Save £861 On Your Ski Holiday

Find out how to cut the costs of a ski holiday this winter.

Exciting, exclusive and extremely expensive. Once solely the sport of princes and public school toffs, skiing (there was none of this `boarding' nonsense back then) used to cost an arm and a leg.

Literally, sometimes. But what ho! There was a such a jolly time to be had, being chauffeured from chalet to chair lift and racing down smooth, virgin snow slopes with one's chums, that it was all rather boring to have to think about the price of transport and accommodation, not to mention the cost of ski lessons, clothes, equipment, travel insurance and other such mundane matters. Boring, and academic. One simply had to go, and that was all there was to it.

If this isn't striking a chord with many of you skiers out there, it's because the face of skiing has changed dramatically, especially in recent years. The advent of cheap flights and the opening up of eastern European ski resorts means you no longer need to spend £3,000 to enjoy a week's skiing (although, if you did, you could stay in this luxury villa `only a short chauffeured drive' from Klosters -- ski resort of choice for the heirs to the throne, no less).

In fact, should your budget be less than princely, it's now relatively easy to go on a cheap ski holiday. You can go skiing for a week this January for as little as £279 - and that includes:

Flights and accommodation in a five-bedroom chalet in the Serbian ski resort of Kopaonik (£130 per person, based on five people staying)
Four-course meals every night and a hot breakfast every morning (£63)
Lift pass (£83)
Ski insurance (£15)
Discount for booking online at Thomson (£12 per person)

Alternatively, if your top priority is getting value for money, you can get some amazing discounts nowadays and cut the costs of a luxury holiday almost in half. I found I could:

Hire top of the range ski equipment for seven days (cost: £103, discount: £26)
Buy top quality designer ski clothes, goggles and ski gloves (cost: £285, discount: £85)
Fly from London and stay in a luxury chalet near Meribel in France, with half board, plus wine, over New Year's Eve (cost: £799, discount £750)

That's a total saving of £861 off the retail prices quoted. Unfortunately, I'd have to spend £1,187 to get those savings, but still, a saving of almost a grand should not be sniffed at, however cold the weather.

Of course, these deals come and go, and I can't guarantee, sadly, that they will still be on offer when you read this article. However, there are always bargains to be had if you know where to look, especially as it gets nearer to peak season and last minute deals start being offered at knock-down prices.

Here are my top tips for finding a ski holiday bargain:

Flexible dates. If you can, avoid peak ski season like the plague, which means Christmas, Easter and half-term, which takes place in mid-February. January and March are your best bet if you want to be sure of snow that doesn't, well, cost the earth.
Flexible destinations. There's a lot of snobbery about different ski resorts. Now, I'm by no means an expert -- when I ski, I concentrate more on staying upright than evaluating the quality of the run -- so personally, if I have a mountain, a chair lift and a good chance of snow, I'm happy, wherever it might be. This may have something to do with the fact that I'm a beginner and green slopes are bound to be pretty similar the world over. Still, it pays to be flexible about where you want to ski, as the price of accommodation and lift passes can vary greatly by location. My top tip for this ski season is: check out resorts in Spain or eastern Europe.
The Internet. There are loads of great ski holiday comparison websites. I used Thomsons, igluski.com and ifyouski.com to find my bargains.
Ski clubs. If you're a keen skier, you may want to consider joining a ski club. Members of the Ski Club of Great Britain, for example, have access to over 1,500 discounts, including 10% off ski travel agents like Club Med and Thomsons, and membership costs just over £50 a year.

So there you have it. Skiing -- a sport loved by the highest in the land and, legend has it, invented by a Norse snowshoe goddess -- is now a bargain-basement, budget sport for members of the proletariat. Whatever is the world coming to, old chum?