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Skiing in the Pyrenees

A ski break in the Pyrenees is unlike any other ski holiday you've taken. It's not like the French Alps or Austria: the resorts are smaller and more family-oriented. The mountains themselves are in general lower than the Alps (around 3000 metres) but the french resorts are all on the northern side of the range.

There are three main areas:

* the eastern Pyrenees where a half-dozen resorts group around the town of Font Romeu - among them Les Angles, Pyrenees 2000 and St Pierre

* the Ariège valley which leads from Toulouse up to Andorra

* the Central Pyrenees with two poles - St Lary and Peyragudes to the east and La Mongie, Cauterets/Luz and Gavarnie more to the west

The Eastern Pyrenees get a lot of sunshine and, as Font Romeu is a bustling centre, it attracts a lot of spanish skiers at the start of the season. The smaller resorts - among them Les Angles, Pyrenees 2000 and St Pierre - are based on typical Catalonian villages with chalet-type residences and easy access to the slopes. All are within easy reach of a number of hot water spas - the most dramatic being St Thomas-les-Bains where you can bathe in 38° water surrounded by deep snow. This region is also well served with airports: Carcassonne 90 minutes to the north with direct flights from Dublin, Liverpool and Stansted. Perpignan is 90 minutes to the East (Stansted) and Gerona just over the Spanish border to the south with its wealth of connections to Stansted, Dublin, Liverpool, Frankfurt and Glasgow.

The Ariège Valley winds up from the plains through Foix and Tarascon to Ax-les-Thermes, an old spa town turned ski resort. On the mountainside above Ax a tremendous ski domain has been developed at Bonascre which stretches right up to the Andorran border. Andorra, itself a ski destination, is best avoided ... unless you like sharing your hotel with lager louts and the slopes with roadhogs. The real problem with Andorra is access: the only road in from France takes a high 2400 metre pass which is invariably blocked with snow adding hours, even days to the journey.