Where to Ski And Snowboard -

Review of Ischgl

25th March 2010 by boabski 

Did not stay in Ischgl but Kappl, further down the valley. Kappl itself was a great find. Stayed there 2nd Jan 2010 for a week with my wife and 3 kids (6, 9 and 12). Although Kappl itself only has around 45km of runs, the quality of the runs were excellent - probably better than Lech in my opinion (mainly because you can ski top to bottom without further uplift). The pistes were well maintained, quiet and very long (9km run from memory) from top to bottom. Most chairs (not that there are too many) had a blue, red and black option - all of which met up. The grading of runs were accurate and well sign posted.

Mid mountain there were various bits of the forest that the kids loved skiing through along with a tiny hamlet of hay sheds. Also had a great fun park for beginners and intermediates plus a fantastic timed GS course (which was groomed each night).

For younger kids the beginners area looked excellent too.

I really liked the variety of skiing on offer - top of mountain was nice open cruising, mid mountain you had the wee interesting bits through the trees and the bottom section was a nice tree run (which most beginners should be able to cope with).

Went to Ischgl one day and enjoyed the skiing there too - was it worth the hassle of getting the free bus? Not sure, but glad we went for the day anyway and to sample the apres ski - which in my opinion is not a patch on St Anton. If I’m being honest, I did not warm to Ischgl - felt it was a bit too manicured for my liking (Disney could have built the place) and although busy, lacked atmosphere (maybe too many Ruskies parading in their bling?)

The village of Kappl is built on a relatively steep slope and there is not a great deal going on. It’s a great resort for families and actually I was pleasantly surprised by the apres at the Schaffstahl and place at the foot of the slopes attached to the Hotel Auhof (can’t remember name but good fun and nice and busy).

Found the place great value for money although I felt the whole area lift pass was very expensive at €231 for adults and €131 for the kids. You can save €50 by buying a local pass, which is probably what I’ll do when I go back there (already booked with friends for Jan 2011!). Beers and soft drinks were typically €3-3.5 and lunch for 5 cost on average €35 with drinks/beers included.

We stayed at the Hotel Silvretta which was only 20m from piste. We had 2 massive rooms with balcony overlooking slopes and village. Flipside was the food - pretty rubbish but at something like €1400 for the week for 5 of us, I wasn’t exactly expecting Michelin star food.

We’ve booked the Gasthof Alpenfrieden for next year as it is right on the piste and the menu always looked nice. The Hotel Auhof is a 4 star hotel in a great location at foot of slopes and right beside gondola. There didn’t appear to be too many restaurants in town so not sure if self catering would be a good option.

Only an hour from Innsbruck but we flew into Munich (bad mistake - 5 hours in car with horrendous jams) and flew back from Memmingen which took 2.5 hours. We will fly to Innsbruck next year.

They are planning to link Kappl to the Rendl area of St Anton. This will undoubtedly bring more skiers into Kappl but does make it a great option as it would easily make St Anton skiable from Kappl - not convinced that too many skiers from Ischgl will want the hassle of getting bus etc to Kappl, skiing over to St Anton then doing same in reverse. Will be much easier being based in Kappl or St Anton.

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