Sestriere Lift Passes & Ski Area
One pass, six resorts and a day in France
The standard ticket in Sestriere is the Vialattea pass, and it's better value than most people realise: it covers the whole Italian circuit — 400km across 8 linked resorts — and once you buy six consecutive days or more, a day in Montgènevre and a day in Bardonecchia come loaded on the chip at no extra cost. Below are the real 2025/26 prices, the cheaper options worth knowing about, and how the ski area actually fits together.
That chip detail matters, because the obvious upgrade is usually the wrong buy. Vialattea also sells an Internazionale pass that adds Montgènevre every day rather than once. It's a genuinely useful ticket if you're planning to spend half your week on the French side — but most people cross the border once, enjoy it, and come back. If that's you, the standard Vialattea pass already has you covered and the upgrade is money you don't need to spend.
The rest of this page is the price ladder, the beginner and non-skier options, the park-only day pass that freestylers should know about, and how the circuit links together from Sestriere out to the French border.
Which Vialattea pass should you buy?
Three tickets are sold here and only one of them suits most visitors. Here's the honest split — prices below are 2025/26 adult, high season.
- Vialattea — the one to buyThe standard pass, and the one priced in the table below. It covers the entire Italian circuit: Sestriere, Sauze d'Oulx, Sansicario, Cesana, Claviere, Oulx and Pragelato. From Sestriere you can ski the whole thing without ever unclipping, which is the point of the resort.
- The free chip extensions — don't miss theseBuy six consecutive days or more and your Vialattea pass carries a Montgènevre day already loaded, plus a Bardonecchia day you claim by showing the pass at their ticket office. Two extra resorts, no extra money — and the single most overlooked thing about buying a pass here.
- Vialattea Internazionale — only if you'll live in FranceAdds Montgènevre for every day of your pass rather than one, at around €66 a day or €334 for six days. Worth it only if you genuinely plan repeat days over the border; otherwise the chip extension above does the job for nothing.
- Montiluna — the small local optionAround €40 a day for the Cesana and Claviere sector only. It's not a Sestriere pass — you'd have to drive down the valley to use it — so it's really for people staying in those villages, not here.
Sestriere lift pass prices
Adult prices for the 2025/26 season on the Vialattea pass. The per-day rate drops the more days you buy, so a full week costs less per day than stacking singles.
| Duration | Vialattea |
|---|---|
| 1 day | €56.50 |
| 2 days | €111 |
| 3 days | €159.50 |
| 4 days | €210 |
| 5 days | €255 |
| 6 daysmost popular | €294.50 |
| Season | €1,250 |
Pass sorted? Save 15% on your kit too
Hire is the other thing to book before you travel. We work directly with Maison Clataud in Sestriere — a choice of shops in town, both an easy walk from the lifts — and booking through us costs 15% less than the shop's own counter price.
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Beginner, park & non-skier passes
Not everyone in the group needs the full circuit. Vialattea sells several cheaper, narrower tickets, and two of them are genuinely useful — prices are 2025/26 high season.
- Absolute beginners — the Sestriere nursery liftsAround €20 a day buys the Jolly and Principi drags at the edge of town. If it's your first time on snow, there is no sense paying for 400km you can't use yet — start here and upgrade when you're linking turns.
- Invito allo Sci — the step upAround €40 a day for a named set of easier lifts across Sestriere, Sauze d'Oulx and Sansicario. The sensible middle rung once the nursery slope has stopped being interesting but the full circuit is still too much.
- Park riders — the snowpark day passIf you only want to lap the park, around €43 a day covers just the Sportinia, Rocce Nere and Jouvenceaux lifts at Sauze d'Oulx — the three that serve it. Cheaper than a full pass, but note you'd be based over in Sauze for the day, not here.
- Non-skiers — the pedestrian returnAround €18 gets a walker up and back on the Sestriere–Fraiteve gondola for lunch and the view down both valleys. Other single-lift return tickets are sold across the area at similar rates.
Brand new, or coming back after a long gap? A few hours with a qualified local instructor will move you off the nursery drags far faster than going it alone — and with so few green runs across this circuit, getting confident on blues quickly is what unlocks the place.
See Sestriere ski & snowboard lessons →Getting your pass for the least
Five minutes of planning genuinely saves money here — more than at most resorts, because of how Vialattea prices its tickets.
- Buy online, not at the windowVialattea prices its online tickets below the resort ticket office, so buying before you travel is a straight saving as well as a queue skipped on your first morning. Load it onto your Skicard and walk to the lift.
- Check whether your dates are low seasonThe tariff splits the winter into high and low season bands, and the low-season rate is meaningfully cheaper. Early December, most of January and the back end of the season usually fall in it — if your dates are flexible, this is the biggest single lever on the price.
- Six days beats five by more than it looksThe per-day rate falls as you add days, and six is the threshold where the free Montgènevre and Bardonecchia extensions appear on the chip. If you're choosing between a 5-day and a 6-day, the sixth day is close to free value.
- Keep your SkicardThe pass loads onto a reusable contactless card that costs a small one-off charge. Keep it in a jacket pocket you don't use for anything else and you can top it up online next season rather than paying again.
- Sort your liability and rescue coverThird-party cover is legally required on Italian pistes and rescue off the mountain is billed to you. Either add Sci Noproblem at €3.50 a day, or check your travel policy explicitly covers piste rescue and repatriation — don't assume it does.
- Ask about family and group ratesReduced rates exist for families and for children and seniors with proof of age, and the exact deals shift from season to season. Price them up on the official site before you buy separate adult tickets.
The Via Lattea ski area from Sestriere
Sestriere sits at the top of the circuit, which is why the pass makes sense from here: two big linking hubs put the whole area within a day's skiing.
Sestriere's own skiing rises either side of the town at 2,035m — Monte Sises and Monte Motta above, carrying the Olympic race pistes, and the gentler Banchetta and Pragelato flank below. The circuit itself opens up at Monte Fraiteve, the hub that connects Sestriere to Sauze d'Oulx and Sansicario. Get on it early and you can have lunch two resorts away and still be home for the last lift.
West of there, the Monti della Luna above Cesana and Claviere carry you to the French border and Montgènevre. The area's skiable extremes run from 2,800m at the top of Monte Motta down to 1,400m at Cesana — so the lowest link sits well below the town, and it's the first thing to soften in a warm spell. For how the crossings actually work, see our Sestriere piste map.
That split is the resort in one line: overwhelmingly blue and red, with greens genuinely scarce and the blacks honest but short. It's a circuit built for confident intermediates who want to cover ground, rather than for absolute beginners or for experts chasing steeps. Our Sestriere resort guide breaks the terrain down by ability.
Snowparks on the Vialattea pass
Two parks and a boarder cross across the circuit — which sounds better than it skis. None of it is in Sestriere, and neither park is worth building a trip around.
- Sauze d'Oulx — the Italian parkThe only park on the Italian side, on the Sportinia, Rocce Nere and Jouvenceaux lifts. We'll be blunt: it's modest — a few jumps and rails — and the lift layout makes it awkward to lap, so you spend more of the session getting back round than riding. Worth an afternoon if you're over that way; not a reason to travel.
- Montgènevre — the better park, plus the boarder crossThe French end has the bigger, better-shaped park and the circuit's only boarder cross. It's the better of the two, though still a decent park rather than a special one — and it's a long ski from Sestriere, at the far end of the circuit. Access is conditional too: it's not on your standard pass day to day, only via the free chip extension that comes with six consecutive days or more, or the Internazionale upgrade.
- Nothing in Sestriere itselfWorth saying plainly, because older guides still list one: Sestriere's own park closed several seasons ago and has not returned. If you're basing yourself here specifically to ride park, every session means travelling across the circuit first.
- The park-only day passRiding the Sauze park and nothing else? Around €43 a day covers just the three lifts that serve it — cheaper than a full circuit pass, though it does mean basing your day in Sauze. Features open and reshape with the snow, so check the current status before you plan around it.
Off-piste & heli-skiing
There's more here than the piste map suggests after a fall — plus one thing you can't do in most French resorts. This is a pointer, not a route guide.
The open, high terrain either side of Monte Motta and Monte Sises holds good snow after a storm, and the Pragelato flank below the town is the local favourite for lift-served powder — wide, north-tending and quieter than the main circuit. Further out, the tree skiing above Sauze d'Oulx is the place to be when the light goes flat. None of it is extreme, but on the right day it's genuinely rewarding.
Sestriere also offers heli-skiing, which is banned in France — one of the real advantages of skiing this side of the border. It's arranged locally through mountain guides, runs subject to weather and snow, and is booked in resort rather than on a lift pass.
Sestriere lift passes — common questions
How much is a lift pass in Sestriere?
For 2025/26, a 6-day adult Vialattea pass was around €294.50 online at high-season rates, with a single day around €56.50 and the season ticket €1,250. Buying at the resort ticket office costs more than online, and early- and late-season dates fall into a cheaper band. Next season's tariff confirms nearer the time, so check the live rate before booking.
Which lift pass covers Sestriere?
The Vialattea pass, which covers the whole Italian circuit — 400km across 8 linked resorts, from Sestriere out through Sauze d'Oulx, Sansicario, Cesana and Claviere. It's the standard buy and the one nearly everyone staying in Sestriere wants.
Does the Sestriere lift pass include Montgènevre?
Partly, and this catches people out. A Vialattea pass of six consecutive days or more carries one Montgènevre day loaded on the chip, plus a Bardonecchia day claimed at their ticket office — both at no extra cost. If you want Montgènevre every day, you need the Vialattea Internazionale pass instead, at around €66 a day. For most visitors the free chip day is enough.
Is it cheaper to buy a Sestriere lift pass online?
Yes. Vialattea prices online tickets below the resort ticket office, so booking before you travel saves money and skips the arrival-morning queue. The other lever is timing: the tariff splits the winter into high and low season, and the low-season rate is noticeably cheaper — early December, much of January and the end of the season usually qualify.
Is there a beginner pass in Sestriere?
Yes, and it's good value. Around €20 a day covers the Jolly and Principi nursery drags at the edge of town, and the Invito allo Sci ticket at around €40 a day adds a set of easier lifts across Sestriere, Sauze d'Oulx and Sansicario. Both are far cheaper than a full circuit pass you can't yet use.
Is there a snowpark in Sestriere?
Not in Sestriere itself — the resort's own park closed several seasons ago. Across the wider circuit there are two parks and a boarder cross: one park at Sauze d'Oulx on the Italian side, reachable on any pass, and a longer, better-maintained park plus the boarder cross at Montgènevre in France. Montgènevre is only on your pass via the free chip extension that comes with six consecutive days or more, or with the Internazionale upgrade.
Do I need insurance to ski in Sestriere?
Third-party liability cover is a legal requirement on Italian pistes — you must be insured against injuring someone else. Any insurer can provide it, or you can add the resort's Sci Noproblem policy at around €3.50 a day, which also covers medical costs and equipment. Note that piste rescue is charged to you in Italy, so check your travel policy covers it.
When do the lifts open and close in Sestriere?
Roughly Early Dec to mid-April (approx). Sestriere is the highest town in Italy and the area carries a large snowmaking system, so the early-December opening is more dependable here than at most Italian resorts — though exact dates confirm nearer the season.
Now sort the rest of your trip
With the pass picked, book your ski hire direct with Maison Clataud at 15% off the counter price, and plan your runs on the piste map.
Book your ski hire →Image attributions & copyright
- Via Lattea – image-06-11-23-12-41-1: © Vialattea
