# Ski instructors in Ischgl > High, wide and lavishly equipped: the Silvretta Arena shared with duty-free Samnaun in Switzerland, with most of its 239 km of piste above 2,000 m. - Region: Paznaun, Tyrol - Country: [Austria](https://alpinepal.com/en/ski-instructors/austria) - Time zone: Europe/Vienna - Currency: EUR - Coordinates: 47.01306, 10.28806 - Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q664330 Page: https://alpinepal.com/en/resorts/ischgl Last reviewed: 13 September 2026 ## About 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. ## Where lessons start The beginner area is up at Idalp, not in the village: the valley floor is too low and too narrow for nursery slopes, so a first lesson starts with a gondola ride to 2,300 m. That sounds daunting but works well — the plateau is wide, sunny and reliably snowy, and children's areas are up there too. Ischgl comes into its own for intermediates who want to cover distance, and for anyone stepping up to steeper reds and easy off-piste, of which there is plenty just beside the marked runs. ## Getting there Innsbruck airport is about an hour and a quarter by road, Zurich around two and a half hours, Munich three. The nearest railway station is Landeck-Zams on the Zurich–Innsbruck main line, with buses up the Paznaun valley in about 40 minutes. The valley road is good but it is a dead end that everyone uses on changeover Saturdays, so arriving on a Friday or a Sunday saves a lot of sitting in traffic. ## Resort areas - Idalp - Pardatschgrat ## Instructors at Ischgl _No instructors have joined here yet._ ## Qualifications required in Austria Teaching for payment in Austria requires the Skilehrer qualification, issued by Landesskilehrerverband. ## Frequently asked questions ### Is it worth skiing over to Samnaun? Yes, and not only for the shopping. The Swiss side is quieter, with long descents to the villages of Samnaun and Ravaisch, and it is included in the normal Silvretta pass. Samnaun is duty-free, so people fill their rucksacks with spirits and perfume, but note that Swiss lunch prices are noticeably higher than Austrian ones and that you need to be back at the ridge before the last lifts to avoid an expensive taxi round by road.