Hotel Torre

Start with the bad the first week the hotel was quite, Around the 15th December 2 different English school trips arrived. One teacher going around at about 6.45 banging on doors and shouting get up boys. He woke me up every morning and I had to remind myself your 60 you don't have to get up if you don't want to !!! Number one why can't they get themselves up Number 2 the wrong resident might have had a word or 2 in his empty head. What you have to remember is this is a circular hotel and a moron banging on doors wakes everyone. I informed the hotel manager and left it to her to explain protocol to the idiot. So that is the bad over and done with. We travelled from the UK by euro tunnel to Sestriere, about 9 hrs driving through France pushing it. Plenty of free parking at the hotel. Bit of a misunderstanding at the beginning as we had booked the sister hotel which is next door Hotel Duchi -d-aosta. This was quickly sorted out by the manager Viviana Peyronel (please forgive me Viviana if I have spelt your surname wrong). We were relocated to the Torre which I liked very much. I have to compliment all the staff on being efficient and very friendly. Luca Sanna head waiter what a nice guy. Antoonio Ciancio a magician chef who made delicious food. Tobias who did everything reception food hall etc etc. Sadly i can not name everyone however you get the picture customer service was A1. My lady who cleaned my room even got me a giant squeegee to clean the snow off my car. My room was A1 clean lots hot water plenty of storage telly hair dryer, even a fridge if you hang a carrier bag out of the window, double bag it, we do not want to kill anyone do we (on second thoughts maybe the moron teacher). Big double bed. Beats France standards hands down and do not get me started on how much cheaper Italy is for coffee food etc etc. Sorry France the Italians are just naturally more friendly. Hot Swimming Pool in France it would be chilled, Sauna. Big boot room mins walk to the chair lift. The Internets a take your chances on whether its a good or bad day. Ok so our first days skiing was the 10th December limited area open but discounted ski passes circa 20 euro a day it would not make financial sense to open up all the lifts and I accept this. I drove round to Sauze d' oulx and also on another day to Montgenèvre - ski-france.com‎ which is the French side. Got to admit Montgenevre was fantastic this area is included for one days skiing if you buy a 6 day ski pass.Looks like the full area will open this weekend 22nd December can not wait, If for any reason there is no snow drive through the Fréjus Road Tunnel is a tunnel that connects France and Italy. It runs under Col du Fréjus in the Cottian Alps between Modane in France and Bardonecchia in Italy. It is one of the major trans-Alpine transport routes between France and Italy being used for 80% of the commercial road traffic. Head for Orelle this has a giant car park and a gondola that takes about 20 mins to get you up above Val Thorens then you have circa 620 kilometres of the 3 valleys to explore BEWARE THE LIFTS BACK SHUT AT DIFFERENT TIMES DEPENDING ON THE MONTHS. If you miss the lift a taxi from Val Thorens to Orelle you will be paying a small mortgage to get to Orelle. Plus a day ski pass for the full area will bring tears to your eyes, but its worth it. Entertainment the Kappa bar is across the road from the Torre great bar I recommend a visit. The hotel Du Col is run by Crystal so once this opened we popped along for the karaoke and live music, So would I stay in the Torre again yes please I have already spoken to the manager to start the ball rolling. Next time maybe chance Ryan air yuk and hire a car from Turin. That long drive from Calais is a killer.