If you're like me, booking a skiing holiday always feels a little like walking into a minefield. There are so many options out there, I never know where to start and I always seem to end up starting from scratch and trawling through the Internet until something catches my eye. Having been skiing for the best part of thirty years, you'd have thought I'd know better. However, these days there are certain things I tend to look out for. Have a read. Hopefully this'll help you avoid some of the disasters I've experienced!

For starters, I have a family, so I don't want to go somewhere where I'll be constantly worried about losing the youngsters. It's happened before and it wasn't pleasant. Some of the larger ski areas like l'Espace Killy and Les Portes du Soleil in France and Switzerland, or Kitzbuhel and St Anton in Austria present a vast amount of great skiing, but with that come a lot of opportunities for young skiers to get lost... or, in some cases, even make their way into another country (don't ask)! For that reason, these days I'd rather ski somewhere a little more self-contained - somewhere with a good meeting point and with the feeling of a community rather than a large resort that caters for the masses.

On a similar tack, having tried most accommodation options, my family now prefers self-catering. Not only is it almost always a lot cheaper (which works for me - the one who's paying!), it's also a good way for the family to spend some quality time together. Really. Back home in the UK, it's not easy to balance a hectic work schedule with spending time with the family; on a skiing holiday, however, we can all enjoy preparing a meal together and we try to make each evening an event in its own right. Yes, we can still spoil ourselves with a couple of meals out but, having splashed out on a luxurious chalet, we tend to enjoy nights in just as much!

So that's a good start - we know we're looking for a self-catering chalet and we know it needs to be in a pleasant but not overly large resort. That narrows it down nicely, but can we go further?

Yes, because there's a third thing I look for in a skiing holiday - character ...Bear with me on this... Not everyone in our party enjoys skiing to the same extent. In fact some don't ski at all. For that reason, it's important that we go somewhere where those who are less keen on spending all day on the slopes can enjoy themselves too. Pure, purpose-built ski towns don't present many opportunities for non-skiers (there's only so much time one can spend looking in shop windows and visiting the day spa). So these days we tend to look for somewhere with a bit of character and soul - somewhere that has a bit of culture. That rules out places like Les Arcs and Alpe d'Huez. Instead, we look for resorts that are also towns in their own right - somewhere that doesn't depend entirely on tourism for its business. In my experience, these towns tend to have more spirit and give those looking for a more rounded holiday experience a much better insight into the country they're visiting.

And finally? English. It's a sad fact that very few English people speak a second language, but it's a fact nonetheless. I speak some French and German but in my experience young children learning to ski need to be taught by someone who speaks their own language. And this isn't just about how much they learn. I think it's important that children can enjoy their ski school, which means (in my book) that they aren't the only ones in the group who speak English.

So there you have it - four criteria that have helped me, over the years, to find better and more complete family skiing holidays: size of resort, self-catering, a bit of culture and somewhere with English speakers.