FEBRUARY in Britain is officially a washout – so now’s the perfect time to book your next holiday.
ClubMed has just launched a massive flash sale, slashing 20% off a bundle of luxury all-inclusive ski holidays.
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ClubMed offers a huge range of all-inclusive ski holidays across the French and Italian Alps
Club Med: 20% off ski holidays
Whether you fancy skiing the French peaks or the Italian slopes, you can bag a serious bargain with the travel operator – but only for the next few days.
This promotion launched earlier today (3rd February) and runs until midnight on Friday (6th February).
Best of all, it covers holidays all the way from November 2026 to May 2027.
The discounts on offer are for a wide number of ClubMed resorts across the European Alps.
At Alpe d’Huez, you get ski-in, ski-out access to a massive 250km piste area.
When you aren’t carving up the snow, you can also try dog-sledding or hit the PAYOT spa.
You can even enjoy a legendary apres-ski session at the beautiful lobby bar.
If you want to go all out, Grand Massif offers contemporary chalet-apartments with private fireplaces.
Guests there even enjoy a daily glass of champagne from 6pm.
Meanwhile, Les Arcs Panorama is a family dream, featuring a Scandinavian enchanted forest design.
You can even soak those sore legs in an open-air jacuzzi while looking out over the Paradiski area.
Because it’s all-inclusive, your lift passes and lessons are usually sorted, meaning there are no nasty, hidden-cost surprises.
ClubMed ski holiday deals this February
The 20% discount is automatically applied to these price drops (per person, per week):
LIKE theatre, gigs and festivals but hate the price tags that go with them?
There are plenty of little-known sites that offer heavily discounted or even FREE tickets to top-name events to fill empty seats. This even includes recordings for TV shows that have audiences.
TodayTix is a great platform for finding discounted West End ticketsCredit: Getty
With London West End shows easily setting two people back £100, heading to the theatre may seem possible only once in a blue moon.
But thanks to the following sites, you could save hundreds on tickets – we’ve tested all of them, and got incredible tickets to some huge shows for a fraction of what everyone else is paying.
TodayTix
If you don’t already have the TodayTix app, you should download it now.
It is an app for booking theatre and stage shows, including the London West End performances.
It’s especially great for anyone looking for last-minute shows.
There is a feature called ‘Rush Tickets’, which offers a chance to get discounted tickets on the day of a performance.
Shows this offer is applied to include MJ The Musical (£30), The Producers (£30), Titanique (£30), Stranger Things The First Shadow (£25), Back to the Future (£29.50), Six (£25), The Book of Mormon (£25) and Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap (£25).
I recently watched The Mousetrap on a £25 Rush Ticket and managed to get the first row of the upper circle – a seat that usually costs considerably more than £25.
The app also has a ‘lottery’ feature for some shows, where you can enter a lottery for tickets from as little as £10.
Under this feature, you do have to be resilient, as the likelihood of getting lottery tickets is slim.
However, after a few months of entering the lottery every week, I managed to bag £40 tickets to both parts of Harry Potter and The Cursed Child – tickets which can usually set you back over £400 for the stalls or dress circle.
Other shows that have lottery offers include Hamilton, which, if you won, you’d only pay £10 for.
Some shows also have their own offers on the app, for example, Moulin Rouge offers Bohemian Seats, which are reduced tickets (£30) for same-day performances.
With TodayTix, I have managed to visit several shows – Rush Ticket offers include MJ The Musical tickets for £30Credit: Cyann Fielding
Applause Store
Applause Store claims to be the world’s best television audience company and gives out tickets to a range of shows.
I have been using Applause Store for about four years now, and in that time, I have seen a couple of shows, including QI.
The one major downside, though, is that you get tickets and then queue for a long time and don’t necessarily get in.
This has put me off using Applause Store as frequently, though it is great if there is a show you really want to see being filmed for TV.
For example, at the time of writing, Applause Store is booking tickets for the BAFTA Awards fan areas, something that I would love to see, and so I have applied for two tickets.
Tickets are free, but just because you get tickets doesn’t mean that you are guaranteed entry, so if you are desperate to see the show, make sure you get there early.
SRO Audiences
SRO Audiences is similar to Applause Store.
For SRO Audiences, you don’t need to sign up – simply head onto the website, look at the shows available and request tickets.
Similar to Applause Store, tickets do not guarantee entry, so it is best to get there early on the day.
Central Tickets
Central Tickets is primarily for London theatre events – and by this I don’t necessarily mean London West End shows.
You have to sign up, but it is free of charge to do this, and then you get access to heavily discounted or even free tickets to shows.
Before Christmas, I nabbed two free tickets with a £6.50 admin fee (so £13 total) to see Burlesque: Unwrapped instead of a minimum of £45 per person.
The festive-yet-saucy burlesque performance was, of course, adults only and featured performers twirling around and undressing to Christmas tunes – I’m talking Rudolph nipple tassels and lots of glitter.
It was no London West End show, but for £6.50, my friend and I had a great laugh and a fun evening out.
A lot of the events and shows will most likely be things you haven’t heard of before, but all have a description, meaning you can learn what the show is about before booking.
Sometimes there are some real gems, though; for example, at the time of writing, you could head to Phantom Peak’s immersive experience for £10 instead of £35, or you could head to Sabrage, “featuring international circus elites and theatrical misfits”, for £15 instead of a minimum of £30.
Some sites have discounted tickets to events, including comedy gigsCredit: Getty
Show Film First
Similar to Central Tickets, Show Film First offers heavily discounted tickets to shows and events.
You do have to sign up for an account, which is free, and their newsletter to get the offers.
Some of the current offers include seeing the London Lions basketball team playing against the Niners Chemnitz team, and you would only pay the access fee.
They have also had tickets to top London day festivals, featuring international popstars as headline acts – for an access fee of just £7.95 (but we won’t say who, to spare their blushes).
Other offers include travel conferences and comedy shows.
Age-bracketed tickets
When living in London, it is often easy to forget that theatres, cinemas, and so on offer age-related discounts, and it isn’t necessarily always for youngsters.
The Young Vic then offers £12 tickets for under 25s, and the Barbican and Almeida Theatre both offer £5 tickets for 25s and under.
A bit older than that? Well, if you are under 30, joining the mailing lists for the Royal Albert Hall and Donmar Warehouse allows you to grab £20 tickets.
At The Royal Albert Hall, past events have included Barbie: The Movie in Concert, Video Games in Concert and BBC Proms: The Traitors.
There is also Kids Week, which usually takes place in the summer, and allows children under the age of 18 to visit many West End shows for free with a paying adult.
In addition to offers, there are some ticket types that cost lessCredit: Cyann Fielding
Restricted view
One way to get cheaper tickets at pretty much any show is by opting for the restricted-view seats.
Sites like SeatPlan and A View From My Seat help to show what sort of view you would get, so you can always check a restricted seat’s view before actually booking it.
If you do book this kind of ticket, you can expect to save between 30 and 50 per cent compared to a seat with a non-restricted view.
Whilst this offer isn’t available at the moment, it will be in the summer again, every Friday at 11am when tickets are released for the following week.
And each ticket only costs £5.
Last summer I watched The Winter’s Tale on a standing ticket.
Half of the show was conducted inside, where I did stand but had a barrier to lean on, and then the other half was outside, and thanks to the show not being fully booked, I got a seat.
It is worth checking the length of the show and thinking whether you can stand for that long, though, before committing.
Like at the Globe theatre, you can stand for just £5Credit: Getty
Disney discounts
If you head to the ‘Disney Tickets’ website, you can grab tickets to Disney’s West End shows for less than usual.
For example, you can grab tickets to The Lion King and Disney‘s Hercules on Mondays at noon for that week’s performances for £29.50.
Known as Magical Mondays, it means you could see The Lion King for considerably less than the usual ticket price, which sits around the £70 to £110 range.
All you need to do is create a MyDisney account, which is free to do.
YOU might think a holiday city break with the entire family would be an expensive staycation – but I’ve found a cheap way to do it.
My family of five stays in a different UK city or town every February half-term for less than £50, thanks to a cheap-as-chips offer from the Youth Hostel Association.
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Staying in YHA Hostels across the UK can cost as little as £7pppnCredit: Catherine LofthouseThey’re in major cities too like Manchester, Liverpool and LondonCredit: Catherine Lofthouse
What we especially love about our little break away is that we can get a room in a beautiful building in a luxury location for very little money.
Family rooms and cabins are already pretty affordable at this time of year anyway and the annual YHA January Sale discount code takes an extra 20 per cent off, which makes it incredible value for money.
The deal is still running and covers February half-term and the Easter holidays, so you can take a trip to city, countryside or coastal hostels during the school holidays for next to nothing.
We love a city break at this time of year as it’s the perfect way to while away the grey days. Generally there are very few tourists about and we can normally find lots of free stuff to do indoors at museums and the like.
My favourite was when we stayed at YHA Chester Trafford Hall a couple of years ago, as that was the perfect blend of city and countryside.
It was glorious to be greeted by a carpet of snowdrops as we arrived at the hostel, an old Georgian mansion set in lovely grounds.
You can hop on the bus nearby to get into the city centre in less than half an hour and go for a wander through the historic streets, taking in Roman ruins and the Rows, covered wooden walkways that allow access to shops at first-floor and street level, a famous feature of the city since medieval times.
Our family room only cost £29.25 (£5.85pppn) and another great element of a hostel stay is that there’s generally a self-catering kitchen, a restaurant where kids eat for £1 and a games room.
We can choose whether to cook for ourselves or order from the restaurant menu and the boys have somewhere to entertain themselves while waiting for food.
It’s lovely staying somewhere that’s got a bit of character and seeing a historic building given a new lease of life for the 21st century.
And it’s great to chat to other guests using the communal areas and pick up tips for where to visit next.
This February, we’re heading for Canterbury to stay in a cosy log cabin for just £34 a night for the five of us – which works out at £6.80 each.
We can’t wait to check out the sights, including the historic cathedral, and hopefully head to the Kent coast if the weather is okay.
It was a bit of a toss up between Canterbury and staying at the iconic Albert Docks in Liverpool for just £28 for a room for four people.
Some YHA Hostels like Chester is found inside a pretty mansion houseCredit: Refer to SourceThe camping pods in Stratford have a bedroom, kitchenette & shower room with a toiletCredit: Refer to Source
I’ve been visiting this northern powerhouse since I was a child and I love the warm Scouse welcome we always get when we go back.
So if you want to follow in the footsteps of the Beatles or take a ferry across the Mersey, this could be the perfect base for you.
YHA Manchester also has £40 rooms for a family of five and its canalside location is just a 15-minute walk from the city centre.
One year, we took a trip to YHA Bath, another gorgeous Georgian villa a walk or bus ride away from the city centre.
Bath can get pretty crowded once the weather warms up so going in February is perfect if you don’t want too much hustle and bustle. A stay in a family room there is £72 during half-term.
Using a youth hostel as a base can also be a really affordable way to visit the capital over in the holidays. We stayed in a log cabin at YHA Lee Valley one February, which is next to Cheshunt railway station, where trains stop en route to Liverpool Street.
It was slightly surreal waking up in a nature reserve surrounded by birdsong and then being in the heart of the city within half an hour. The best London deal I’ve spotted for this half-term is at YHA Earls Court, where a six-bed family room costs just £48.
If you’re not a fan of city breaks, the January sale discount code also works for lots of the Lake District hostels and other countryside locations, which often have outdoor cabins and glamping options as well as family rooms.
We visit YHA Stratford-upon-Avon most years to stay in the deluxe camping pods behind the main building.
They’ve got a little kitchenette and a built-in shower room with toilet, so the pods are a lovely place to get a bit of peace and quiet, before heading into town to enjoy some of the tourist hotspots before they get busy later in the year.
We’ve stayed for less than £20 a night for all of us before, but this half-term, the pods cost £48 using the sale code.
You really can’t beat a YHA stay if you want to bag a bargain and take the family away for a night in half-term for next to nothing.
Catherine is heading to Canterbury for her next YHA Hotel trip
