Après ski? What`s that then? (Sestriere)

Member Name: Scoobyroo

Product:	Sestriere
Date:	05/03/02 (538 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Close to slopes, Short flight/transfer, Many runs

Disadvantages: Not much there, Little Apres Ski, Quiet

I liked sestriere? in fact, I loved sestriere. With a sub-2hour flight time from the UK, and a coach transfer that was only ever so slightly longer I arrived as fresh as a daisy!

Having never skied before, I was more than a little apprehensive about the week ahead but I needn`t have been. We booked out holiday through Thompson`s and the price included flight, transfer, 1 week half board accommodation in the Du Sol hotel, ski and boot hire and 6 days of ski school (worth the time and effort, even if you are already a bit of a snow diva). Hotel check in was painless and the ski`s and boots were easy to get providing you arrived at the store early in the day.

Ski school was fab. The instructors all spoke English (as well as many other languages) and they were always happy to help and extremely patient (just as well with me on the slopes I`ll tell you!). One thing I would say is not to expect one to one tutoring. The instructors generally take classes of 10 or so, so it is difficult for them to concentrate too much on individuals, though they will if anyone is having a issue picking up something (in other words, if he/she doesn`t spend too much time with you, it`s because you are picking it up well, nice one!).

There are several runs, with a good selection of beginner, easy and medium ones, though I understand that there aren`t too many hard runs in the immediate area. Not to worry though, pop onto one of the many ski lifts and the whole of the Milky Way is at your disposal (the Milky Way being the area surrounding Sestriere and providing more ski runs than you could possibly need). As beginners we were quiet happy to stay on the easy runs, with our first trip down to Bucata (our first easy run and proper ski after the nursery/beginner slopes) being a mixture of fear, adrenaline and shear awe. And too think, we got to that stage on the third day, ski school was that good!

The hotel we stayed in was situated right at the foot
of the slopes but more importantly right next to the ski lifts. As Sestriere itself is quite small, you should find that the majority of hotels are within easy walk of the slopes and lifts, even with those good awful moon boots on :o). By night Sestriere is certainly no Ibiza, in fact it would be hard pushed to be classed as a Weston Super Mare let alone anything else! Yes, if there`s one bad thing about Sestriere, it`s the après-ski.

Don`t get me wrong, there are a few bars and a (very) small karaoke club all of which are run by friendly natives, but that`s about it. Still, you`ll be so tired after all that skiing that nightlife probably won`t be that high on your priority list anyway.

Weather wise, wow! The first few days were beautifully clear (and very hot) with the remainder of the week providing some much needed snow (all 5ft of it, overnight!). Some transition I know, but it was good to experience skiing (read as `falling over`) in powdery snow up to your waist.

If you have never been skiing before, you hate long flights and coach transfers and after hours drinking is not your bag, you couldn`t do any better than Sestriere. If Ibiza is your thing, go to Sestriere anyway but take your walkman and a crate of Evian.

Drop me a line if you want to know more.

`Scoob`

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