Bardonecchia

Bardonnechia hosted all of the snowboarding events in the Torino Winter Olympic Games in 2006. This helped put the resort on the world map and should lead to it becoming a centre of excellence for snowboarding. The resort and ski area are both interesting, but quiet mid week. The resort is packed with Italians, coming up from Turin and Milan, from Friday to Sunday. The rest of the week you have the bars, pistes and restaurants to yourself.

Last year saw a mini revival in the British Tour Operator market with more companies working here and with more beds. This has meant more hotels, bars, restaurants and ski schools are geared up for the British and Irish holidaymakers that choose this resort for their week in the mountains.

Apres ski is generally low key, especially mid-week, so if you want to party - wait for the weekends and expect an Italian flavour to whatever you do. Top tip on the slopes - get over to the smaller area of Jafferau to beat the queues and find fresh tracks.