Estonia

Poking out into the Baltic Sea and bordering with Latvia (to the south) and Russia (to the east) it'll come as little surprise that Estonia's actually quite a chilly place in winter. It snows here - a lot. The only drawback, from a downhill skier's point of view, is that there's not much vertical.

Alpine skiing or snowboarding in Estonia is done on hills rather than mountains. You still get a reasonable amount of variety in terms of difficulty, but with the longest downhill run no more than 500 meters (1,640 feet), you don't need to worry too much if you're not in the best shape of your life.

Two of the hills can be found in the Valga District. A third is in the Vöru District. They all have tows, equipment hire shops and ski schools, and some runs have night skiing. However you won't find any resort styling here. For a skiing or snowboarding trip to Estonia, you're probably best basing yourself in the capital, Tallinn, and heading back there after a day in the snow.

Cross country skiing in Estonia is a different matter. The country excels at the sport (winning three gold medals in cross country at the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics) and with decent snowfall and plenty of level terrain, you're spoilt for choice.

The season lasts from December to March.

Cost

Estonia is still a good choice for skiing or snowboarding in Europe on a budget. Accommodation is reasonably priced and food is great value.

Getting here

There are regular (and cheap) flights to Tallinn from the UK and several other major European cities.