COUPLE LEARNING TO SKI

Saving: £468 per couple

Last winter: A week in Arinsal, Andorra with Inghams.

This winter: A week in Arinsal, Andorra with Neilson.

How to save on the ski slopes

Have a great snowsports holiday without shelling out a fortune - you just have to know where to look

• Posh skiing on the cheap

Posh skiing on the cheap

Want to ski with the A list, but can’t splash the cash? Sean Newsom knows how to sneak you in the back way

Related Internet Links

• More on the 2008-2009 winter sports season

Related Links

• How to take the family skiing on the cheap

No that's not a misprint, we are recommending you take a holiday in exactly the same week in the same resort - in fact in the same hotel. The difference this year is

Freshers Ski Week (www.freshersskiweek.com), an initiative aimed at getting total beginners to learn to ski. To encourage you to try it, a number of tour operators and ski countries have got together to fund free lift passes, equipment rental and ski school for the weeks beginning January 17 or 24.

A week's half board at the Princesa Parc in this beginner-friendly resort cost £494 last season with Inghams while the learn-to-ski package cost £195. The same week this year in the hotel with Neilson costs £455 while learning to ski is free, an overall saving of £234pp.

Neilson: 0870 3333356, www.neilson.co.uk

CHALET WITH FRIENDS

Saving: £1,272

Last winter: A chalet at Christmas in Morzine with TG Ski.

This winter: A chalet in January in Morzine with TG Ski.

Yes, there are benefits to hiring a chalet at Christmas - fewer precious days off from work used up, and avoiding time with the in-laws being just two - but you'll certainly feel it in the wallet.

Go in early January, however, and not only do the prices come down, but also the slopes are less crowded and air fares are lower. Last year a week for eight in TG Ski's La Roc Soleil chalet in Morzine cost £4,872 (for accommodation and most meals, but excluding flights or transfers from Geneva) leaving on December 23. Go on January 11 next year and the same chalet is £3,600.

TG Ski: 020-7736 3916, www.tgski.co.uk

CANADA WITH TEENAGERS

Saving: £1,460

This winter: Seven nights booking direct with BA and an hotel.

This winter: Seven nights with Crystal.

The big difference this winter for skiers wanting to cross the Atlantic is fuel surcharges. British Airways is adding surcharges of £218 return on flights to Calgary at the moment, for example.

This can make a huge difference if you are flying out with your family. The trick this winter is to look at flights with other airlines that don't charge so much. The grounding of Zoom means that one budget option is no longer available but Crystal uses charter flights from Monarch, which can bring down your total holiday bill.

Seven nights room only at the Fairmont Banff Springs in a four-share room with Crystal cost from £805pp, including flights and transfers in late March. BA flights alone, including that whopping surcharge, cost £680 while the room, booked direct with the hotel, costs C$479 (£240) a night. Transfers are another C$106pp. Overall, a cost of £4,681 for a family of four if booked direct.

Crystal Ski, 0871 2312256, www.crystalski.co.uk

FAMILY HALF-TERM

Saving: £1,409

Last year: half-term holiday in Lech.

This year: half-term holiday in Alpbach.

If it really has to be half-term, shop around for less obvious resorts. Despite many hoteliers in the eurozone having raised prices by around 25 per cent, according to one ski company, you can still find deals that have bucked the trend. For example, a family of four on half board at the Hotel Monzabon in Lech would have paid £5,299 at half term last February (including flights and transfers).

A week's stay next year, departing Gatwick on February 14, in the pretty Tyrolean resort of Alpbach at the Alpbacherhof Hotel on a similar basis would now be £3,890 - a big enough saving on 2008 to pay for ski passes, lessons and enough Kaiserschmarrn to last a week.

Inghams: 020-8780 4433, www.inghams.co.uk

COUPLE IN THE THREE VALLEYS

Saving: £200 per couple

Last winter: Long weekend with Crystal.

This winter: Long weekend with Ski Weekends.

Last winter Crystal offered its catered chalet Sandy in Méribel to winter sports lovers who wanted to go to the Three Valleys, but didn't have time to spend a week there. Three days, with breakfast and dinner, flights from Gatwick or Manchester and transfers, cost from £279pp.

If finances are really tight, try the ultra-budget version. Ski Weekends specialises in long weekends by coach to the region. Leave Victoria in London on Thursday night and return early on Monday. You get three days on the slopes and two nights half board in the Hotel Verseau in Brides les Bains, a 25-minute gondola ride away from the centre of Méribel.

Ski Weekends: 0870 4423400, www.skiweekends.com

COUPLE IN THE THREE VALLEYS

Saving: £200 per couple

Last winter: Long weekend with Crystal.

This winter: Long weekend with Ski Weekends.

Last winter Crystal offered its catered chalet Sandy in Méribel to winter sports lovers who wanted to go to the Three Valleys, but didn't have time to spend a week there. Three days, with breakfast and dinner, flights from Gatwick or Manchester and transfers, cost from £279pp.

If finances are really tight, try the ultra-budget version. Ski Weekends specialises in long weekends by coach to the region. Leave Victoria in London on Thursday night and return early on Monday. You get three days on the slopes and two nights half board in the Hotel Verseau in Brides les Bains, a 25-minute gondola ride away from the centre of Méribel.

Ski Weekends: 0870 4423400, www.skiweekends.com

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