Ischgl or Val d'Isère: two late nights, one much higher village
The Ski Snug teamUpdated 12 October 20265 min read
Ischgl and Val d'Isère sell the same week: big, snow sure skiing by day and a proper night out after it. Our matching puts them close, and around each village we measure nearly the same amount of piste. Both are lively, both open in late November, and both have enough to keep a strong skier busy all week.
What separates them is height, what lies beyond the village, and what kind of challenge you want. One is an Austrian mountain of long reds with plenty of black on top. The other is a high French village joined to Tignes, with the off piste to match. The numbers first.
The numbers, side by side
| Figure | Ischgl | Val d'Isère |
|---|---|---|
| Village altitude | 1,377 m | 1,850 m |
| Top of the skiing, measured | 2,868 m | 3,205 m |
| Linked ski area | Silvretta Arena, linked by lift to Samnaun in Switzerland | Espace Killy, 300 km, shared with Tignes |
| Piste we measure around the village | 152 km | 158 km |
| Green and blue | 43 km of blue and easier, 28% of the piste | 90 km, 57% of the piste, 22 km of it green |
| Black | 27 km | 22 km |
| Marked off piste itinerary | 10.6 km | 29 km |
| Piste steeper than one in four | 34% | 29% |
| Piste gentler than 15% | 30% | 28% |
| Piste at or above 1,800 m | 90% | 100% |
| Season | Late November to May | Late November to early May |
| Nearest airport | Innsbruck or Zurich | Geneva |
Two rows matter more than the rest. The village row, because Val d'Isère sleeps you 473 metres higher. And the gentle row, which is nearly level, whatever the green and blue row seems to say.
Altitude: Val d'Isère sleeps higher, the skiing less so
Val d'Isère's village sits at 1,850 metres, the joint fifth highest of the 55 resorts we cover, and its skiing reaches 3,205 metres by our measure, 337 above Ischgl's 2,868. Rounded, 100 percent of the piste we measure around it is at or above 1,800 metres, up to 3,205, and no resort we cover has a bigger share. That is snow sure by any reading.
43 km blue and easier 28%83 km red 54%27 km black 18%
90 km blue and easier 57%46 km red 29%22 km black 14%
Marked off piste itinerary, kept out of the piste totals: Ischgl 11 km, Val d'Isère 29 km.
Ischgl is snow sure on our measure too, with 90 percent of its piste above 1,800 metres, up to 2,868. And the gap on the mountain is far smaller than the gap in the villages. Half of Val d'Isère's piste is above 2,451 metres. Half of Ischgl's is above 2,363, only 88 metres lower. Ischgl's village is low, but its skiing sits up on a high plateau.
Nobody can promise snow at either. Val d'Isère's real edge is at the bottom of the mountain: the lowest piste we measure there is at 1,798 metres, against 1,352 at Ischgl. That is the snow you ski last, on the way home, and it matters most late in the season.
Size: level at the door, Val d'Isère wider beyond it
Around the villages there is little in it: we measure 158 kilometres at Val d'Isère and 152 at Ischgl. The difference is what you can ski beyond that. Val d'Isère shares Espace Killy with Tignes, 300 kilometres that we have checked against our own measurement, with the link to Tignes over Bellevarde. Ischgl's lifts cross the border to Samnaun in Switzerland, which makes a fine day out, for lunch and duty free shopping. The Silvretta Arena's total is not one we have classified, so we do not quote it.
If your group counts a week in kilometres, Val d'Isère reaches further.
The skiing: Ischgl has more black, Val d'Isère more off piste
French and Austrian grades are not set the same way, so we compare on measured steepness. Thirty four percent of Ischgl's piste is steeper than one in four, against 29 percent at Val d'Isère and 26 at a typical resort we cover. Ischgl also has more black, 27 kilometres against 22, the fifth most of the 55 resorts we cover. Val d'Isère's 22 includes 9.1 kilometres of double black.
43 km blue and easier 28%83 km red 54%27 km black 18%
90 km blue and easier 57%46 km red 29%22 km black 14%
Marked off piste itinerary, kept out of the piste totals: Ischgl 11 km, Val d'Isère 29 km.
The gradients are averages per run segment, and a run's grade is set by its steepest pitch, so read them as how the week feels rather than a verdict on any one run. On that measure the blacks are level, both averaging 29.9 percent, though Val d'Isère's figure leaves out its double black. Ischgl's reds are the gentler, at 20.7 against 23.9.
Where Val d'Isère pulls clear is off the piste. It has 29 kilometres of marked off piste itinerary, the fifth most of the 55 resorts we cover, against 10.6 at Ischgl. The longest, Col Pers, runs 4.9 kilometres and drops 917 metres. Add the couloirs and the Pissaillas glacier at Le Fornet, and a strong skier with a guide has more to explore here.
Who each one actually suits
Ischgl suits groups of friends and couples who want long, fast reds, plenty of black for the stronger ones and a night out with a name across Europe. The village is compact, with most beds a short walk from the two main gondolas, and the après runs from the foot of the slopes into bars and clubs, with open air concerts to open and close the season. It is also the shorter trip from its airport.
Val d'Isère suits the widest spread of people. Beginners start on the greens off Solaise, families do well in the centre, couples find quiet at Le Fornet, and strong skiers have Bellevarde, home of the 1992 Olympic downhill, and the off piste. The evenings run from La Folie Douce above La Daille, dancing in ski boots in the afternoon, to a calm dinner in a stone and timber village that was a real place long before it was a resort. Jean-Claude Killy learned to ski here, and the ski area carries his name.
The bit nobody tells you
On the piste map, Val d'Isère looks like the far kinder mountain for a nervous skier: 90 kilometres of green and blue against 43 at Ischgl, a gap of 47. Some of that is real. Val d'Isère's 22 kilometres of green is a figure we trust, and Ischgl's green is not tagged well enough to count.
Measured, though, the gap mostly disappears. Thirty percent of Ischgl's piste is gentler than 15 percent, against 28 percent at Val d'Isère. Ischgl's blues average 15.8 percent against 16.9, and its reds 20.7 against 23.9. Grades are set differently either side of the border, and Ischgl's reds sit well under the Austrian average of 23.4. So do not let the colours decide it for an improver. At Val d'Isère they have more runs labelled for them. At Ischgl they have fewer, but gentler, and the step up to red is smaller.
So, which one
the night out matters as much as the skiing, your group likes long reds and wants more black on the piste, and a day skiing into Switzerland appeals. Also if a shorter trip from the airport matters.
you want the higher village and virtually all of the skiing at or above 1,800 metres, a 300 kilometre area shared with Tignes, the off piste, or real greens for the beginners in a mixed group.
It sleeps you higher, reaches further with Tignes, has 29 kilometres of itinerary against 10.6, and gives the beginners real greens. Ischgl is the right answer when the nights are the point and your group lives on red, and then it is a very good one.