The ski season is well under way, with customers snapping up some of the cheapest breaks on the piste between now and February mid-term. 

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The Alps have settled down, with skiers and riders now enjoying fresh snow, low temperatures and sunshine after some poor early falls. Several resorts delayed opening in December. More steady snow is promised this week.

How to save money when you ski

Travel outside of holidays for best deals. Expect to pay a premium if you ski over the February mid-term break. The cheapest weeks are usually end of Jan, early Feb and mid-March. For example, Crystal Ski has a 3-star week in Livigno from €931pp in mid-term. The next week, the same holiday falls to €697pp.

Book as a group: Discounts apply to larger parties, so consider teaming up with family or friends when booking your ski holiday.

Hidden costs: Skiing is a luxury holiday, and one reason is that package prices – however attractive – are only the start of your outlay. Lift passes, equipment hire and lessons can easily add €300 to a trip.

Austria for families

Austria is one of the best all-rounders on offer, with many resorts only an hour or two from connecting airports. Because most are genuine villages, it's also an easy place to find babysitters, and ski school is 4 hours per day as opposed to 2 in France.

Resorts like St. Johann, Zell am See and Westendorf offer gentler slopes along with facilities like well-lit tobogganing runs, indoor pools and kindergarten.

Resorts like St. Wolfgang and Bad Gastein are also a relatively short transfer from Salzburg, where non-skiers can escape to shop or take in a Mozart concert. St. Wolfgang also offers bowling, operetta evenings and sleigh rides, and Bad Gastein has a casino, spa centre and thermal baths.

Directski.com sale: Direct Ski says it has Austria Holidays from €299pp, if you book by Jan 28 at 2pm. The cheapest price I could find on its site was €359pp, dep. Feb 7, with snow pensions in Niederau. Topflight has similar prices.

The Italian Job: Livigno

"High altitude, low prices" is the mantra in Livigno.

This classic Italian ski resort combines high slopes (topping out at 2,500m), duty-free shopping and a decent choice of beginner runs and kids' facilities among 115km of pistes, making it attractive to families too. Nightlife is lively, as are the Christmas markets (not to mention the pizza and pasta).

Topflight has seven nights in the Livigno Ski Apartments (3-star) from €489pp departing Feb 7th (includes an online discount of €30pp).

Bear in mind, Livigno is 4.5 hours from Milan Linate.

Ski in France

France offers short flight times, a wide choice of resorts and some of the best skiing and snowboarding terrain in the largest ski network in the world.

New this year, Topflight has some 50 chalets in the French resorts of Val d'Isere, Meribel, La Rosiere, Les Arcs, La Tania and La Plagne. The chalets are fully catered, with childcare, crèches and family services in every resort. In La Plagne, for example, Chalet Marine starts from €619pp from Feb 7, based on 4 sharing.

Highlife offers luxury chalets in the French Alp resorts, with prices including half-board cooked by a professional chef, minibus transfers, saunas, hot tubs and log fires, a complimentary bar and an excellent level of service.

Highlife has a spring ski offer for the week of April 12-19 in Meribel and Val d’Isere (which should be ok because the resorts are high altitude) from €660pp. Its packages do not include flights or ski packs. www.highlife.ie

It also offers short breaks of 3 or 4 nights from €529pp.

La Plagne: Dawson Travel has 7 nights 3-star from €469pp departing Jan 31.

SHOPPING AND SPAS IN ANDORRA

Andorra is a good bet for duty-free shopping and spas, so it may suit beginners or groups with members who do not want to ski all the time.

When in the resorts of Pas de la casa/Arinsal or Soldeu take a day trip to the capital Andorra (Duty Free) for great value on perfumes, sunglasses etc. It also attracts non-skiers to the thermal springs in Andorra La Vella (Caldea).

Crystal Ski has seven night packages from €397 (3-star) in Arinsal departing Feb 8.

Ski in Ireland

The Ski Club of Ireland (skiclub.ie) at Kiltiernan, Co. Dublin recently celebrated its 50th birthday this year. Practice sessions cost from €30/€20pp including ski/board, boot and pole rental, and classes are available too…

Perfect for getting your ski legs back before a trip?

Classes are priced from €45 per adult and €30 per child.

There are three slopes (180m, 150m, covered in Dendix – lubricated bristles, essentially). Another new slope is covered with Snowflex (nearest thing to snow), and features lifts. Bring gloves and warm clothes.