Italian Alps
Hey there!
Here is my travel guide to the weekend I spent at Sestriere, a ski village in the Italian Alps. i went with a group of friends and other student form the study abroad program I am with. There was a little over 100 of us and we stayed there for a good 3 days!
ACCOMMODATION
While in Sestriere, we stayed at TH Villaggio Olimpico. This resort is named after the 2006 Winter Olympics, which was hosted in Sestriere. Having been a rhythmic gymnast, I always admired and watched both the summer and winter Olympic Games. Thus, it was pretty cool to visit Sestriere and see the slopes where the games were once hosted.
DAY 1
We all met at Milano Cadorna, one of the central hubs for transportation lines, at around 7AM and took a bus to Sestriere. By the time we arrived, it was 10AM and we had to wait a good six hours for our rooms to be ready.
Since we had quite some time to kill, we explored the town, hung out at the lobby cafe, and ate lunch at the buffet.
After dinner, we all went to the bar at TH's hotel. I ordered a Hugo and we just hung out for the rest of the night.
DAY 2
After breakfast, about 25 of us beginners met on the slopes for a full day of class with a ski instructor. Our ski instructor, Alessandro, was a native to the Italian Alps and was so helpful and patient with us. The first few hours were definitely the most challenging as we were just starting to get a feel for the skis and how to maneuver ourselves up and down the slopes. We had to stay calm and patient with ourselves as we each waited our turn to go down the slopes with Alessandro. By noontime, we were all successfully able to go down a lower intermediate slope! This was a pretty cool feeling and left us motivated to keep practicing after lunch.
We all had lunch at a cabin restaurant located on the top of one of Sestriere's mountains. I kept it simple (but very European) and ordered a plate of charcuterie.
Later that night, we headed out to an amazing full course dinner at another cabin restaurant. Pearl and I were up for a major adventure as we took a snowmobile up to the mountaintop. This was our first time doing this and was such a fun little adventure. Of course, we were freezing for a little bit but it was SO worth the adrenaline!
The dinner was organized by IES Abroad and was a 5 course meal including wine and prosecco.
We took a catmobile down from the mountain and then headed back to the hotel to chill for the rest of the night.
DAY 3
The next day we woke up to snowfall, which prohibited us beginners from going on the slopes again. A small group of us decided to go walk around and explore more of the town.
After discovering some cute local shops, we found this restaurant called QB to have lunch at. I highly recommend this spot for anybody who may be in Sestriere because of the excellent service, diverse menu, chill vibe, and lovely decor. We found a cozy corner to sit at and watch the snowfall....truly magical for a Floridian like me haha!
After lunch, we headed back to the hotel to check out and get ready for our bus ride back to Milano. This was such a fun little trip and I am so proud of myself for having learned how to ski for the first time!
Cheers to the first travel weekend of many more to come. Love always and forever,
Vale