If you’re more interested in the après-ski part of a ski vacation, this list may be worth paying attention to.
Courchevel, the French alpine ski resort, is the most Michelin-starred resort town in the world. That’s according to a new ranking from the international food magazine Chef’s Pencil, which looks at the number and cost of Michelin-starred restaurants at ski destinations around the globe. With seven Michelin-starred spots and 12 Michelin stars in total, Courchevel is the clear leader.
If you’d rather ski in the Swiss Alps, you’d do well to visit either the second or third locales on the list: Saint Moritz and Zermatt both have four Michelin-starred establishments, although Saint Moritz edges out the latter when it comes to total number of stars (six versus four). Switzerland actually rounds out the top five, too, with Bad Ragaz and Andermatt both home to three Michelin-starred restaurants.
When it comes to cost, Saint Moritz slightly edges out Courchevel. The average tasting-menu price in the former is $374, compared with Courchevel’s $366, according to data from Chef’s Pencil. But Courchevel wins out when looking at the most expensive tasting-menu option, with Sylvestre Wahid–Les Grandes Alpes offering a 495 euro ($510) prix fixe. Da Vittorio St. Moritz isn’t too far behind, though—its seven-course white Alba truffle menu costs 460 Swiss francs, or about $505.
In total, Switzerland leads the way when it comes to ski resorts with Michelin-starred restaurants. There, 27 different resort towns boast at least one Michelin star. Italy comes next with 21 starred resorts, then France with 18. Notably, the United States is the only country not in Europe to appear on the Chef’s Pencil list, with Aspen’s Bosq sporting one Michelin star.
To arrive at these figures, Chef’s Pencil looked at both alpine and cross-country ski resorts, along with mountain resorts within 10 miles of major ski areas. The average prices do not include drinks, gratuity, or service charges. And the magazine did exclude Germany’s Baiersbronn ski resort, which has four Michelin-starred restaurants, including two three-starred spots; it was omitted because the ski areas nearby are small and have low elevation, making them incomparable with the other towns on the list.
While the skiing in these places may be superb, it sounds like the restaurants you’ll be dining at after a day on the slopes may be the real highlight.
