Last winter, a new night-club opened in the Swiss ski resort of Verbier. Called the Coco, it features a platoon of fur-clad hostesses called the Snow Birds, and has as its centrepiece a cocktail known as The Chalet, which serves eight and costs £5,000.

Call me old-fashioned, but five grand for an oversized glass of fizz is the kind of upmarket experience I can do without. So it was a big relief last season to stumble upon a resort that offers a different kind of luxury, and one to which I’m happy to subscribe – Madonna di Campiglio, in Italy.

Campiglio, as the locals call it, sits in a deep, steep and thickly forested valley at the edge of the Brenta Dolomites, north of Verona. It has long been regarded by the Italians as posh – and has strong connections with the motor-manufacturers Ferrari to prove it. There is even a vertiginous section of piste – the Schu-macher Streif – named after its most famous driver. But like many resorts in the Italian Alps, it hasn’t kept pace with the Verbiers and Val d’Isères of the modern world.

In part, that’s because it doesn’t offer oodles of off-piste – the hairy-chested, all-action, deep-powder runs that everyone talks about these days but which few can ski with grace or skill. That may seem like a minor technicality, but this kind of door-die skiing is an essential part of the glamour of modern resorts.

The world's 10 best ski hostels

A Swiss Cube, a Chilean refuge and a Colorado inn - plus seven more bargains for £8-£48 a night

• Cheap transfers to Alpine resorts

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

How to take the family skiing on the cheap

Related Internet Links

• More ideas for ski, snowboard and wintersports holidays

Related Links

• Posh skiing on the cheap

But it’s also because Campiglio seems, well, too Italian. Maybe cultural stereotyping has got the better of me, but I am not sure the locals can really be bothered to chase the big bucks. They are quite comfortable with life the way it is – so why bust a gut courting Saudi princes?

What it does offer is the luxury of uncrowded slopes and top-notch pistes. Campiglio has actually won awards for the quality of its piste preparation: no small feat in a country in which every resort presents immaculate carving tracks, whether there has been any natural snow or not. It should win awards for the pitch of its pistes, too.

In my book, the best runs are the ones that follow the fall line – in other words, they go straight down the slope, whether it is steep or gentle. Here, almost all do. You lock onto your route, set your rhythm and just keep turning. Rarely are you faced with a boring traverse or one of those annoyingly flat sections over rolling terrain where you have to push.

And then there’s the food and wine. Perhaps at the very top end of the market, the French do mountain food better than the Italians – that’s if you are prepared to drop £130 on a six-course tasting menu at a Michelin-starred restaurant in Courchevel 1850 (the preferred destination of Russian plutocrats).

Last winter, however, I ate a meal at Campiglio’s Chalet Fiat, at the top of Monte Spinale, that was as good as anything I’ve eaten in France. We started with blueberry, taleggio cheese and porcini mushroom risotto, then followed it with a thick, bloody slice of beef fillet, served with chickpeas and a spinach and bacon sauce.

Blueberry risotto? Beef and chickpeas? These were combinations I’d never heard of before, but they were an unqualified success. I was pleasantly surprised by the price, too. Starters were a tenner and the main course cost £16.

In fact, almost everything good here is cheaper than it is in the Alist resorts further north. Private ski instruction for two can be had in Campiglio for £83 for two hours, compared with £133 in Méribel or Courchevel. In late January, doubles in one of the best four-star hotels in town, the rustic Hermitage (00 39 0465 441558, www.chalethermitage.com), cost £161, half-board. In Courchevel 1850, you’ ll pay £320.

Oh, and the scenery? It’s stunning. The Brenta Dolomites come to a sudden stop just to the west of town, ending in a stupendous series of cliff walls – you’ll be skiing with your mouth open.

Need to know

- Sean Newsom travelled to Madonna di Campiglio with Momentum Ski (020 7371 9111, www.momentumski.com), which has a week, half-board, at the three-star Hotel Montana from £546pp, including flights from London and car hire. Or try Crystal (0870 160 6040, www.crystalholidays.co.uk).

Independent travellers should aim for Verona airport, 110 miles from Campiglio, served by British Airways (0844 493 0787, www.ba.com), Flythomascook and Thomsonfly. Flights start from about £104. A week’s hire car costs from £117 through www.carrentals. co.uk, or book a transfer with Campiglio’s tourist office (00 39 0465 447501, www.campiglio.to) for £100pp return

Three more posh-on-the-cheap pistes

MURREN, Switzerland

One thing big money buys you in the Alps is peace and quiet – usually in the form of an enormous chalet, squirrelled away in the most select suburb of an overcrowded resort. But you can geta far greater sense of serenity for much less money by checking into one of the ski towns that fashion forgot.

Take little Mürren, perched on a high ledge beneath the 2,970-metre Schilthorn in Switzerland. As a resort, its socialcre-dentials are distinctly old school – this is where the posh people used to come, courtesy of Henry Lunn, who sold the first ski package holidays here in 1911.

But it has slipped gracefully into oblivion since then and lacks both boutique hotels and state-of-the-art über-chalets. Instead you’ll findcar-free streets, empty pistes and some of the most stupendous views on earth. The slopes are of the highest quality, but are limited in scope, so come to put your feet up as much as to ski. Inghams (020 8780 4400, www.inghams.co.uk) has a week at the three-star Edelweiss Hotel from £498pp, half-board, including flights and transfers.

LAKE LOUISE, Canada

Skiing in North America often involves an upgrade in quality. The ski areas are usually smaller but you get less crowded slopes, larger hotel rooms and more obliging service. At Lake Louise, there’s the added bonus of the most dramatic ski scenery in North America, coupled with a profound sense of quiet that comes from bedding down in the middle of a national park. This isn’t one of those famous Canadian powder destinations, but at least the frigid climate keeps the groomed trails in top condition.

What’s more, despite the strength of the Canadian dollar, Lake Louise is still good value, thanks to charter flights to Calgary and low demand for rooms. Crystal (0871 230 8145, www.crystalholidays.co.uk) has a week at the Lake Louise Inn from £678pp, room-only, including flights and transfers.

CERVINIA, Italy

High altitude in the Alps means high prices. But not in Cervinia. Granted, the town isn’t the prettiest and almost all the skiing is above the tree line, but, overall, Cervinia delivers a lot of yodel for your euros.

The mountain restaurants are superb, the pistes are wide, flattering and, in some cases, world class, and the views up to the southern face of Monte Cervino (aka the Matterhorn) will stay with you long after you go home. Plus, the early snow in Cervinia has been excellent. First Choice (0871 664 0130, www.firstchoice-ski.co.uk) has a weekat the Compagnoni,a highly rated three-star hotel, from £455pp, B&B, including flights and transfers.

Times recommends

• Bogus websites are conning hundreds out of their holidays
• The complete last minute holiday guide
• Croatia: the flashing blades of Korkcula