Best Places to Stay in Sestriere Ski Resort
Sestriere ski resort has lodging options that include a ski-in ski-out hotel high up on Mt Motta, oodles of hotels and apartments next to the ski lifts and a multitude of selections down in the valleys. Sestriere is close enough and lift connected to many other villages in the broader Via Lattea area so that the choices are close to endless.
Sestriere consists of three villages along the SP23 road that are lift connected directly into the resort: Sestriere, Sestriere Borgata, Pragelato*. Note that Pragelato comes with an asterisk - more on that later. Three smaller hamlets down the road are reckoned to be part of the resort by virtue of the ability to ‘ski-in’ via the off-piste from Monte Fraiteve: Champlas du Col, Champlas Janvier & Champlas Seguin. Away from the lifts & slopes numerous smaller clusters of lodgings & villages dot the landscape including Grangesises, Sauze di Cesana & Allevè.
Search & book here for all Sestriere ski accommodation.
When skiing or boarding at Sestriere, if seeking the full-on ski resort experience with all its garishness, then Sestriere village is recommended. If wanting a more authentic, traditional Italian mountain village snow holiday, places like Allevè, Champlas Seguin & Sauze di Cesana are the juice. For something in between, try Pragelato (if you have a car) or the more distant Cesana.
Sestriere Ski-in Ski-out Mountain Lodgings
High up on the flanks of Motta at 2,600m elevation, the resort is lorded over by the prominent Hotel Tana Della Volpe. Accessible only by ski lift or snowmobile in winter, and gaudy exterior colour aside, the hotel has the best panoramic views & ultimate first tracks.
Sestriere Village
It is unfortunate the main ski village at Sestriere lacks the charm & romance of a classic European ski resort. But while its architecture is certainly not to everyone's taste, Sestriere village does have one massive advantage - location, location, location. It has a pleasingly sunny & snow-laden location, plus is far and away the best positioned for access to the majority of shops, services, lifts, ski slopes and the rest of the Via Lattea via the gondola direct to the summit of Fraiteve.
In Sestriere, the accommodation standards of many apartments, and to a lesser degree the hotels, are commonly embellished. There are, however, several real standouts. The plethora of apartment accommodation built for the 2006 Olympics provide reasonably modern, well out-fitted, good value lodgings without being anything close to luxurious. The most obvious are the beautifully located (ski-in ski-out no less!) Appartamento Villaggio Olimpico. They may not be the best apartments in the village, but affordable & as we said, location, location, location!
A few hundred metres away, Sestriere's best apartments are at Chalet WEAL. Failing that, at the top of the village, under the gondola, Resort Palace Sestriere has awesome 2-bedroom apartments with spanking views in one of its two buildings. The studios in a second building are for emergency use only!!
For hotels, the best of them are 4-stars including the Hotel Shackleton Mountain Resort near the central pedestrian square, & further out, aloof & all alone, Hotel Principi di Piemonte Sestriere. Also near the pedestrian square, Hotel Il Fraitevino & the spacious Hotel Lago Losetta are the best of the 3-stars & only a short stroll down the ski lifts. For a hotel with 'location, location, location', Hotel Uappala Sestriere is hard to beat. Designed by a lunatic, it has affordable functional rooms, glorious food, crappy WiFi and a seriously good location near the gondola base.
See the full availability via our Sestriere Ski Accommodation Listings page.
Borgata Village
Borgata is located below the main Sestriere village but has excellent direct access to the Motta ski slopes & is essentially still part of the main resort village, albeit separated by distance & elevation in a valley 150m vertical below (hah -sounds like we having a lend!). Most of the accommodation options are effectively 'ski in' and the Sestriere resort village is just a short lift ride away. The best of the lodgings is Hotel Sciatori. Numerous apartments & chalets are available for holiday rental as well via the Sestriere accommodation listings above.
Pragelato Village*
Pragelato is the lowest lift connected point of the ski resort, but it comes with a huge asterisk. To look at a ski trail map one would think that the Pragelato village is interlinked via cable car to the rest of the resort. Its not! The main centre of Pragelato is 3½km from the cable car base, which is actually at a locality called Pattemouche. The village extends along the narrow valley for quite some distance & is the home of the local (& Olympic) ski-jump & once had its own ski area extending further into the mountains behind it. The cable car essentially exists these days for the exclusive-use of Club Med Resort Sestriere guests, but despite appearances, anyone with a lift pass can use it. Club Med is super pricey but offers fully all-inclusive deals that remove all forms of conscious thought except those relating to pleasurable experiences!
A wonderful farm stay with stylish, rustic apartments in a renovated mountain home built in the year 1640 is Agriturismo Rivet d'Or. It is a 5-10min walk from the Pragelato cable car. A little further down the valley, but still in the village, the Villaggio GoFree Holiday Park is the next best option. Holiday Park you say? Well yes. It has numerous simple but perfectly functional self-contained cabins (or as they put it - chalet bungalows!) providing affordable lodgings all winter long.
Above Pragelato, 2km off the main road to Sestriere (and actually closer to Borgata than Pragelato) is the tiny mountain village of Allevè. Here the true Italian alpine experience is available at the superb Locanda Allevè Hotel Ristorante. Requires a car to get to the village, but it is worth it.
Unless staying in Club Med, anyone looking to ski Sestriere from Pragelato needs to head up to Pattemouche (3½km) or to Borgata (a distance of 7½km) to access the ski lifts.
See the full availability via our Pragelato Ski Accommodation Listings page.
Champlas Hamlets
The three hamlets of Champlas du Col, Champlas Janvier & Champlas Seguin are all gorgeous. Oozing authenticity, they couldn't possibly be more different to nearby Sestriere. Janvier & Seguin are off the main road, ensuring splendid isolation. Each of the hamlets is best accessed with a car, although bus stops are in Champlas du Col, and near the main road intersections of the other two. If you have never done it before, staying in true Italian Agriturismo, or farm stay, is fantastic. There are several in the region, but one of the best is in Champlas Seguin, Agriturismo il Fiocco.
Other Lodging Options
Sauze di Cesana
Along the alternate road access between Cesana & Sestriere, the SP215, several lovely villages line the shaded valley. In Sauze di Cesana, the exceptional Granuit Guesthouse is the region's best B&B. The drive to Sestriere is only 10 to 15min, but your own car is necessary. An alternative in the village is Hotel Cima del Bosco, where the accommodations include a free shuttle to the ski lifts.
Grangesises
Further along the strangely located Grange-Sises has a collection of apartments, chalets & restaurants below the road in a neither-here-nor-there position. If someone knows the reason for its existence, please let us know! Regardless, the apartments for rent are reasonably handy for skiing Sestriere if one has a car.
Cesana
The best alternative ‘small town’ accommodations to Sestriere are in the Via Lattea’s centrally located town of Cesana Torinese. Only 15 minutes by road from Sestriere, Cesana is a lovely valley town and close to the gondola to Sansicario & hence Sestriere via Monte Fraiteve. The chairlifts to Claviere & France are also nearby.
Alternatives to the valley town include the nearby original mountain village of San Sicario Torinese in gorgeous lodgings like the Agriturismo Barba Gust. Further up the hill near the ski lifts, utilitarian, but ski-in ski-out Sansicario Alto village has loads of apartments for rent, but in a location where convenience may be king, but atmosphere & quality may be lacking.
See the full availability via our Cesana-Torinese Ski Accommodation Listings page.
Oulx & Sauze d’Oulx
For a flying visit to Sestriere, or if sampling the entire region, the villages of Oulx and the resort village of Sauze d’Oulx offer some easy alternatives. With a car, Sestriere can be reached in 30min via Cesana or on the public bus. By ski lifts, Sestriere can be reached easily in under an hour via various lifts & trails to Monte Fraiteve. In Oulx, hotels and apartments near the central train and bus station or the old town offer contrasting experiences.
See the full availability via our Sauze d'Oulx Ski Accommodation Listings page.
