Lodge opens in December about 100 metres from Place Centrale. There are 36 rooms and suites, a spa with a cold plunge, and a deliberate absence of televisions in the rooms. In Cortina d'Ampezzo, The First Cortina opens on 4 December on Corso Italia, with 76 rooms facing the Dolomites, a Zuma restaurant and a 1,000 square metre spa. And in Austria's Zillertal, THE GREEN opens on 11 December, with lakeside Water Suites, a chlorine-free natural swimming lagoon and free childcare.

New lifts for 2026/27

The biggest change in the French Alps is at Chamonix's Grands Montets, where a new 10-seat gondola from Argentière to the Lognan plateau opens in December, the first stage of rebuilding access to one of the great off-piste areas in Europe. A new cable car to the 3,275 metre summit follows a year later.

In the 3 Vallées, the La Tania gondola into Courchevel gets 52 new eight-seat cabins and modernised stations, the Rhodos gondola in Méribel completes its renovation, and the Châtelet high-speed chair returns at Méribel-Mottaret. In Les Contamines-Montjoie, a new 10-seat gondola more than doubles capacity out of the valley, and Megève adds a new six-seat chairlift at Rochebrune.

Switzerland and Austria have upgrades of their own. Zermatt replaces the old Patrullarve chair with a six-seat bubble chair. In Ischgl, the new eight-seat Höllkarbahn, with heated seats and a weather bubble, carries 4,200 skiers an hour. Verbier's 4 Vallées gets a new six-seat chair at Les Chottes, and in the Dolomites, Kronplatz replaces two of its main gondolas with new 10-seat cabins.

Concerts, festivals and races on the slopes

The season opens with music. On Saturday 28 November, Westlife play Ischgl's Top of the Mountain Opening Concert, and the ticket doubles as a day's lift pass. In December, Les 2 Alpes hosts the Rise festival from 5 to 12 December, and Avoriaz has Rock On Snow from 11 to 13 December.
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January belongs to the classic downhills. The Lauberhorn in Wengen runs from 15 to 17 January, and a week later the Hahnenkamm in Kitzbühel, the most famous race in skiing, takes over the town from 22 to 24 January. Chamonix hosts the Kandahar on 30 January.

The headline event of the season is the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, from 1 to 14 February. Two weeks of downhill, super-G, giant slalom and slalom on the Valais sunshine plateau, with Verbier and Zermatt a couple of hours away for days off.

The festival season builds towards spring. Rock the Pistes brings free concerts on the slopes across the Portes du Soleil in mid-March, open to anyone with a ski pass. Tomorrowland Winter returns to Alpe d'Huez from 20 to 27 March, a week of electronic music across 250 kilometres of pistes. Last year's edition featured more than 100 DJs. The season signs off at Snowbombing in Mayrhofen from 5 to 10 April.

Which airport for which resort

Geneva is the gateway to most of the French and Swiss Alps, but it is not always the closest airport. Choosing the right one can save hours. Typical transfer times by private car, in normal conditions:

• Chamonix: about 1 hour from Geneva
• Morzine and Avoriaz: about 1 hour 15 minutes from Geneva
• Verbier: about 2 hours from Geneva
• Crans-Montana: about 2 hours 30 minutes from Geneva
• Courchevel, Méribel and Val Thorens: about 2 hours 30 minutes to 3 hours from Geneva, or around 1 hour 45 minutes from Chambéry
• Val d'Isère and Tignes: about 3 hours from Geneva
• Alpe d'Huez and Les 2 Alpes: about 1 hour 45 minutes from Grenoble, or 2 hours from Lyon
• Ischgl, St Anton, Kitzbühel and Mayrhofen: around 1 hour from Innsbruck
• Cortina d'Ampezzo: about 2 hours from Venice

The Saturday problem

Most Alpine chalets and tour operators change over on a Saturday, which means thousands of people trying to reach the same valleys on the same afternoon. The road up to the 3 Vallées from Moûtiers is notorious, and a journey that takes two and a half hours midweek can take far longer on a busy Saturday in February.

There are two ways round it. If you can, travel on a Sunday or midweek. If you can't, take a private car rather than a coach. A shared coach waits for every flight on its list before leaving the airport and stops at every resort on the way. A private car leaves when you clear arrivals, and goes straight to your door.

Arrive ready to ski

A private transfer turns the least enjoyable part of a ski holiday into the start of it. Your driver meets you in arrivals with your name on a board, loads the skis and boot bags, and takes you straight to the chalet or hotel. Flights are tracked, so a delay doesn't leave you stranded, and child seats can be fitted in advance. Vehicles are prepared for winter mountain roads, with winter tyres and snow chains on board.

The fare is fixed when you book, so a late flight or a snowy Saturday won't change the price. For a family or a group of friends sharing a spacious people carrier, it often costs little more per head than the coach, and you arrive hours earlier.

This winter, Airport Executive covers the major Alpine airports and resorts, including Geneva to Courchevel, Méribel, Val Thorens, Val d'Isère, Tignes, Verbier, Avoriaz, Les Arcs and La Plagne.

Book your ski transfer here or call our reservations team on +44 (0)208 838 3333.

Airport Executive, a better way to travel.