The ideal place to ski?

France and Austria are firm favourites with British skiers, but Italy and Andorra have their fans too. And there are many reasons why, says Stephen Wood

You know where you are with France, Austria and North America. If the ski areas are high and wide, you're in France; if the villages are small and charming, and the hotels family run, it must be Austria; and where the apartments are generous and getting on to a lift isn't a contact-sport – that's North America. Sketchy, maybe; but those images of skiing in the three destinations have remained consistent, and at least tolerably accurate, over recent years.

Were it not for the effect of the terrorist attacks of September 11 2001, it would be true to say that the appeal of those destinations – the predominant choices for serious British skiers – has also remained consistent. Between 2000/1 and last season, the proportion of the UK ski market taken by France and Austria changed only 0.1 and 0.3 per cent respectively, both the overall market-leaders marginally increasing their shares. North America suffered badly, however. Its share fell from 8.5 to 6.1 per cent, according to the annual Crystal/Thomson survey from which all these figures are taken.

Go beyond these three destinations, though, and the UK ski market looks a lot more volatile. Andorra has grown so fast that it attracted more than twice as many skiers as North America in 2001/2. Italy's appeal continues to rise and fall like a spring tide. Only Switzerland, the country with the longest tradition as a skiing ground for the British, has established what one could describe as a historic level for UK market penetration, of around seven per cent.

Andorra is a phenomenon. Extending the existing growth curves – not a reliable indicator in volatile conditions, but still fun – would see Italy, currently the third most popular destination for UK skiers, being overtaken this season by the tiny, 450sqkm country whose entire native population could be housed in the resort of Pas de la Casa.

Over an average two-week period, incoming UK skiers – 13,000 of them – outnumber the Andorrans.

The secret of Andorra's success is that "all the different elements needed for a good skiing holiday come together there," says Gareth Crump, product director for Crystal, Thomson and Simply Ski, to whom I talked about what are, loosely, the "best of the rest" skiing destinations. "It has an administration that invests in the infrastructure: for example, improvements to road links will cut 45 minutes off the transfer time from Toulouse airport this season. The recent snow record has been good; nevertheless the resorts have also installed snow-making equipment. The hotels remain extremely good value, and for those who like to party, Pas de la Casa is great. Finally, the number of native English-speakers in the ski schools make it ideal for beginners from the United Kingdom."

Although Andorra is – with its undramatic landscape and relatively easy skiing – not a place that one would expect to entertain even intermediate skiers for long, Mr Crump thinks it would be a mistake to regard the principality as merely a staging post for beginners. Thanks to the good value it offers (largely because of its duty – and almost-tax-free status), "more and more people are returning there," he says.

There is a lot to be said for skiing in Italy, too. Most Italians are not high-mileage skiers, so the atmosphere of the slopes is usually languid, particularly on weekdays; and all Italians take their food seriously, so even if you wanted to eat badly in an Italian ski resort you probably wouldn't succeed. But what Italy needs to fight off the challenge of Andorra is snow – and it can't rely on that. "Italy had good snow in 2000/1, and on the back of that sales for last season initially went well," says Mr Crump. "But then, when the snow didn't come during the season, they fell away. The knock-on effect is that this season's early sales have been poor – although there have already been good snowfalls, so they should pick up again."

Italy is prey to climatic conditions; and, says Mr Crump, the resorts have not invested in the insurance that snow-making provides. "But when there is snow, Italian resorts have a lot to offer. The Dolomites are perhaps the most beautiful place to ski, with the dramatic, pinkish mountains; Courmayeur has extreme skiing towards Mont Blanc, and good on-mountain restaurants; Cervinia has a good ski area, and being high has reliably good snow." He adds that, as a rule, Italy also offers good value for money.

The same could not have been said of Switzerland when, a few years ago, a pound bought less than two Swiss francs. The strength of sterling at the end of the 20th century corrected that imbalance, however, and Mr Crump expects Switzerland to "come back a bit", building its share of the UK market. "British skiers got quite frightened about how expensive it seemed; now it can compete for value with France."

Switzerland is "a traditional, high-quality destination" in Mr Crump's eyes. "The whole ski-holiday operation is mature there: they know what they're doing because they've been doing it for so long."

The cradle of British skiing at the beginning of the last century, Switzerland has a whole portfolio of landmark resorts: St Moritz, Davos, Crans Montana, Zermatt and more. Most of them are still run by families grown rich and successful on the transformation of the mountains from a tough agricultural environment into a leisure playground.

The country's tradition for high-quality catering and hospitality lives on, if some of the hotels – for example the delightfully odd Misani in Celerina and the sleek Saratz in Pontresina, both in "suburbs" of St Moritz – depart dramatically from the design-style of the Victorian models. And of course the ski areas run better than clockwork, and offer considerable challenge.

"Part of the attraction of Swiss skiing, too, is the slowish pace of things," Mr Crump adds. "That harks back to the turn-of-the-last-century thing, of the British pioneers when skiing was in its infancy. Trains may not be the quickest or most efficient way of getting around a mountain, but those little Swiss railways are more relaxing then other modes of transport."

Switzerland itself may hark back to that distant, different era. After all, in those days it was the premier destination for British skiers. And Andorra was still more than half-a-century away from opening its first ski area.