They say leopards can’t change their spots, but can lager lout friendly ski resorts reinvent themselves as chic and homely destinations? Sauze D’Oulx used to have a fearsome reputation as a low cost resort for British skiers more interested in drinking and partying than the skiing itself. The “Blackpool of the Alps” had a reputation as the roughest destination in the region. Families and more sober skiers stayed away or certainly didn’t return and the resort settled, if that is the right word, into a melange of bars, night-long happy hours, karaoke and fast food.
However, there was always another side to Sauze. The ski area is large, with dependable snow, good tree skiing and only a short distance from the metropolitan giants of Turin and Milan. Many of the cognoscenti form Turin would own apartments or houses in the old town of narrow streets and dark corners, while others would drive up for the day to ski in fine weather. The roustering and partying was left to the Brits in pubs and bars in the brash new town, while the Italian locals kept themselves to themselves and enjoyed the excellent skiing on offer.
Fast forward 20 years or so and reports of Sauze’s transformation from party town to charming resort were tickling oldgreytravels’ ears. It was time for oldgreytravel to investigate – could this leopard have changed its spots?
One thing that Sauze has always had is accessibility. Only 1 hour from Turin, 15 minutes off the motorway and just a short transfer from the main line railway between Paris and Milan. Oldgreytravel took the train with a stopover in Paris arriving mid-afternoon in Sauze. First impressions were good, sure there were lots of Brits around, but also Italians, French and Dutch, but not all young by any means and families too. Yes, there were happy hours but these were hours of happy, friendly faces having a good time.
We were staying in a small hotel in the quaint old town, an area of tightly-packed stone buildings clustered around narrow alleys and tiny squares. The helter skelter of modernity had by-passed this area with the majority of the bars and hotels in the new town, a short walk away. A few of the old buildings have been converted to small hotels with a scattering of extremely good restaurants tucked in amongst the alleyways. Small shops, churches and government buildings are dotted around but the overwhelming impression is one of a sleepy village rather than the centre of one of the biggest ski resorts in the Alps. There are many reasons why this area has remained largely unaltered, but all you need to know is that this is the area to stay in if visiting Sauze and also the area to eat, if you can get in. Even in low season, these tiny restaurants get full early so make a reservation the day before if you can.
The skiing is as good as it always was and provides a good combination of high snow-sure slopes and lower tree-level skiing for those bad weather days, something we were pleased about when high winds shut the lifts above mid station one day. Accessibility is A+, prices are super keen and the old town is one of the most charming and atmospheric destinations in the Alps. What is there not to like?
Oldgreytravel stayed at the Hotel Gran Trun and travelled from Paris to Oulx by train.
