Where to Ski And Snowboard - Ischgl plans more quality après-ski

Ischgl plans more quality après-ski

24th April 2020, by Abi Butcher

Ischgl is renowned for its amazing ski season opening and closing music concerts

The Austrian ski resort of Ischgl is planning to move its après-ski scene more upmarket, as Austria starts to ease its lockdown. Mayor of the Tyrolean ski town has said he will work with local business to reduce “party tourism” and improve the quality of its après-ski culture.

“We will question developments of the past years and, where necessary, make corrections,” Ischgl Mayor Werner Kurz said in a statement relating to the fact that Tyrolean ski resort has been named as one areas of possible spread during the coronavirus outbreak.

“That means more quality and less party tourism, prioritising skiers and fewer day-trippers on buses who only come to party,” the tourism authority said. “We are also thinking with all businesses about what an upmarket après-ski culture can look like.”

Ischgl has long been renowned as one of the liveliest ski resorts in the Alps, but there is, and always has been, far more to Ischgl than its reputation for partying. Thanks to high, snows-slopes it has a long season over a large ski area — of around 230km of pistes — along with a slick lift system and charming, traditional Tirolean village.

Last summer, work began on an enormous spa which will be finished for the 2022-23 ski season, just part of the ski resort’s plans to offer something different at apres-ski.

The resort is renowned for its big-name opening and closing music concerts, at which the likes of Robbie Williams, Bob Dylan, Elton John and Lenny Kravitz have drawn huge crowds. This year’s closing concert was scheduled for 2 May, and to feature best-selling Italian singer/songwriter Eros Ramazzotti.

Austria is beginning to ease its lockdown now, with shops and hairdressers opening from 1 May, and ski touring likely to begin on some of the country’s glaciers likely to resume for the end of the season. The country is likely to remain closed to tourism until after the summer.