Ischgl Ski Resort village

Ischgl / Village

Ischgl is a fairly compact place, in parts a typical traditional Tirolean community, with a largely pedestrianised centre.

Ischgl is set in the Silvretta mountains towards the head of the long narrow Paznaun Valley at the western end of Tirol. The main road up the valley is susceptible to landslides, and this means that on occasion the resorts strung along it - See, Kappl, Ischgl and Galtur - can be cut off for a day or two by heavy snowfall.

Once a small farming village Ischgl was first settled by the Rhaeto Romans in the 10th century, with an influx of Walsers, a Celtic people who were escaping persecution in Switzerland, in the 14th century.

It became something of a holiday resort in 1929, when the tourist office was formed. Its first cable-car was built in 1963, and now Ischgl has 10,000 guest beds, with a local population of about 1,500. It's a fairly compact place, in parts a typical traditional Tirolean community, with farming still an element of the economy. The centre is largely pedestrianised, the village being bypassed by the road which continues up the valley to Galtur. An underground moving walkway links the two ends of the village.

Development has gone on apace, but not to the detriment of the village's charm. There are too many impressive hotels to really describe it as quaint now - more an attractive and handsome blend of the traditional, the elegant and the rustic.