John Bauer from United States writes:
Revised from earlier review:
Visited Ischgl from Jan 5 2008 to Jan 12, 2008. The slopes are magnificent and you can go to Switzerland to visit from the top of the mountain. Prices, in general, are expensive compared to the dollar but that is due to Bush and can't be helped. Altitude is around 1400 meters or 4620 feet, which is not too high. However, you can easily get out of breath if you're not in shape. The ski slope starts at 7200 feet. If you get a multiple day pass, don’t forget to return the pass to the machine and you get 5 Euros back. Beats me why they would want it back but the cards is an RFI card so they probably re-use it. The lifts are mostly chairs. However, there are quads, sixes and even an 8 person chair. There are only a few T-bar lifts and Poma lifts on the beginner slopes.
If you are in town go to the Hotel Sonne and ask for Iva, the blond Czech bartender. She's very friendly and can chat with the best. She speaks 4 languages. The food was also great. They had a two piece band with Dagmar the singer from Slovenia and a keyboard player, didn’t get his name. They sing all the German oldies and some Motown too, pretty fun entertainment. The Russians dance like crazy when a Russian song comes on.
This time period coincided with the Russian Christmas and the town was 80% full of Russians. They were very friendly and out to have good time. They bring the whole family, including grandma.
The main discos are Fire and Ice and Kuhlstahl (cow stall?). They are packed with kids, so if you want an older crowd the restaurant bars are the better places to be. The apres-ski is great at Trofana, but you have to get there early at around 4:00 pm straight from the slopes because it gets so crowded that you cannot walk, but have to body swim. Ask for Heinz, he is the only guy in town that knows how to make a decent vodka martini. However, you have to bring your own olives because he does not sell enough martinis to stock olives, he’ll have onions though. If you let him know that you’ll be back the next day, he will reserve a place at the bar for you, which is where you want to be instead of upstairs. They throw everybody out at 6:50 pm to clean up and get ready for dinner because it's also a restaurant.
We stayed in Galtur, the site of a massive avalanche in Feb 1999 and the room was 28.00 Euros per night at Frau Niedermeier's Pension (niedermeier@cable.vot.at; tel: 004354438322). The single room was small but included a bathroom, but don't forget to bring soap and shampoo because it is not included. The cab ride from Galtur to Ischgl is 20.00 Euros for a 10 minutes ride and cabs are available at all hours. We also skied at Kappl and they had the best slopes because they faced south and were sunny the entire day until 4:00 pm when the lifts closed. We skied Galtur also but this was not as nice because it was in the shadow the entire day.
All in all, I would not hesitate to come back because everyone was so friendly. The food was great and the skiing was outstanding with 3 separate areas that can be skied on the same ski pass. Of course, Ischgl is the biggest and best but if you want to avoid the crowds try Galtur and Kappl.
2008-01-22 |
