Why is Milky Way a good ski resort for school groups?

The Milky Way or Via Lattea ski area in Italy's Piedmont region, is vast! Centered around the famous resort of Sestriere, there are more than 400km of marked runs to ski, across the resorts of Sauze d'Oulx, Sansicario, Claviere and even Montgenevre over the border in France. For school skiing groups the Milky Way will keep you busy and has absolutely every type of skiing you could wish for.

As you will notice on the photos below, the slopes in this part of the Italian Alps are quite heavily wooded and have pistes bordered by pine trees, making for some very atmospheric skiing. You are also never too far from a mountain restaurant serving everything from burger and chips to traditional Piemonte cuisine.

Getting to the Milky Way
Turin and Geneva are the closest airports, though if you are prepared for slightly longer transfers, you may get flights into Milan too. If your school ski group prefers to travel by coach, you are looking at around 14 hours of travel from Calais.

For beginners
You don't create a ski area the size of the Milky Way without providing plenty of options and variety for new skiers. Sestriere is the highest resort in the Milky Way at a little over 2000m and its north west aspect provides enough shadow to keep the snow from melting until well into Spring. That said, the snow can often be better on the Sauze d'Oulx side of the mountain.

Near the centre of Sestriere there are plenty of nursery slope areas, and a number of fun blues in the Borgata area.

The lift system is modern and fast enough to prevent queues during the week.

Ski passes here are great value when you consider that you can essentially ski in a different resort across two different countries on each day of your school trip!

Milky Way accommodation
There are lots of different places you could end up staying while on a school ski trip to the Milky Way, but if we take the resort of Sestriere as your most likely accommodation location, we can tell you that while the town isn't pretty compared to some resorts, it does have plenty of amenities to keep your group busy. Hotels are pretty good value, especially compared to over the border in France, but the best value is in the apartments that were build to house guests during the 2006 Winter Olympics. Make sure you are back in time for the evening meals - the Italian food is always part of what makes a school ski trip to Italy that little bit more special.

If you want somewhere a bit more quiet and peaceful then ask to stay in Sansicario. Somewhere a bit more lively, try Sauze d'Oulx.

The best bits about Milky Way

• Purpose built resorts with oodles pistes
• Resorts easy to explore on your ski pass
• Plenty of school group accommodation