Sauze d’Oulx was known as Ibiza-on-snow during the 80s, which undoubtedly put off everyone other than the British 18–30 brigade. Sauze d’Oulx, which is pronounced Sau-zee doo, has worked hard to shed that image though, and these days it has all sorts of fans, including local Italians from Turin, who come for the sunny open slopes, long vertical drop, and wide range of good cruising pistes. The nightlife is still cheerful and good value, but now it’s vary varied so no-one need be frightened to brave the boozy hoards.
Sauze is part of the 400km joined-up Milky Way area – one of Europe’s big guns and Italy’s largest linked area (although Montgenevre is admittedly in France!). Heading all the way from one end to another is quite a trek on snow, especially due to some slow lifts, so Sauze visitors are more likely to stick around the 300km of local lifts shared with Sestriere over the mountain.
Sauze is easy to get to – just an hour and a half from Turin. This is good for getting there, but does mean that a significant proportion of the city’s population flock to the resort when the weather’s good. Consider swapping places and visiting the city for a daytrip instead.
