"A new contender is vying to be Europe’s best-value ski resort – the Polish mountain town of Zakopane in the Tatra Alps, with an incredible 51 ski areas on its doorstep.

Prices are as low as they go - £10 for a ski pass, £1 for a beer and a tenner buys a gourmet dinner with wine. Yet the standards are much higher than other eastern bloc ski countries like Bulgaria and Romania.

No hand-me-down rickety old chairlifts from Austria, but the best, state-of-the-art Doppelmayr quad lifts wit rolling mats.

For sure, most of the region’s skiing is mamma and pappa-style resorts like you find in the Eastern United States, with two or three short runs. But there are bigger areas, and when these are linked up they will give some of Austria’s linked ski areas a run for their money.

Zakopane has its own beginner/intermediate slope, Szyloschkowa, in the town, and an even larger mountain, Bialka, served by four chair lifts.

Best of all, just outside the town, is the Pope’s mountain – 2000 metre-high Kasprowy-Wierch.

This was Pope John Paul’s favourite ski mountain and he loved to take on its challenging runs every time he visited his birthplace nearby.

Kasprowy has some serious blacks and reds and couliour skiing at the summit and a five mile home run back to base."

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