Shopping around

Travelling has become so cheap that you can offset the price of a weekend break by doing your Christmas shopping abroad. Many European fashion houses now offer factory outlets with prices more usually associated with the January sales.

The best place to start is Florence. Avoid the expensive flights to the city's small airport and take the low-cost option to nearby Pisa with Ryanair (ryanair.com) - weekend flights in December from £46 (plus £7 rail fair). Outlet Firenze (outlet-firenze.com) offers discounts on a range of labels such as Gucci, Valentino and Armani.

Florence is also handy for the Prada factory in Montevarchi, an hour away by train (£5 return from www.trenitalia.com). Enjoy Florence (www.enjoyflorence.com) has a range of outlet tours from £17pp; its whole-day tour takes in Prada, Dolce & Gabbana and two downtown outlet malls and costs £54.

For accommodation, visit laterooms.com, punch in Florence and you will quickly find the Hotel Cavaliere, just south of the River Arno with doubles for £46.

The small town of Troyes, 100 miles south of Paris, is the birthplace of Lacoste and Petit Bateau, and factory shops have been open there since the 60s, many of them under the roof of the massive McArthurGlen outlet mall (mcarthurglen.fr). Troyes is also a good source for champagne, charcuterie and chaource, the local soft cheese. There is a small domestic airport 5km from the centre, but the best bet is Eurostar (eurostar.com) via Paris for £69.50. The France Hotel Network (francehotelnetwork.com) offers a decent choice of lodgings; the nicest looking is the four-star Hotel de la Poste (hotel-de-la-poste.com) with doubles from £74.

All prices correct at time of going to press