We use it narrowly. Out of season is not the shoulder — it is the stretch after the shoulder, when a destination stops running a visitor economy and goes back to running itself. In practice that is the fortnight after the last coach, the month before the ski lifts turn, or the weeks a place is officially having its worst weather.
The distinction matters because the trade is different. In the shoulder you get most of what the high season offers at a lower price. Out of season you get something else entirely: fewer people, worse weather, half the restaurants shut, and a place that is not performing. We think that is the better deal. It is not the same deal.
How we judge it
Every destination piece in this magazine states plainly what closes, what the weather does, and what you give up. If an article does not tell you what you are losing, it is advertising.