The choice is yours – ski hard or party hard. But if you can manage both, you’re in for a hectic, thrilling week! Ischgl is a pretty but also pulsating village just 90 minutes from Innsbruck with a fantastic snow-sure ski area. It’s compact and easy to explore via a series of underground tunnels and escalators. The après-ski is renowned yet varied and the nightlife is positively urban in nature with a vast array of cafés, restaurants, bars and nightclubs.

Ischgl’s ski area is aimed at intermediates and advanced skiers (but beginners will also feel perfectly at home here) and offers just as much off-piste as on-piste. Intriguingly, it’s linked with the duty-free Swiss enclave of Samnaun - in fact a large section of the terrain is actually in Switzerland.

Ischgl prides itself on its ultra-modern lift system, many of which are high-speed and even heated, giving easy access to more than 238km of pistes with a further 40km ski terrain in nearby Galtür. A major cable car has been added to its lift complex: the 18.5 million Euro Piz Val Gronda, which has hugely improved access to unpisted freeride terrain in the Fimbatal Valley. Also new is the 3 S Pardatschgratbahn from town, serving slopes with a vertical drop of 1257m (4124ft) – said to be the biggest vertical drop served by a triple-cable gondola in the world.