Du Col Hotel

The Du Col is more 3 star than 4 star. Rooms at the front of the hotel are very noisy. It is a bit soulless, no log fires or even a fireplace here. Lounge/bar area is a bit too small for the hotel, drinks are expensive more or less UK prices. Buffet dinner is a bit of a bun fight, it feels like queuing for school diners but the food overall is of a good standard. The wine flows freely and the staff who clear plates are very friendly as were all the staff we encountered. The rooms are very clean and a fair size., We did not feel they were tatty at all, compared to some we have been in. There are however no hairdryers in the room, reception has some to lend out, but beware you need an adapter which they sometimes omit to give you, hence some of the plug sockets in rooms are broken where people have forced the wrong plug into them. The boot room leaves a bit to be desired it is tattly and cold, most of the lockers are broken.

Hotel du Col is a standard UK 3* hotel. It is mainly occupied by Crystal and Thomson Package holiday makers. The hotel staff all speak english and the service is good. The hotel has an excellent location for skiers. You can walk out of the boot room straight onto the slopes and ski school meeting area. You can keep your boots and skis in your room and can walk to your room with your boots on. You can leave your skis in the boot room, hiring a padlock from reception for a deposit of 5 euros. The hotel has two types of room. The best has a balcony and in 2007 Crystal was charging a £14 a week supplement for these. The rooms have a lovely view and a balcony, however, they are right next to an ice rink and snow cannons, the former plays music until at least 23.00 and the latter can be on all night, both of which are rather annoying. These rooms are, however, better than the rear facing rooms, which overlook the main road and are noisy due to traffic. The rooms are kept clean and no-one complained about bath plugs not working (ours did). Hot water was always available, towels are provided and renewed every day. The hotel is full board. Breakfast and Dinner are both in the same room. Breakfast is from 08.00 to 10.00 and a picture is included, however, guests arriving after about 9.30 struggle to find much food left. On the final day breakfast is available from 05.30 am. Breakfast includes cereals, bread, cheese, ham, yoghurts and a hot selection, which is not very nice. A packed lunch is available. This is a piece of fruit, two biscuits, a bottle of water and a sandwich made from the meat and cheese available at breakfast and must be prebooked at reception everyday before 19.00. Afternoon tea is grander than it sounds. Coffee and Tea are available along with packets of biscuits from 16.30 except on the day of arrival. Dinner is a 4 course buffet style meal which starts promptly at 19.30 (the doors are locked beforehand) and finishes at 20.30. The head waiter goes around the tables asking everyone to leave. Everyday a selection of salad and unusual starters are available (e.g. cold breaded courgette). This is followed by a choice of up to 3 pasta dishes, a main course of a choice of meat/fish (Veal, Beef, Pork, Tuna steak, Turkey) with often unchild friendly vegetables. The deserts are generally not very nice, but are available. Bread is available, but this tastes rather stale. A half litre of red or white wine is available with every meal, but cannot be take into the hotel bar to finish. The hotel bar has a TV playing football/ MTV most nights and is very expensive. If you go out of the hotel, turn left and walk 25m, you will find the Kandahar wine bar. This is slightly less expensive, much more atmospheric and offers antipasti from c18.30. The bar staff are very friendly. Another alternative is the coffee shop at the top of the main square, which serves a lovely hot chocolate and cappucino. Crystal offer a series of evening entertainments. Bobsleigh 95 euros, quiz night 5 euros, wine tasting 23 euros and bus trip to montgenevre for 20 euros. The final offereing is the only one worth considering for those who are unable to ski to Montgenevre and back in a day. This lets you use the free day which comes automatically with any liftpass purchased. Liftpasses can be purchased from crystal on the coach at 175 euros (The local rate) instead of paying the ridiculous charges made when booking the holiday. In any case the lift pass office is just around the corner from the hotel. Weather forecasts in English are available from the small building opposite the hotel cristallo, about 100m left from the hotel du col entrance. Sestriere has a heated indoor and heated open air swimming pool, entry 6 euros. A swimming hat is required.

A group of 11 of us booked a New Year deal to the Du Col in Sestriere for £379, down from around £890. This incredible saving was due to the fact that little snow had fallen in the area before we booked, yet luckily snow fell heavily during the three days before our arrival.The location was unbeatable, we could ski in and out (an essential with children) and the ski hire shop was in the basement so no stressful searching and carrying was required.The rooms were comfortable and clean, the maids were attentive and hardworking and there was a plentiful supply of hot water, and despite the plug not fitting ( a common complaint from the residents), I managed to wrap it in a plastic bag and bathe successfully. We had expected to eat out. Because the price of the hotel was so reasonable, we thought there had to be a catch, but there was absolutely no need to venture any further than downstairs. Almost every known Italian dish appeared on the evening buffet table that week. The antipasto was different every evening, stuffed parma ham with tuna, mozzarella in carrozza, roasted vegetables, giant prawns, salami, the list was endless. Every mealtime there were nine different cold starter dishes, and three types of pasta-cooked to perfection each time. Their minestrone was better than I've tried in any Italian restaurant, and their risotto was memorable.The main courses ranged from slow cooked veal, to roast hams and lambs, aubergine parmigiana, salmon, bass and pizzas kept warm on hot stones,and every night the pastry chefs did themselves proud, producing casattas, tira misu, pannacottas and varying gateaux. No one dish was the same, from one night to the next. The palatable wine and soft drinks flowed, and the waiters were very helpful. My only complaint was the slightly noxious smell emanating from the gas burners that heated all the tureens in the restaurant, and the rather officious air of the maitre d as he opened the door at 7pm every night to release the starving skiers into the dining area ( you did have to get there relatively early to get the more exclusive starters-the British DO like to pile their plates high).Drinks in the bar weren't cheap, and as it could only seat around 20 people comfortably, we took advantage of the fridge in the room and stocked up with our own aperitifs.The packed lunch consisted of a butterless breakfast roll filled with cheese, salami or ham, a piece of fruit and bottle of water-we only used the water, and I felt that preparing all the lunchbags was unnecessary work for the very busy chefs, especially as no-one we met seemed to eat their contents. Breakfast was varied and plentiful, eggs, bacon, sausage, yoghurts,pastries and the usual continental options. The skiing was superb, however it did seem that the Italians close the chairlifts and gondolas at the slightest sign of a breeze. I have skied in over 20 different resorts in Europe and have never know such readiness to close the lifts. Howvere, the Milky Way was fantastic, and if we ever return to Sestriere, the Du Col would keep me very happy. Our kids of 13 and 12 loved it all, and especially enjoyed the stupendous fireworks on New Year's Eve.

This hotel now seems to be a a Thomson/Crystal Clubhotel which means the price is very reasonable in light of the location which is very close to the slopes. The hotel is set along the main road in Sestriere and the rooms facing the piste are bright and have a lot of light with a balcony and an excellent view of the piste and ice rink. Pay extra for the balcony. Good size for budget ski accommodation, they were clean and had private facilities. as with most Clubhotels the noise of other guest can be an issue, being woken in the early hours by door banging is hard to avoid as there is not much soundproofing. Whilst the food is perfectly acceptable the nightly scrum is not - buffet self serve with the more popular dishes gone in a flash and when it's gone it's gone. MORE SERIOUS THOUGH is the ski facilities - at the start of the week it looks top class with lockers and lockable ski racks with your own key ...... BUT...... Middle of the week it dawns on you there are only about 2 or 3 different keys and basically skis get pinched. The Tour Operator (Rep) and Hotel tells you they will claim on their insurance until you get to the UK and you can guess the rest. Need to take your kit into your room - keeps your boots warm as well. It's a good skiers hotel as long as you don't pay full brochure price - but it does not look like many do.

My daughter and I recently returned from a weeks skiing in Sestriere (1st - 8th April) staying at the Du Col. The hotel doesn't look too much from the outside, having a long, unusual design, but inside we found it to be excellent. All the staff are friendly and very helpful. The rooms, although quite small have ample storage space and the bathrooms are clean, well designed and have lots of hot water. Breakfast and dinner was served buffet style. Everyday there was plenty of choice and the quality was superb. Free wine or soft drinks was also provided (by the jug), and the waiters were always quick to offer refills if you required more. The boot room is in the basement of the hotel, which meant that you walked out virtually onto the ski school meeting point, very convenient. The skiing was also great, a huge dump of snow had hit the area a few days before we arrived, leaving powder conditions everywhere! Would we go there again? Well if we were going to Sestriere, then the Du Col would be on the top of the list!

Booked at the Du Col with hubby and his friend with a small amount of trepidation but am happy to report we were pleasantly surprised. We had a double room with balcony overlooking slopes and friend had a single overlooking road. Both rooms were the same size but the single room had a single bed so more room. The rooms are very small but adequately furnished. Don't both try to pass each other unless you are on friendly terms! TV has Sky News and CNN for english channels. No tea or coffee making (as the rest of the continent - when will they catch on to this?). The bathroom was lovely with all mod cons. Only negative on this is that the shower is on the side of the bath not the end. It was quite trickly to shower without sliding about and I managed to completely flood the floor once. A minor point but they could do with cutting about a foot off the length of the shower curtains. We also had a plug. They provide soap and shower gel and plenty of loo roll. I was a little disappointed with the cleaning. It was clear our floor was not vacummed once during our stay although sheets and towels were changed regularly. Plus our room was not shown a duster once either. That said, we spent relatively little time in the room so it wasn't a big issue. On the balcony issue they DO NOT provide balcony furniture so you have to drag your chair outside (and they provide only one in the room). Plus if you are a light sleeper go for a room on the road, the snow cannons however useful ran 24 hrs a day - take your earplugs! The restaurant stuck to very strict timings for meals and woe betide anyone trying to get in early to dinner! It was a large buffet style with waiter service for wine, water and plate clearing. All the staff were extremely helpful and polite but it takes some time to get used to the 'bun fight' for the food. Is this because it is an 'english customer' only hotel - I'll leave that for you to decide. Go into dinner 15 minutes after opening, much more civilised. The quality of the food on the whole was good and plentiful. Breakfast was a bit boring with the same cheesey scrambled egg and spicy sausages every day - the first skiing holiday I have had where I only managed one cooked breakfast the whole week. The resort was good with a number of restaurants and bars. We ended up in the wine bar 2 doors down, most evenings before dinner. Go after 6 and they provide a lovely mix of 'tapas' - just don't have too much. Overall not too bad - would we come back to Sestriere? Absolutely, the ski area was fantastic. Would we stay at the Du Col again? It would have to be a real cheapie I'm afraid.

I must say that our stay in hotel du col was better than we ever expected the snow wasn't great but the hotel more than made up for that,its a we bit shabby but spotless,the staff can not do enough for you,I injured my knee and they went out of there way to help me even dressed up a box for me to rest my knee on,The food was great and the wine flowed,the free packed lunch was basic but worth it for the water,and we did have a bath plug!!!

My husband and I took a week at the Du Col 18-25 March 2007. What a wonderful place. The rooms were not as large as some hotels but had plenty of storage space, a safe, fridge, etc. Slightly disappointed that there were no tea and coffee making facilities in the room nor a hairdryer but I am sure I could have got one from the reception if it had bothered me that much! the bathroom was a good size complete with bidet! Some people didn't have plugs in their baths but all our plugs were present and correct. There was a plentiful supply of hot water from the powerful shower at all times of day (only experienced lukewarm water one evening during our stay) the showers were so powerful that I heard of one person who inadvertently turned the showerhead upwards before turning on the water and the pressure smashed the light in his bathroom! Lovely view over the mountains from our window and being piste side was lovely and quiet. When the snow cannons were going sounded like a storm outside but was very muffled and had no issues with sleeping after a hard days skiing! The staff took every care to clean and tidy the rooms immaculately each day, leaving a plentiful supply of toilet paper (something that has bugged me at other hotels in the past!) The food was divine! The breakfasts had a good selection although the full English fry up is never the same outside of the UK! They even had Twinings English breakfast tea so you can have a decent cuppa in the mornings. The evening meals were amazing - usually going half board you expect to eat out most nights but there was no need to here. There was always at least three pasta dishes, pizza squares, garlic bread, salad, and soup for starters as well as a selection of other nibbles and vegetables etc. There was always at least two different main courses and a vegetarian option with potatoes and veg and the puddings were the highlight - normally four different cakes that were out of this world - I particularly loved the pistachio sponge cake! One evening they laid on freshly made ice cream which meant I needed a second helping it was so yummy! The free wine is as much as you can drink and there is also free unlimited water, soft drinks and juice! I really liked the 4.30-5.30 afternoon tea and biscuits a nice opportunity to get together with everyone else and discuss the day whilst looking over the slopes! It was very convenient having the ski hire shop in the hotel and I liked that you could take your boots up to your room and lock your skis and poles in the hotel's locker room (for a 5 euro deposit for a padlock - redeemable when you've finished the week) much better than queueing every morning to obtain your skis, etc. Lovely and close to the slopes - if the snow had been in slightly more abundance then you could definitely have skied to the door as it was it was about a 2 minute walk to the pistes, ski school, lifts, etc. The snow canons did a sterling job and there was lots of lovely powdery snow but not too much to make skiing tricky. the hotel staff were helpful, friendly and efficient and I would definitely return here - for the money it was a fabulous deal I reckon it would probably even be worth the full tarif for what you get as it was I got a special deal 10 days earlier from Thompson. Very good skiing, quite a good selection of runs although for the intermediate if your instructor thinks you're all hopeless before she's even seen you ski you will probably end up on the blue run to Borgatta all week but it is a good run and there's a lovely cafe serving heavenly hot chocolate! Definitely brave the one man chairlift to take advantage of Sauze D'Oux and the free day on your passes for Montgenevre in France is worth taking up - not very many challenging runs but they are very long and immensely beautiful. Although word of warning if you're not in the operator coach (ours broke down a two minute walk to the border) and you're in a cab then remember your passport - even so we were let in with a warning to bring it with us if we came back to ski in France! You must go here you won't regret it for a minute and how cool is it to tell your friends that you did the men's downhill black runs from the 2006 winter olympics!

Have just returned from a week's skiing holiday (March 4-11th 07), staying at the Hotel Du Col. The location is great - as close to ski in ski out as you can get with just a short walk to the lifts. The rooms were large and comfortable. Okay, some of the fittings may need some attention, but we had no complaints. The hotel has a reasonably sized bar, overlooking the pistes and we were more than happy to sit in there with a drink after a day on the slopes. The food was good, plenty of choice and variety. The free wine flowed and helped keep the cost of the holiday down! The staff were fantastic - very friendly and helpful. My only issue was the ski-hire. The hotel has it's own, small ski hire place in the basement. The choice was very limited (only one type of boot which had 2 ankle bindings and a lace-up arrangement over the foot - couldn't tighten sufficiently) and the staff here not overly friendly. Neither myself nor my husband were asked what our level of skiing was - something I had always been led to believe was important for the settings. When I pointed this out I was told he knew what he was doing (though my husband's skis were set on different levels!). Not impressed. Overall a fantastic holiday and for the price, the hotel was great. Jen

I have just returned from an enjoyable weeks stay in the Hotel Du Col, Sestriere. The hotel whilst not been the most modern upto date establishment, is however clean, warm, tidy and well staffed. It could not be positioned any better, you can ski the short distance from the hotels locker /changing area to both ski school meeting points as well as the lifts that take you up to ski the 'milky way'. The hotel is in the centre of town overlooking the nursery slopes and the 2006 mens olympic downhill course, this allows for easy access to skiing during the day and at the same time allowing you to frequent the social life on offer in the town on the evening which is good but without been full on after a day on the piste. In the hotels restaurant, after our 3rd meal sitting, we where finally allocated our designated table for the week by the restaurant staff, but their apologises for this minor inconvienence where always offerred with a smile. The hotels breakfast is plentiful and a good start to the day (cereals, eggs, rolls, cheese, ham, fruit, yoghurts, etc), but make sure you ask for 'hot' coffee. Pack lunch, consisting of a sandwich and a piece of fruit is available to be picked up at breafast time if pre-ordered the night before. Apres ski 4:30 till 5:30, consists of complimentary hot drinks and biscuits. The evening buffet meal is self service, 3 main meal choices of a good quality and variation during the week, plenty of soup, anti pasta, vegetables and weight increasing deserts (yummy). The free half carafe of white or red wine available with dinner quickly became a free full carafe as the week went on and all of a sudden those tumbles during the day don't seem to hurt as much....lol. The Italian (not eastern block) staff are friendly and very helpful, they are always there in the background if needed and helpful when called upon. Sestriere is a small town so you may also see the same staff out in the bars on the weekends (we did) and they won't ignore you. For evening watering holes try, The Irish Igloo, The Cavern and Pinkies. On relection a very enjoyable weeks stay, I would return to this hotel again for the staff friendliness, closeness to the slopes, the clean alpine air and those Italian accents. Enjoy it, from a happier skier.