Sauze d'Oulx is at one end of the ski area chain known as the Milky Way, with a massive 400 km of pistes available under one lift pass. The area includes the slopes of Sestriere, Cesana, Sansicario and Montgenevre. Sauze d'Oulx , a large sunny resort, has maintained its alpine charm, and is an intermediate's paradise - a mountain covered in mainly red slopes of every variety. Most of the slopes are dotted round a large bowl above the resort, which is famous for its rowdy apres-ski scene, good value for money and uncrowded slopes.
Confident beginners and intermediates will improve tenfold here, with the long, wide, varied reds building skill and the chance to travel over to neighbouring areas. Try Sestriere or the long red runs down from Fratieve to Sansicario. For complete beginners and experts, Sauze d'Oulx is not ideal. There are only a few blue runs and they are pretty basic, the next step up to the reds is a bit of a leap. For expert skiers, there are only a couple of black funs which you'll easily exhaust.
However the Milky Way ski area has dozens of challenging pistes across the many resorts, so if you don't mind a little travel, the world is your oyster. A good effort has been put into updating some antiquated lifts, and there are relatively few queues. The village itself is known for its buzzing apres-ski scene, with pubs, clubs, cocktail bars, restaurants and pizzerias taking guests looking to have great nights as well as great days from the first après ski drink to the small hours of the morning. Prices are relatively cheap, often drawing a young crowd looking to have fun.
