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Sauze d'Oulx Reviews
25 reviews of Sauze d'Oulx in Italy.
Voted 8th out of 19 reviewed ski resorts in Italy
- Superb(10)
- Good(14)
- O.K.(1)
- Poor(0)
- Awful(0)
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january 2016 in Sauze
Reviewed 13 May 2016
The resort was good. Due to some bad weather, the conditions were a bit icy and a few lifts were closed, but otherwise it was good.
Sauze 2016
Reviewed 12 May 2016
It was a very much enjoyable resort in terms of the whole ski area and we were lucky to have the first proper week of snow. It’s a nice place, slightly more of a party resort than others but the actual skiing was great. We had some beginners with us who found enough to do, but I think it’s mostly suited to intermediates. For experts there are only a couple of black slopes. The ski area connects up but the other areas can be hard to get to as often the chair lifts aren’t open.
Good variety of slopes
Reviewed 9 May 2016
Sauze is very good, the resort had a lot of snow the week before so we had nice conditions. I like the variety of the slopes, with some good bits in the trees. It’s more for your intermediate skier, and might not be challenging enough for experts. I wouldn’t say it was the best place to learn either. You are in a town so there are some bits to do, but I think there are probably better resorts for non-skiers as there didn’t seem to be the chance for non-skiers to come up the mountain.
Amazing weather and a good time with the family
Reviewed 27 Apr 2016
We’d never been to Sauze before but we would definitely go back, I think it’s a brilliant resort that caters for everyone, and has everything you would need for a great ski holiday. The slopes are really good.
On the whole I would recommend it! I might not recommend it for complete beginners who had never used a lift / put ski boots on before, as you have to get on a ski lift to reach lessons. It could be a stressful start especially for a whole family of beginners – we were ok as I had skied before, but the family in front of us were struggling. However once you’re up and have mastered the basics, it’s fine. The instructors are brilliant, they took my daughter from a beginner to a black run skier in 4 days, moving her up classes to make sure she learnt as much as possible. It was great because it meant that we could ski together in the afternoon which made it a completely different holiday.
The weather was amazing! They were saying that the snowfall hadn’t been good in 2015/16, but they had a big dump before we arrived so we had 7 days of perfect skiing conditions.
Caught the best weather!
Reviewed 26 Apr 2016
We caught ideal weather in Sauze d’Oulx, it was cold but not too cold, so we were very comfortable. The snow was dry and very good, and we got lots of skiing done – all day long. On the last day it started melting as the weather warmed, so we had been very lucky.
Good time, just needed more snow
Reviewed 22 Apr 2016
We did have a good time away but the snow wasn’t very good in Sauze d’Oulx that week (beginning of February 2016). We had a couple of trips to Montgenevre and still managed to ski every day - the week before had been warm but once the temperature dropped they got the snow cannons going. A good thing was that the area wasn’t too busy! It would have been much better with good snow as all the links would have been open. It’s a big area, like a big bowl… With no snow the link to Sestriere was only open a couple of times. We had to sit on a chair (while holding our skis) to get down to the bottom of the bowl, then 2 assistants would hoik you up onto another lift, which would take you up the bowl. I’ve never experienced anything like that before!
I don’t know if we’d return, having been there we now have lots of other resorts to try. We like Italy on the whole as the food is nice and everything’s a bit cheaper than other countries. The only thing is that the lifts tend to be a bit older.
We had relatively short transfers from/to Turin which was fine.
Great resort
Reviewed 19 Apr 2016
We had a very good week in Sauze and plan on coming back, the only negative was the slight lack of snow on New Year's week. A lot of the runs were closed, though they did their upmost to keep everyone occupied and what was open was good (despite a lot of queuing). Sauze has a great set up, with enough bars and restaurants to keep everyone entertained. We particularly picked Sauze d’Oulx because the transfer isn’t too long and the journey to and from the resort was fine. I hope to be coming back, hopefully when there’s more snow!
A great week in Sauze d’Oulx
Reviewed 9 Apr 2015
This was our first time skiing in Italy, we thought it was lovely and everything was a lot cheaper on the slopes! We were a group of intermediates and above who like big ski areas and it was great for skiing, we managed to cover the whole Sauze-Sestriere area in the week. Some of the runs were really good, especially the ones in between Sauze d’Oulx and Sestriere and on the far right side of Sauze d’Oulx the slopes are very quiet. Sauze d’Oulx is described as a lively resort but it was actually really quiet, we only had to queue for a lift once and it was half term!
Great resort, cheap prices & good skiing
Reviewed 7 Apr 2015
Sauze d’Oulx is a really good resort. I’ve skied in France before where the prices are phenomenal and here you get pretty much the same level of skiing and prices are much cheaper.
We had some lessons which are really cheap compared to France; I think I paid about 100 Euros for 3 days. The après was also strangely cheap… when you come off the Sportinia run, there’s a man stood there giving out vouchers for free beer and after that you can get 2 pints for about 5 euros in happy hour - unbelievably cheap. I’d read that Sauze d’Oulx was a busy resort but it was actually pretty tame.
The runs don’t seem to be graded in the same way you get in France, for example there are blacks the same as blues, reds the same as blues and then blues like blacks! This was good because it meant you could ski the whole resort without having to worry about planning your route to miss out certain runs. There’s also a lot of off-piste around here and we had loads of snow.
I wouldn’t recommend skiing over to France – it’s cool to go over there but you have to go along a five mile flat blue that has no gradient, so you end up duck walking down. Also don’t miss the last lift from Sestriere (which we did). Everywhere in Sauze it says the last lift is 4:30 but this one shuts at 3:45 and even though the gondolas were still going they wouldn’t let us get on. We had to get the bus back, which was included in the lift pass and took 2-3 hours as it went all the way around the mountain. It was quite fun and we got to see some other towns/bars/cafes that we wouldn’t have seen… but it’s definitely worth knowing that the Sestriere lift times are different!
Better than French resorts
Reviewed 31 Mar 2015
First time in Sauze d’Oulx and really liked it! It’s a pretty resort and I much preferred it to the resorts in France. The après ski was good, we found 2 really good wine bars, one which was below Hotel Faure and another that did local beers. There wasn’t really any snow and by the end of the week it was just fake snow, so I can’t really comment on the snowboarding.
Want to go back and ski the rest!
Reviewed 29 May 2014
This was the first time I’d been to Sauze and I will definitely be going back! The main reason it’s so good is that the Milky Way is massive; we didn’t even do half of it. We had brilliant snow and nice weather (2nd week in Feb). My advice to anyone going here is to try and ski it all, we were messing around in the local area for the first couple of days. I’d also recommend doing the meal in the restaurant at the top of the mountain; you go up there in a piste basher which is good fun. Everything is quite reasonably priced in terms of bars and restaurants, the Village Cafe even laid on free pizza at the end of the ski day!
Short transfer, heaps of intermediate skiing
Reviewed 27 May 2014
I chose Sauze d'Oulx because it has very short transfer times. There are no buses allowed in the village so they drop you at the edge, they do offer luggage services if you arrive on time but we were 3 hours late due to delays so had to carry it on our own...
There’s plenty of skiing and we had tonnes of snow. It’s pretty much an intermediate resort; beginners might struggle as some of the blues are nearly reds. We went over to Sestriere which was quite nice and I’d recommend trying to ski over to France, although what they say is a blue is actually a red (it’s nice and wide but quite steep).
The town is quite lively, a lot of groups use it as a drinking resort but you don’t really notice. Half term wasn’t overly busy, there were lift queues straight after lunch but otherwise it was fine – we had no problems at all first thing in the morning and because there are a few different lifts you can choose between to get down, the crowds disperse. There is a ski bus that goes around but we didn’t use it.
Really, really good ski area
Reviewed 21 May 2014
It’s a very good ski resort. The skiing is really, really good. The range of difficulty and the range of slopes is great. It’s suited to all levels. The resort is very good value for money, we didn’t eat out much but for lunch we had a midday stop on the mountain. It was about 20 euros for a sandwich and a drink for the three of us. So like a lot of the Alps it’s not cheap, but it’s reasonable and as long as you just have a snack it doesn’t add up too much. We also went out for pizza one night and I don’t remember it being too expensive.
It’s definitely worth the effort to start early and ski over to Sestriere at least one day. It does get crowded as you come down into the resort but it’s well worth it.
There are free shuttle buses around Sauze.
A very friendly and family orientated resort
Reviewed 18 May 2014
We really liked this resort. There are so many different runs in different areas. Most of the group were intermediate and I’d say the resort suits intermediates and advanced skiers. The snow was fantastic while we were there. I enjoyed that we went over New Years. We usually go over New Years and they had the normal celebrations that you would expect – they had champagne out in the hotel and there were fireworks. The youngsters went off clubbing in town but we don’t really go out much in the evenings, we preferred to relax at the hotel. It’s a very friendly and family orientated resort. I’d go there again.
We came back for our following ski holiday we liked it so much
Reviewed 16 May 2014
The skiing is brilliant. It’s a very large ski area which is why we came back here. We are experienced skiers and there is plenty for high-level intermediates and advanced skiers - black runs and off-piste. You can ski over into France. It’s a rural area, it’s retained its agricultural roots, and is fairly quiet, not a wild place. There are plenty of nice bars and restaurants in town though. It caters to the party crowd just as well as it does to families. We had lunch out on the slopes quite a bit, it was brilliant, everything is such good value in Italy.
The fact that it was an Olympic resort speaks for itself
Reviewed 14 May 2014
The reason I went here is because I had heard good things about the resort and it’s all true. There was plenty of snow even though it was the end of the season. It’s great for intermediate/advanced skiers. There are lots of different opportunities – even Olympic runs. I think I only tried about 10% of what’s on offer! The fact that it was an Olympic resort speaks for itself. I’ve been to Cervinia recently too and I think Sauze d’Oulx is even better than Cervinia. I also found the prices very reasonable in the bars and restaurants. We had a few drinks every day. It’s actually cheaper than the ski resort I went to in Turkey. I can’t recommend a bar particular, it wouldn’t be fair, they were all good and all of a similar standard. There are plenty of red runs, and nice wide routes.
Really liked it, would definitely go back
Reviewed 14 May 2014
Sauze d’Oulx isn’t a huge resort like the ‘mega resorts’ in France but it’s not tiny either, it’s a good medium size and everyone is nice and friendly.
The weather was good with plenty of snow and all the runs were open. The skiing is maybe more intermediate/upper intermediate.
I liked the après ski and there were some good places on the mountain for some spaghetti at lunch time.
Would come back
Reviewed 8 May 2014
Sauze is a nice resort and we had good snow. The skiing was fine and there was certainly enough there. My Mrs. is an intermediate and the slopes here are nice and wide, so even on the steeper ones you could get plenty of turns in. We skied in Zell am See more recently and she wanted to go back to Sauze d’Oulx!
When you go down to the start of the slope you have to walk about 500 yards... but when you’re coming up it seems a bit longer! We hired our boots from the shop where the slope starts (to the left there’s a square and the place was called something like snow sports/ski sports) but our friends hired from somewhere else. We had the better option as the best bar for après ski, Bar Clotes is there as you came off the slope from the Clotes 4 man chair – so we could go straight into the pub whereas our friends had to walk to drop off their stuff and then come back. All in all I’d definitely recommend hiring from somewhere on that square as it makes things easier. We really liked Bar Clotes as it’s a big place with 2 dance floors. They did good food with free nibbles. Ascents was further up the hill on the right and there’s a pizza bar next door where they gave out free samples. We also spent some time in Paddy McGinty’s.
loads & loads of skiing
Reviewed 6 May 2014
Sauze d’Oulx isn’t the right resort if you want to go somewhere for a little quiet or a romantic holiday but then it’s not raucously loud either.
It isn’t the prettiest resort either as everything is all a bit concretey. You do walk through some of the old town which has old streets, bars and restaurants but I think the rest was just thrown up with concrete with a bit of wood put up around the windows.
The good thing is you have heaps of skiing for the week as there’s a really big ski area. You can ski into different valleys (including places like Sestriere) to get away from everyone in the main bit and another good thing about this particular resort is that you can actually ski back into the town. We go away to ski and even if the lifts are closed because of the weather, we’ll be out on the mountain like typical Brits (you have some tree-lined routes lower down to the left of the piste map if there’s flat light or it’s snowing).
The slopes aren’t necessarily as well groomed as somewhere like France or Austria but we’ve never had any problems with this.
If you haven’t been here before, all I’d say is go and explore. Italy isn’t always as well signposted as other countries but get yourself over to the back instead of just going up and down the main slopes like everywhere else. There are some lovely runs, the sad thing is they’re sometimes served by a button lift, but the good thing is they’re always quiet with no queues and the runs are a decent enough length to blast down and get straight back up. Another good tip is to watch out for the Italian school holidays and weekends as the resort gets packed with 8-10 year olds on the ski team who are flying down the slopes!
Recommended to all
Reviewed 2 May 2014
Sauze d’Oulx has a number of slopes and is a really good place to ski. I’d recommend the resort to all ages from kids up until 50+.
There are loads of bars from chill out bars to lively venues and lots of restaurants - we didn’t have a bad meal while we were out there.
In the Italian resorts, everything is definitely cheaper than France, in terms of eating, drinking and going out.
It’s probably best for intermediate skiers but there’s something for everyone including a couple of ski schools if you wasn’t to learn. We were lucky because we had really good snow!
Great skiing and nightlife
Reviewed 28 Apr 2014
Sauze d’Oulx is one of the liveliest resorts without being over the top; it’s not hard to find a bit of nightlife if you’re looking for it. I think it used to be known as the Benidorm of ski resorts but nowadays it’s got a good bit of nightlife without being “Brit’s abroad”. The skiing was great and there was excellent snow at the end of Feb. We didn’t do it but you can ski into 2 other resorts, you can go over the top to Sestriere and there’s another one too, but it’s a full on day to do that even if you’re a good skier.
Better than Alpe d'Huez & lively apres ski
Reviewed 25 Apr 2014
The skiing in Sauze is fine, in fact we’ve just come back from Alpe d’Huez and thought Sauze was definitely better! It has a lot more runs and you can go all around the Milky Way on the ski pass which gives you access to lots of different areas. The runs are labelled really well (there’s nothing black that’s labelled red or anything like that) and the lifts are well labelled too, so it’s easy to find your way around. It worked for people of multiple levels, we were with some friends who were new to skiing and there’s a nice progression from the nursery runs to the greens and then blues. There’s very lively après ski up on the mountain which is good fun too. We were really lucky as they’d just had a freak downpour just before we went (late March), and it snowed while we were there so the conditions were really good.
We were staying in a B&B so ate out all week, there are some lovely restaurants and a lot did happy hours with pizzas included. Sauze has loads of good bars; some of the pubs in the square did quizzes on a certain night in the week which was good fun.
Gets better every time we visit
Reviewed 24 Apr 2014
Nothing bad to say about Sauze d’Oulx at all, I’ve been before and it improves all the time. We ski the whole area which is excellent. It’s more of an intermediate/advanced ski area, I don’t think there’s much of a beginner’s area (Sestriere would be better for beginners). We were here at the end of March and the snow level was low, you had to use the lifts to get right up. If you want to go to Turin, you just get on the train – it’s easy to do, you just get the travel bus down which you get free in your ski pass and then you get the train from the bottom of the mountain into Turin, which takes 1 hour/50 minutes. This means it’s a quick transfer from the airport if you fly into Turin, which is always good.
Been three times
Reviewed 18 Mar 2014
Been to Sauze d’Oulx three times, it’s very nice and friendly.
There are two routes to ski back in to the village and both get well worn, but it depends what type of skiers you are if this is a problem or not!
The area towards Claviere is the best area for skiing as it’s quieter.
If you go over to Sestriere, it’s a bit awkward as you have to ski half way down and then get the bubble the rest of the way and it gets very busy.
The skiing is fine for us when we ski in March but it can be icy in the morning and slushy at the end of the day when it’s sunny, so it’s probably not the best for skiing after March.
Huge and happening on & off the slopes
Reviewed 4 Nov 2013
Main impressions are massive ski area (milkyway) and great nightlife. Good for beginner/intermediate skiers, loads of character in the village and always something on in the evening. Not always guaranteed snow lower down and early December and late April but I guess that’s the same on all mountains everywhere. Sansicario is the best ski area and you can even ski over to France if you make a day of it! Can’t really remember any of the places we ate but will update you if I remember.
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