Winning tip: Vancouver, Canada
Cypress Mountain is only a 30-minute car trip from downtown Vancouver and offers an amazing variety of groomed runs, moguls and backcountry options. It’s as good a place to learn as it is to push your limits. One of the best things about the mountain is its proximity to the city. Head up in the evening for some jaw-dropping night skiing with the city lights below. There’s plenty of great après-ski in the lovely lodge bars and you have the benefit of being able to stay in Vancouver itself, not in an expensive resort. It’s also a fantastic day out for families, offering tubing, sledging and other snowy activities. Cypress also has a Nordic Area dedicated to cross-country skiing and snowshoeing, again offering incredible views of the vast mountain ranges north of Vancouver. This a perfect option for those seeking the comforts of a cosmopolitan city broken up by some alpine adventure.
Day pass £23 adult, £17 junior, cypressmountain.com
Caroline King
Almaty, Kazakhstan
From the country’s largest city, Almaty, the Shymbulak ski slopes are on your doorstep and everything is easy and reasonably priced. The resort is small, but there were no queues at any point. From the gondola at Medeu to the toilets and lockers at the slopes, the services are all fine. It’s not a resort for novices though: the main long slopes are red and there are only a few short blues. At 4pm the slopes are in the shade and get icy. It’s well worth going over to the other side of the mountain, for glacier views, and three short blue slopes. Of course, flying to Kazakhstan is expensive but the skiing can be made very cheap by renting gear from Extremal on the corner of Dostyk and Al Ferabi streets in Almaty: it’s half the price of the slopes rental place. Take the frequent number 12 bus from Extremal to the Medeu gondola (19p).
Weekday ski pass £12 (£19 at weekends).
debbieowen
Aviemore, Scotland
We are going to Aviemore at February half-term to teach our youngest child to ski, following in the footsteps of her siblings. It’s a good place to start as conditions in Scotland can be variable and the beginners’ section is up the mountain not at the bottom, so if you can cope with the wind and ice you often find there, skiing elsewhere later is relatively easy. The cafe at the top of the funicular is also adjacent to the beginners’ area, so a hot chocolate is often appreciated.
Day pass £35 adult, £21 junior, aviemoreski.co.uk
Callens17
Near Zakopane, Poland
If you haven’t got a clue about skiing or snowboarding but want to learn, Bialka Tatrzanska, a small Tatra mountain resort two hours’ drive from Krakow and 22km from Zakopane is a serious contender for a snow sports crash course. Affordable one-to-one tuition for kids and adults, nursery slope with travelator, beginners’ slope with drag-lift and multiple runs with modern chair lifts are available. If you’re experienced, you may find the resort small, but as a beginner there are more than enough runs and options to give you steady progress and keep you busy for the week. Well-priced, good quality (and excellent customer service) rental facilities are on site. Overall, the scale of the resort is small enough to make snow newbies comfortable but there’s plenty of accommodation in self-catering apartments and hotels.
Day pass £22 adult, £19 junior
veronica8a
South-west Bulgaria
There’s no such thing as a cheap ski holiday, but Bansko, three hours’ drive south of Sofia, comes pretty close. It’s great for beginners as lessons and equipment hire are cheap, and there is a reasonable range of pistes including a nursery slope, some excellent blues and reds, and a couple of decent blacks. There is some off piste, but advanced skiers may be bored. The real joy of Bansko is its social potential – drinks and meals are very cheap, even on the slopes. It’s simple to arrange accommodation (£10-40pppn depending on whether you want a shared apartment or full-board hotel); flights to Sofia are available from budget airlines and transfers can be arranged online. Once in the resort, a lift pass can be purchased from the gondola station and equipment hire and lessons arranged through a nearby shop (Bansko Sport are very friendly and helpful). If you’re a family or a group of people wanting to try or improve at skiing without spending the earth, Bansko is great fun.
Day pass €38 adult, €28 child, bansko-sports.com
Frankie Pedley
Haute-Savoie, France
Les Gets is family-friendly with gentle, tree-lined lower slopes for beginners and higher, steeper pistes. Its five mountain flanks face different directions, so the area is great for tracking perfect snow conditions at different times of day. The jewel in the crown is Praz de Lys, which mainly locals use (it’s not included in the main ski pass). This area has empty, beautiful runs for skiing and also many wonderful walking trails for non-skiers and dogs. There are great views across to Mont Blanc. Every Tuesday night Les Gets puts on a free evening of entertainment for visitors. At the base of the slopes a giant cauldron of steaming mulled wine is served by locals, or mugs of hot chocolate; the ski instructors put on a great display of skill, and the evening finishes with fireworks. The town itself is delightful, with many traditional restaurants and chalets.
Day pass €35 adult, €26 junior, lesgets.com
ID4629880
French Pyrenees
The small town of Luz-Saint-Sauveur is in the Pyrenees 25km south of Lourdes. The area is incredibly beautiful, the town friendly. Book accommodation and buy a Carte N’py Vacances on N-py.com. With this hands-free card you can ski Luz Ardiden, Grand Tourmalet or Cauterets and pay a reduced rate, only for the days you ski. The three resorts are all very different. Luz Ardiden is great for snowboarders, Grand Tourmalet is enormous and Cauterets has an awesome snow park. Ryanair flies to Lourdes.
Carte N’py Vacances €20
Nicolette Collins
Hautes-Alpes, France
Unlike overcrowded, overpriced French ski resorts such as Courchevel or Val d’Isère, Orcières-Merlette in the Hautes-Alpes offers a friendly and reasonably priced yet varied and astonishingly beautiful set of slopes and activities. We stayed in the tiny village of Prapic, 35km from Gap, in a heartwarming B&B which served delicious, simple local food. There is plenty on offer for the non-skiing folks. We really enjoyed hiking and snowshoe walks.
Day pass €33.50 adult, €27.30 child, orcieres.com
Simon Halsey
Camonica valley, Italy
Last winter I went skiing in Aprica, in the Camonica valley, Lombardy, with a group of people with mixed skiing abilities. Aprica itself is a beautiful place with lovely hotels and apartments, and the scenery is stunning. There are 50km of ski runs here, many ideal for beginners like me. I was a first-timer at skiing but the instructor at Scuola Italia (from €100 for five days’ tuition) was very patient and informative. My tip would be to make sure you have hold of the ski lift properly! I didn’t and I fell off, losing the rest of my party for quite a while.
Day pass €38 adult, €30 child, apricaonline.com
Karen Durrant
Niseko, Hokkaido
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