Ischgl, Austria
Ischgl, Austria
If you don’t like your euro-pop music and being shoe-horned into a bar, then you’ll be missing one of Ischgl’s major highlights. The village is pretty compact and you’ll get to know the main street, which runs from one end to the other, pretty quickly. Après is full-on, and kicks off early. The Schatzi Bar in Hotel Elizabeth next to the Pardatschgratbahn is pumping by 3pm. Head inside for the Pacha girls doing an early shift dancing on the bar. For classic Austrian après, head down the road to Nikis Stadl which really has to be experienced to be believed.
In the main village next to the piste, the huge wooden Trofana Alm is après ski on acid, and nearby Silvretta Platz has yet more bars. The Kuhstall is the largest and liveliest of these, and never really stops until it closes at 2am. Opposite that is Fire & Ice which plays to a much younger crowd. The Allegra, which does great cocktails and food, is a lot more chilled, and tends to be where the locals hangout. The Guxa cigar bar, the Golden Eagle and the Kiwi Bar are also more relaxed places to drink.
Things keep going until it’s time to hit the slopes again. The Pacha nightclub under the uber-trendy Hotel Madlein is nice-looking but full of blokes (mostly Russians) throwing money around. There’s also a Coyote-Ugly-style lap-dancing bar adjoining. The Arena nightclub under the Trofana Royal hotel only gets going late, so early doors squeeze into the Posthörnd’l located under the Hotel Post.