UK school holiday ski dates 2026/27

Ski operators price by week, and the dearest weeks are the ones when the most British families can travel. But "the school holidays" are four nations' calendars and several hundred councils' decisions, and the price bands are a compromise between them. Knowing where your own council falls can save a family of four more than £1,500: a Northern Ireland family, or one in a council that breaks early, can take the week before the main English half term at the high-season price rather than the half-term one. The table below is the calendar the finder uses, with the holiday flags by nation.

The dates that matter for skiing

• Christmas 2026: most schools in all four nations break up on Friday 18 December and go back on Monday 4 January 2027. Ski weeks: Saturday 19 December (Christmas) and Saturday 26 December (New Year). Some Scottish councils return a day or two later.
• February half term 2027, England: most councils are off Monday 15 to Friday 19 February, so the ski week starts Saturday 13 February. A few councils run 13 to 21 February (the same week for skiing), and some, mainly in the South West, break the week before.
• Wales: mostly the same week as England; some councils a week earlier.
• Scotland: the February mid-term break varies by council and is often only two or three days. Some councils are off in the week of 6 February, others in the week of 13 February.
• Northern Ireland: the mid-term break is Thursday 11 and Friday 12 February 2027. A ski week from Saturday 6 February means three days off school; from 13 February, none, but the week after is at the half-term price.
• Easter 2027: Easter Sunday is 28 March. Most English and Welsh councils break from about Saturday 27 March to Sunday 11 April; some northern councils take the two weeks from 3 April. Scotland and Northern Ireland are usually in the same fortnight. Ski weeks: 27 March and 3 April.

Check your own council's published term dates before you book: a week's unauthorised absence can mean a fixed penalty notice in England, and the operators' "half term" label is a marketing week, not your school's.

Every Saturday of the season

'Some councils' means the dates differ between councils in that nation: check your own school's calendar.

What the bands mean for your booking

• The multiplier is on the package only. Lift passes, hire, lessons and lunches cost the same in every week, so a 1.9× half term adds about 90% to the flights-and-accommodation line and nothing to the rest. The full breakdown is in what a ski week costs.
• Half term is the only week sold at 1.9×. New Year is 1.7×, Christmas 1.5×, Easter 1.4×. Of the school holidays, Easter is the best value and, in 2027, early enough for good snow.
• The weeks around half term are high season (1.2×) because the French, Belgian and Dutch holidays fill them. Still £400 to £1,000 a head cheaper than the half-term week itself.
• No British school is off in January, which is why the four January weeks are the best-value skiing of the year.

If your dates don't match the band

1. Northern Ireland: book the Saturday 6 February week. Three days off school, high-season price, and the main English half-term crowds arrive as you leave.
2. Early-breaking councils in Wales and the South West: the same 6 February week, usually with the full week off.
3. Scotland: check which of the two weeks your council takes; if it is 6 February, take it. The Scottish Easter holidays can also fall a week off the English ones.
4. Everyone else: Easter 2027 at 1.4× is the cheaper school-holiday week with reliable snow in the high resorts, as the Easter guide shows.

Common questions