Good Ski Guide

The Allgäu region of Germany, with its low-cost airline flights was one of the best value areas in Europe, followed by Andorra, where costs have soared in recent years as the region has gone from budget to upmarket, still scores very high.

Montgenevre in France and other smaller resorts remain good value and great for those who like easy runs.

It’s no surprise that North America is much more expensive than Europe, not just the price of getting there, but the cost of accommodation, ski passes, drinks and ski insurance.

Most expensive was Vail, one of America’s second biggest resorts - and Canada’s Whistler, but not just as its Olympic year there – it’s expensive all the time!

You could enjoy two weeks in Europe for the cost of one week in some North American resorts!

California surprisingly came out a lot better value!

And a big surprise was that the Scottish resort of Aviemore, currently having its best ski snow ever, came high in the value states, but you should be warned that the amount to skiing there is limited.

A few curious angles emerged from our reporters. In Japan there is no English speaking ski school – you have to have private lessons if you want English. And if you need anything over a size 10 boot you’ll need to take your own!

Bulgaria, Romania and really-cheap Eastern countries did not feature in our research because they are tour operator products and not really value for independent travellers.

But we did get one gem from a journo - the shock price increase cost for hookers it’s gone up £5 for half and hour. Double the rate of a few years ago apparently!

Our up-to-the-minute research came from 25 reporters to the following countries:

Austria (4)

Italy (2)

France (5)

Switzerland (1)

Norway (1)

USA (4)

Canada (3)

Japan (2)

New Zealand (1).