Skiing: lots of fun; but not so easy on the wallet. In Europe, particularly, whether you're a group of friends looking to get away for a week's skiing in France, or a family planning their ski holiday in Austria, there's no two ways about it - it's always likely to be a little on the expensive side. But there are varying degrees of 'expensive', obviously. And this run-down of where to go to find the best cheap ski chalets in Europe can certainly go a long way to driving those costs down!

Cheap Ski Chalets in France

When it comes to where to go for cheap ski holidays France is not, as a general rule, particularly high on anybody's list. But skiing in France isn't solely limited to the ultra-glamorous enclaves of Chamonix, Morzine and Val d'Isere. Over in La Chapelle d'Abondance, for example, you can still get a week in a ski chalet for two - at the stylish likes of Le Duplex - for well under 800 Euros. Which, as well as the great skiing the resort itself offers, opens up access to the 650km of top-class skiing of the Portes du Soleil that extends around it.

Affordable Ski Rental Accommodation in Bulgaria

When it comes to striking a balance between fantastic skiing and some of the best cheap ski chalets in Europe, then Bulgaria is always going to be right up there. A week's accommodation for eight in a high-end mountain villa five minutes' drive from the resort of Borovets can be had for as low as 450 pounds. And Borovets is certainly no poor relative when it comes to Europe ski holidays: it boasts 45km of runs (which may not quite compare with the Alps, admittedly) but many of these are above the tree-line, making for wonderfully scenic skiing.

Great Value Ski Holiday Homes in the Dolomites

One of the best tricks to cheap skiing in Europe is obviously to pick a less fashionable resort that still has access to the same snow and many of the same runs as a handful of different, better-known resorts nearby. This is certainly the case with Alba di Canazei. Here, a week at Chalet Cesa da Monte, for instance, is likely to set you back somewhere between 400-600 Euros. While the resort itself only boasts six lifts, it does have an impressive 3822 feet of vertical descent; what's more, it makes a convenient - and significantly cheaper - jump-off point for the rest of the Dolomiti Superski area.

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