Kopaonik Apartmani

Let’s not kid ourselves. When we say “cheap ski holiday” we’re not talking about something that costs a couple of hundred quid. Whatever you do, and however hard you try, once you’ve factored in your lift pass as well as accommodation, food and travel, you’re still going to spend at least £600-700 for a week.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t make BIG savings on the cost of your winter trip. Here’s how.

1. Ski the low season if you don’t have kids

Ski holiday prices are not the same for the whole winter. The weeks of New Year and February half term are the most expensive: and in early December, most of January, mid-March and late-April they’re considerably cheaper. In fact, they’re often less than half the price, and that’s before any late-booking discounts have been factored in (see point 10 below). If you avoid school holidays in general, and New Year and half-term in particular, you’ll save yourself a packet.

2. Or target Easter and Christmas if you do

Ever since the government tightened up regulations concerning term-time holidays for children, it’s been tougher for families to avoid peak-season pricing. However, Christmas and Easter holidays are both cheaper than New Year and half-term, and they can be lovely times for a ski holiday – provided you take a few precautions about the snow.

Over Easter in particular you need to a target a high-altitude ski resort, as well as adopting spring skiing tactics to avoid slushy slopes. Meanwhile, snow quality at Christmas has become an issue again, thanks to the dreadful start to the 2014-15 season in the western Alps. So it’s worth aiming high for this holiday too, unless you’ve got a steady nerve and can wait until early December to book the trip. By then you should know whether or not the lower resorts have good cover. It’s likely you’ll be able to pick up a late-booking discount, too. After what happened in 2014, Christmas 2015 is not selling particularly well…

(By the way, this year, several tour operators have reported that some families with school-age children are taking term-time holidays again, despite the ban.)

3. Stay in a self-catering apartment

Self-catering apartments are almost always cheaper than hotels or catered chalets – even when you factor in the cost of the food. Admittedly, for some parents the idea of cooking every night, on top of a day’s skiing, will sound more like purgatory than a holiday. But lots of families do it – often clubbing together with their friends to create a more upbeat experience and a chance to share the chores. As a result, big multi-family apartments sell out long before smaller ones during the school holidays. If you want one for a peak week such as New Year or February half term, you should book it by the end of September.

Those without kids should also give the idea serious thought. You don’t have to pussyfoot around staff like you do in a chalet, and you can eat whenever you want. The cooking can be a blast, too: especially if someone opens a bottle of wine and everyone lends a hand.

Just remember, if you’re driving to the resort, do as much of your shopping as possible in one of the valley hypermarkets – before the final climb to your destination. In-resort prices can be eye-wateringly high.

France is the Alpine capital of the self-catering apartment, but you’ll find them all over the mountains (those in Austria tend to be the roomiest). Tour operators specialising in apartments include Ski Collection, Peak Retreats, Pierre & Vacances, Lagrange, PowderBeds, Erna Low, or Ski Apartments. Keep an eye on come-hither self-catering offers direct from the resorts, too.

4. Drive to the mountains

If you live in the south-east of the UK, you can drive to the French Alps in about 12 hours – if you’re lucky with the weather and the traffic. And provided you can fill the car with friends and family, it’ll work out cheaper than flying – even in a low-season week.

Use viamichelin.co.uk to help calculate costs before you go. For a family-sized car holding four people, expect to pay somewhere in the region of £115pp return for a London-to-Meribel run in January 2016, including Eurotunnel crossings, fuel, and motorway tolls in France. That’s the door-to-door cost by the way. You’ll struggle to sort out travel to an airport in the UK, flights, and transfers up to the resort for the same price. Plus, if you drive, you can carry more baggage, too.

Finally, don’t forget to check out winter driving tips, too.

5. Stay in the valley below a big ski area…

You can enjoy big ski areas – such as the 3 Valleys in France (home to Meribel, Courchevel, etc), and the 4 Valleys in Switzerland (home to Verbier) – at lower cost by staying in the valley below them.

For example, if you fancy skiing the 3 Valleys, check out Brides les Bains below Meribel, which is linked to the pistes by a 25-minute gondola ride. Here, a three star hotel such as the Hotel Altis Val Vert can cost less than half the price of a three-star on the slopes in Meribel in January or March. British tour operator Ski Weekends also offers holidays in Brides, served by coaches from the UK: which is another good recipe for a cheap ski holiday.

Those who want to ski in Verbier for less should check out the village of Le Chable. It’s only a gondola ride below its famous neighbour, but like-for-like accommodation here is about 40% cheaper. You don’t get Verbier’s nightlife, but you do get exactly the same skiing.

6. Or in one of its less fashionable villages

In all the big ski areas there’s usually one village that fashion forgot. In the case of the 3 Valleys, it’s Les Menuires. In the middle of the Dolomites, it’s Canazei. The price of almost everything in these villages – accommodation, bars, restaurants, ski hire, ski school – is cheaper than in their near neighbours, which share exactly the same lift system.

7. Avoid the A-list ski areas altogether

The A-list ski areas are famous for a good reason: nowhere else can quite match the extent and convenience of their lift systems or the terrain they serve.

But that doesn’t mean the skiing’s rubbish elsewhere. In Austria, for example, the SkiWelt offers 279km of seamless skiing, and some of the finest top-to-bottom ski runs we know. Plus, it’s only a short bus ride to Kirchberg and Kitzbuhel, where you’ll find another 168km of pistes. Yes, the altitude is low – so you need to ski it mid-winter rather than at the beginning or end of the season. But by way of compensation prices are cheaper for everything: and you can lower them further by staying in the less-popular villages of Hopfgarten and Brixental rather than Soll and Westendorf.

Or consider Serre Chevalier, south of Grenoble. Here, a week in a three-star hotel can be half the price of an equivalent property in Meribel: but you still get 250km of piste on your doorstep. Among them are some scintillating intermediate level descents, which drop through more than 1000 vertical metres.

For more ideas, check out our guide to ski resorts that offer great value for money.

8. Go in a group

Tour operators love big groups – and offer free places to attract them. Generally, you can reckon on one person in ten going free – and you may be offered two-for-one lift passes and equipment hire deals, too. Shop around to see what you can get. For example, Inghams is currently offering one free place in every five for larger groups, as well as free lift passes for group leaders.

9. Book early…

Booking early is a great idea if you’re targeting a peak-season week (which is unlikely to be discounted at the last minute), or you’re travelling in a big group and want to fill an entire chalet. One of the best times to do it is during the winter before you want to ski: that way, you’ll often get next year’s holiday at this season’s prices. Look through the summer for come-hither discounts, too, and keep checking our deals page for the latest round-up of ski holiday deals and discounts.