More and more Britons are buying a place near the slopes and although homes in the big resorts are expensive, you can find properties that offer good skiing at a fraction of the cost of lesser-known areas near by. Here we give you a taster of some of the coolest European hot spots to watch out for next year. If you are lucky, you could even find yourself owning a home of your own in time for the next ski season.

FRANCE

You will need serious money to buy a bolt hole in the top French resorts — about €600,000 for a two-bedder in Méribel, €500,000 in Chamonix, and €1 million in Courchevel. But a shortage of cheaper property in the top resorts has pushed developers to explore new areas.

“The French are good at investing in ski areas and linking resorts,” says James Rodwell, of MGM French Properties. Investors willing to try new areas are finding that being adventurous can pay off. “Vallandry, near Les Arcs, is a prime example,” says Rodwell. “If you had bought there two years ago when it was unknown, you would have doubled your money.”

But where to next? Rodwell recommends considering the area around Flaine in Le Grand Massif (Haute Savoie), where there is 265km of piste. Although Flaine is one of the best examples of bad 1960s architecture, nearby traditional villages provide rich pickings for bargain hunters.

MGM has developments in Les Carroz- d’Arâches, Morillon and Samoëns, which all have good ski links and are under an hour’s drive from Geneva airport. Two-bedroom apartments in Les Carroz cost from about €330,000 (£228,000).

Another up-and-coming area is the Espace Diamant (in Savoie), where five villages have been linked to create 280km of pistes. MGM has two-bedroom apartments costing as little as €160,000 in its latest development of Crest-Voland. Rodwell says: “This unspoilt part of the Alps has a superb all-year skiing area and it is under an hour and a half from Geneva.”

MGM French Properties, 020-7494 0706, www.mgmfrenchproperties.com

Continued on page two...()Continued from page one

ITALY

Madonna di Campiglio is one of the places to ski and be seen. With over 300km of slopes it attracts wealthy skiers from Verona, Venice and Milan. Property prices are equally glitzy, but just 9km away in Folgarida you can pick up a property for about a third of the price. Damian Hamp-Adams, of Colliers CRE, which is selling 15 apartments at Nevesole Folgarida, says: “We have had a lot of interest from people who know Folgarida but say that Madonna is a bit too steep for them.”

The apartments are ski-in ski-out and all the lifts hook up with Madonna di Campiglio. Prices start at €122,000 and there is a 5 per cent rental guarantee for 12 years, which allows owners to use their property one week every year.

Colliers CRE, 020-7344 6509, www.ccreinternationalsales.co.uk

AUSTRIA Restrictions have prevented foreigners buying in some parts of Austria in the past, but Shaun Ashdown, of Aquavista Property, says that he has noted increasing interest from Britons. He recommends that would-be buyers consider Salzburger Sportwelt in Saltzburgerland, which comprises eight resorts and has 865km of slopes. He says: “Resorts such as Flachau and Zauchensee have not traditionally been tour-operator resorts, but prices are still very reasonable. The skiing is superb and Flachau is only a 45-minute drive from Saltzburg airport.” For €119,000, Aquavista Property is selling a two-bed flat five minutes’ drive from the slopes near the regional capital of St Johann.

Aquavista Property, 01580 850170, www.aquavistaproperty.com

SWITZERLAND

Philip Barker, of Overseas Homesearch, says that controls on development in Swiss ski resorts have helped to preserve the chocolate-box charm that so attracts buyers. The good news is that you don’t have to pay a fortune for it. Overseas Homesearch has studio apartments in Villars costing from £282,000, but for the same price it is also selling two and three- bedroom flats in Le Closel, a development on the edge of the resort.

Barker says other villages near the big resorts worth a look are Château d’Oex, 20 minutes’ drive from Gstaad, and Leukerbad, half an hour’s drive from CransMontana. In Anzère, also near CransMontana, Chesterton International has apartments at Residence Le Loup Blanc starting at £280,000. Or, for a third of the cost of apartments in Verbier and 25 minutes’ drive down the road, Overseas Homesearch has apartments at Les Combins. Priced from £182,000, they are in a pretty village overlooking Champex Lac.

Chesterton International 020-7201 2070 www.chesterton.co.uk; Overseas Homesearch, 0800 6520769, www.overseashomesearch.co.uk

Explore Property

• Buying & Selling

• New Homes

• Overseas

• Interiors

• Investment

• Gardens

• Specials

Times recommends

• Spanish property: why it's crunch time on the Costa del Sol
• Strong Euro and credit crunch impact overseas property buyers
• How to find the perfect Paris pied-a-terre