Ischgl

Ischgl spent the last few decades turning a farming village in the Paznaun into one of the most modern lift systems in the Alps, and it shows: big gondolas out of the village, fast chairs everywhere above, and heated seats as standard. The Silvretta Arena it forms with Samnaun, a duty-free enclave on the Swiss side, counts around 239 km of piste between roughly 1,400 and 2,870 m.

The skiing is high, open and reliable. Almost everything happens above the tree line on the wide bowls around Idalp and Pardatschgrat, and because so much of it sits above 2,000 m the season runs from late November well into May with a confidence few non-glacier resorts can match. Most pistes are graded red, and a red here means a wide, well-groomed motorway rather than anything frightening — which suits the strong intermediates who make up most of the crowd.

The other half of Ischgl's reputation is the party. The season opens and closes with stadium-scale concerts on the mountain, and the après-ski starts early and ends late. It is not subtle, and people who want a quiet valley village should look elsewhere in the Paznaun — Galtür, further up, is the calm option on the same pass.