The first alpine offering in the preposterously groovy Maisons Pariente group’s design-forward boutique portfolio, Hôtel Le Coucou Méribel calls a refreshing new tune in the French Alps.
Five-star hotels were never historically part of Méribel’s DNA. Sitting at the heart of France’s mythic Les Trois Vallées ski area, which, with its 600km of pistes, is famously the world’s largest, this buzzing Brits’ favourite traditionally prided itself on its cosy accessibility, happy to let its next-valley-neighbour Courchevel fluff the exclusive whims of the oligarch set with vertiginous, more-is-more bling and prices to match. The last 15 years, however, have seen this former middleweight resort evolve a high end of its own with three five-star properties, of which one, the ski-in/ski-out Le Coucou Méribel, transcends the pimped-chalet look often the default aesthetic of alpine luxury hotels to bring the French Alps something refreshingly different, supremely comfortable, and achingly stylish.
Observing, as all new-builds here must, the valley’s strict traditional building codes, Le Coucou’s handsome, chalet-style timber and stone shell gives few clues to the quiet riot of design deliciousness cocooned within. Built onto a steep mountainside, its tardis-like volume – the hotel has 55 rooms, including 39 suites and two private chalets, across ten floors – is disguised at first sight, as guests step into a low-ceilinged, oval-shaped, chapel-like lobby which would feel almost austere but for an overhead dome quirkily frescoed with a night sky full of owls. It’s an apt introduction to the masterful balance of exuberant playfulness and elegant understatement that defines Le Coucou’s design, and which marks the first hotel commission from Paris-based architect and interior designer Pierre Yovanotich (that Pierre was commissioned by the deeply groovy French hotel group Maisons Pariente comes as no great surprise).
Rooms and suites, all with sweeping mountain views and balconies, blend high comfort and luxurious materials with quietly quirky, custom-designed furniture and a warm palette of rich, earthy pinks, greens and browns. A wry sense of proportion is another winning Yovanotich hallmark, with unshowy, modestly proportioned furnishings in Mimo-ish styles allowing spaces’ generous proportions to enhance the sense of easeful luxury. Nor are traditional chalet motifs excluded, albeit with witty twists – traditional wooden chairs incorporate cute birds’ faces, and swathes of pine panelling feature prominently, including, in our ‘Prestige’-grade room, a chalet-style window between bedroom and marble-rich bathroom. And in Le Fumoir, a staunch fondue- and raclette-serving Savoyard counterpart to the hotel’s two larger and more cosmopolitan restaurants, Yovanotich gives free rein to his inner alpine granny, with knotty-pine rafters, simple checked tablecloths and vintage patterned wallpaper.
| Perfect for | Fly into | Right on time |
| The Sophisticate | GVA, CMF | GMT +1 |
| While you’re Out There |
| In a resort-wide dining scene that tends to lean heavily into hefty Savoyard classics served in cosy, crowded chalet parlours, the refined Italian-inspired fare and airy, contemporary space of FiFi, just five minutes by car from Le Coucou Méribel, make it a delicious find (and don’t worry, toothsome carbs are copious here too). Opened in 2022, the airy, double-height space, stylishly trimmed with mid-century-modern furnishings, is home to an ambitious menu ranging from the delicate – lightly seared octopus in Yuzu vinaigrette, anyone? – to Nonna-style knockouts like pastas and gnocchi, albeit with innovative fusion twists. Arrive early for an elegant aperitivo at the cute central bar. |
Glamour is dialled up a notch or two in the gorgeously colour-saturated Le Bar des Pistes, with its midnight-blue walls, mustard-gold velvet sofas and gallery of kooky owl paintings, but as throughout, proportions are rigorously human-scale, bringing the whole hotel an intoxicatingly relaxed cosiness. Offering six treatment rooms and exclusive therapies using organic products from Vermont’s Tata Harper, the Le Coucou Spa is another beauty spot, with the reflections of graceful arches lining its indoor-outdoor pool creating a mesmeric trompe l’oeil effect that leads your eye through a wall of glass into the rugged mountain view. Floor-to-ceiling windows in the impressive fitness studio, too, wrap guests in a panorama of forested peaks.
Dining, across three spaces – four, if you count Le Bar des Pistes’ elevated afternoon-tea snacking spread – is as polished as you’d expect from this progressive Parisian brand. Biancaneve is its fine-dining-adjacent destination, with exceptional seafood taking centre stage on the full-flavoured menu of ‘bistronomic’ refined brasserie classics, and chanteur-powered piano-bar vibes for a sideshow. The other big hitter is a branch of the Monte Carlo-based, global überchain Beefbar, which, true to form, offers some of the most rarefied specialist cuts from all over the world and a serious wine list. It was in Beefbar that we witnessed the sole, baffling Coucou boo-boo of our stay, when a Parisian sommelier responded to our declining to take his main-course pairing tip with a surliness worthy of a xenophobic 1970s comedy sketch and ignored our requests for an alternative. We can only assume the poor guy was having a very bad day, given that service otherwise – silkily delivered by convivial, clued-up staff turned out in natty preppy casuals fit for winter in the Hamptons – was charm on a stick (a special mention for the handsome, floppy-haired, hot-chocolate-and-cookies-bearing ski tech dudes manning the boutique-fabulous ski-shop/boot room, who fell to their knees daily to help us off with our boots. Beyond gallant).
Photography by Jerome Galland and courtesy of Maisons Pariente
