February half term 2027: where's still affordable

Half term is the one week of the ski season that operators can sell twice over. Packages run at roughly double a January week, the best chalets are gone by October, and the lift queues in the big French resorts are the longest of the year. It is also, for most families with school-age children, the only week they can go. This page shows what it costs resort by resort, computed by the finder for a typical family, so you can see where the money goes before you ask for quotes.

When is February half term 2027?

• England: most councils break for Monday 15 to Friday 19 February 2027, so the ski week is Saturday 13 to Saturday 20 February. A few councils run Saturday 13 to Sunday 21 February, which is the same week for skiing. Some, mainly in the South West, break a week earlier.
• Wales: mostly the same week as England, with some councils a week earlier.
• Scotland: the February mid-term break varies by council and is often shorter; some are off in the week of 6 February, some in the week of 13 February.
• Northern Ireland: the mid-term break is Thursday 11 and Friday 12 February 2027, so a ski week from Saturday 6 February covers it with two days off school.

Check your own school's calendar before booking: operators sell both weeks as "half term", and families regularly pay the peak price for a week their children are still at school. All the UK dates are in the school holiday ski dates guide.

What a family pays in the main half-term week

Two intermediate adults and two children of 7 and 10 who have never skied, flying from Manchester on Saturday 13 February, with the package, lift passes, hire and the children's group lessons. Sorted by price. The snow score is the finder's confidence for that week, out of 100.

Two adults (intermediate) and children of 7 and 10 (first week, group lessons), flying from Manchester on 13 February. Covers the package (flights, transfers, half board or catered chalet), 6-day lift passes, hire and the children's lessons. Not food. Estimates from the operators' and lift companies' published 2026/27 prices; get a live quote.

Nothing on the list comes in under about £1,550 a head once lift passes, hire and lessons are added, and the big-name French resorts are £2,100 to £2,600. That is the half-term premium at work: the package line is about 1.9 times its January level, and the package is well over half the total.

What the week either side saves

The same family, the same cover, on the Saturday before and the Saturday after. Both are priced as high season rather than half term.

Same family of four from Manchester, same cover. The 6 and 20 February weeks are priced as high season (about 1.2× January); 13 February as half term (about 1.9×).

That is about £1,650 to £2,100 off a family holiday for moving one week, and the saving grows with the resort's price. It only works if your school's dates allow it: Northern Ireland families and those whose councils break early can take the 6 February week without an unauthorised absence. For everyone else it is a decision between the price and the register.

Which resorts make sense at half term

• Passo Tonale is the stand-out: the highest snow score of the cheap resorts, gentle open slopes on a north-facing pass, under-8s skiing free with a paying adult, and a glacier up top. The village is a strip of hotels on a road, so go for the skiing, not the atmosphere.
• Bardonecchia is the cheapest resort on the list, a few pounds under Bansko, with a railway station in town and north-facing, tree-lined runs. Modest skiing in three sectors; a week is enough for beginners and early intermediates.
• Bansko is within a few pounds of the cheapest, but half term is also when its single gondola queues worst. Budget for an early start every day.
• Cervinia costs about £650 a head more than Tonale and buys snow at 2,000 to 3,500 m, long sunny cruising runs for intermediates, and Zermatt for a day. Worth it for a family that has skied before and wants a bigger area.
• Flaine is the French answer at about £2,100: ski-in/ski-out apartments, a north-facing bowl that holds snow, a big beginner area and a 75-minute transfer from Geneva. Quiet evenings.
• Söll and Alpbach are cheap and friendly, but their low altitude shows in the snow score. In mid-February both are usually fine on snowmaking; the risk is a warm fortnight.
• The big French names (Val Thorens, Tignes, Val d'Isère, Méribel, Courchevel) are where the queues and the prices peak. If it has to be the Three Valleys, Les Menuires gets you the whole area for about £120 a head less than Val Thorens. In Paradiski, Les Arcs gives most of the skiing for £180 to £640 a head less than the big names, though La Plagne now costs about the same as them.

Booking half term

1. Book early. Family chalets and hotels with childcare for half term go between the previous Easter and October. By November you are choosing from what is left.
2. Price the whole week, not the package. Lift passes, hire and lessons add £400 to £600 a head on top of the package, and that part doesn't change by week.
3. Check childcare and lessons first. English-speaking group lessons for children sell out at half term in the British-favourite resorts. Reserve them when you book the holiday.
4. Pick a big area or a quiet one. Crowds spread out across 400 km of pistes; they don't across 75 km served by one gondola.

Common questions