Life in Sestriere

You've all read about our skiing experiences, but how did we go with general life in Sestriere? The Airbnb apartment we'd rented suited our needs well, being a short walk to both the chairlift and town. We were on the 3rd floor with an awesome panaroma of Mt Sises, Mt Rodnosa and Mt Motta. The girls loved taking the 2 person semi automatic lift instead of the stairs. Only on the last morning did Ella and I try to open the wrong apartment - the resident opening the door with a puzzled look. Apologising profusely we slunk away and climbed to the next level to our place!

Dishes in the dish rack!

Apart from being dated, the interesting aspects of the apartment included the dishrack located in the cupboard above the sink as well as the bideau and the tiny bath! Downsides which we hadn't realised when booking was it lacked a washing machine and an oven. Dinners therefore were pastas, risottos or cold meat and salad. As for the washing, the house keeper Nunzia, kindly did a load for us for 6 euros. The girls thought it was perfect with the bunk beds and soft blankets!

What's the point of this bath?

A taxi transfer from Oulx to Sestriere (30mins) was €50 or $80. A necessity as we arrived too late for the bus but to be honest the hassle of not lugging our bags was well worth every cent.

The 6 day ski pass - €750 or $1200 - was cheaper than what we would pay for at Perisher.

Food shopping was done at the local small supermarkets (there was a choice of 3). The range of products and prices seemed reasonable and of course we learnt as we went. Fruit and vegetables were chosen and weighed for you. Meat and bread were chosen and both weighed at the deli counter.

As for buying morning coffee and croissants - 2 cappacinos, 3 croissants ( €7 or $11) or lunch on the slopes - lasagne, toasted focaccia, chips, drinks all round (€30 or $48) on the slopes, we thought the prices were extremely reasonable.



Andy and the girls went ice skating late one afternoon which set us back €39 or $63 for 30 minutes of cold entertainment.

The girls had purchased a selection of postcards in Venice. A trip to the post office saw us fork out €3 or $5 per card for an international stamp!

The biggest surprise in terms of cost was our trip to the local swimming pool - a great activity on our rest day to help with our recovery! When searching for the pool, I wasn't able to find much information apart from where it was located and opening times. Only a 5 minute walk from our apartment, we were all looking forward to having a splash. Turns out that it was the most expensive swim EVER!! For our family to splash around in the 25 indoor/outdoor pool cost us €38 plus more for the required swim caps at €3 each... that's about $78!!! Unable to say no as we were all pumped to have a splash, we swallowed the thought of money and headed in. Again we learnt as we went - shoes were racked before entering the change rooms and one could stand under the adjustable height hand drier to warm up post swim!

Andy and I chuckle about it now - it will be our yard stick for this trip. If it is cheaper than $80, then all is ok!!