Where to eat and drink in Ischgl: the village and the valley
Lunch on the mountain, dinner in the village or a short way out of it. Bergrestaurant Alpenhaus is the calm lunch on the Idalp, Restaurant Talblick is the cooking to book first, Winkler cafe-pub is the pizza that feeds you late, and Cafe Restaurant Guenther in Galtür is the family room worth the trip. Kuhstall is the bar off the main lift.
Ischgl eats better than its party name suggests. Lunch is on the mountain, where the huts run from loud to calm, and Bergrestaurant Alpenhaus up on the Idalp is the calm one. Leave it until the lunchtime rush has gone, when the tables facing the view come free, and order the soup of the day, which is the real thing.
Dinner is in the village or a short ride out of it. Restaurant Talblick, two kilometres out, is the best cooking we found, and the good kind of small hotel dining room. Book it early in the week, and sort the ride back when you do. In the village, Winkler cafe-pub is the pizza, with good cocktails and a kitchen that still feeds you late. The staff are good with children too, though the seats have no backs, so it is a two hour dinner rather than a long one.
The change of pace is up the valley in Galtür, where Cafe Restaurant Guenther is a small family room and the owners treat you like regulars. Trout with salted potatoes is the order, and the Tyrolean cooking is the kind you would not find without being told. It is busy, so book.
After the last run, Kuhstall sits next to the main lift station, the first door you reach in your boots, packed and loud and built for a group. In the morning, Bäckerei Konditorei Kurz in the centre does apple strudel with homemade vanilla sauce and covers breakfast if your hotel does not. Book dinner wherever you can, because in peak weeks the whole village is full.
Mountain lunch
The calm table up on the Idalp, with a view once the rush has cleared and a soup of the day that is made properly.
Bergrestaurant Alpenhaus
The calm one up on the Idalp, and worth knowing about for exactly that reason on a mountain where nothing else is. Come just after half one and the rush has cleared enough that you can take one of the tables with the view rather than one facing the wall. Ask for the soup of the day, which is made properly rather than poured, and the rest is straightforward mountain cooking with decent ingredients behind it. Prices are reasonable for the altitude. There are bike racks outside, which tells you it works in summer as well.
Dinner
The best cooking we found, just out of the village, the late pizza kitchen in it, and a family room up the valley in Galtür.
Restaurant Talblick
Two kilometres out of the village and the best cooking on this list, so book it and fix the ride back at the same time. The kitchen works from its own produce and local meat, and the veal, the ribeye and the Wildragout are the plates to ask about. Plating is careful without being fussy and the local wine list is worth using rather than skipping. It is a small hotel dining room rather than a restaurant with a scene attached, which is exactly why it is good. Go early in the week, because word has clearly got round.
Winkler cafe-pub
The pizza in the village, and the kitchen stays open later than anything else on this list: a party arriving at a quarter to ten still got fed properly. The cocktails are good here too, which makes it the one address that covers both halves of an evening without moving. Staff are fast and genuinely good with children. The seats have no backs to them, so this is a two hour room rather than a four hour one. It is four hundred metres from the centre and it takes bookings, which in Ischgl is worth using.
Cafe Restaurant Guenther
A family run room in the middle of Galtür where the owners treat a table like people they already know. Trout with salted potatoes is the dish to order, and they will split one main across two plates properly rather than grudgingly. The Tyrolean cooking here runs to dishes you would not find on your own, which is most of the reason to make the trip up the valley. The coffee and the puddings are worth staying for on their own. It is small and it is busy, so book.
Bars
The first door off the main lift, packed and loud, and the place for a group that wants its Ischgl après at full volume.
Kuhstall
Right next to the main lift station, which makes it the first door you reach with your boots still on. Packed, loud, drinks on tap and a good music selection, with named acts brought in for the bigger nights and ski events booked in for whole weeks. It suits a group that wants the full Ischgl apres rather than a conversation. Take your drinks with you if you step outside, because tables get cleared quickly in a room this busy.
Cafes and quick bites
The bakery in the middle of the village, for breakfast, an afternoon strudel or a cake to carry back.
Bäckerei Konditorei Kurz
The bakery in the middle of the village and the answer to breakfast if your hotel does not do one you want. Apple strudel with homemade vanilla sauce is the thing to order and the cakes are baked so that they are never too sweet. There are sandwiches, chocolate and a wide spread of other things, and prices are ordinary rather than resort. Indoor and outdoor seating, and it works as well for an afternoon stop as for a pudding to take back with you. It is a hundred metres from the centre, which in Ischgl means everything is.
These are our own picks, not paid placements. Opening times and ownership change, so it is always worth checking before you set off.