Hotel of the Week: Piz Buin, Ischgl, Austria

It’s not the convenient location of the four-star Piz Buin Sporthotel, its food or its facilities which make the property one of the most memorable places to stay in the Austrian mountain resort of Ischgl, but the eccentricities of its larger-than-life owner Niki. No need to mention his surname, like Madonna and Delia, he’s famous enough (in Ischgl anyway) not to use it.

Directly next door to the hotel is Niki’s Stadl, one of the most popular après ski bars in a resort that is not short of places to quench your thirst at the end of a hard day on the slopes. The two-storey bar is heaving from early afternoon and rocks until the early hours, with many punters being drawn by the chance to hear Niki sing – or maybe they’re there to see his stuffed marmots descend from the ceiling.

Yup. Stuffed marmots really do descend from the ceiling. About every half hour or so, if you’re lucky.

The hotel itself has 60 bedrooms, all decorated in traditional Tyrolean fashion. Think pine cladding, wood carvings and cosy fabrics. All are en-suite with TVs, mini-bars and free wi-fi. My spacious room had a seating area next to the window, which was separated from the bedroom by a heavy curtain.

My only complaint was that the room was very hot, even though the radiator wasn’t on and outside it was freezing. I couldn’t open the window because of the noise from the street. This is Ischgl after all, where the après is as important as the ski.

Downstairs there’s a small bar serving slabs of cake in the afternoon and beers to a sociable crowd in the evening, plus a restaurant offering hearty Austrian breakfasts and dinners using local produce, some from the family farm.

A ski and boot room provides useful storage, which opens directly on to the street so there’s no need to trudge through the hotel in your ski gear. There is also an indoor pool and several saunas, but sadly I was only there for a couple of days and didn’t have time to try them out.

Undoubtedly there are more swish hotels in Ischgl, a resort noted for its abundance of four-star properties, but the Piz Buin has one of the most enviable locations if you want to be one of the first on the slopes in the morning. The nearest cable car to give you a lift up the mountain to the main ski area is just 80 metres away.

A large ski shop where you can hire equipment lies between the hotel and the lifts, and the centre of the town is only a five-minute walk away.

You don’t come to Ischgl to mooch around a hotel though. In winter, the resort offers acres of first-class skiing and is one of the most snow-sure areas in Europe, proudly claiming to be one of the first resorts to open and one of the last to close. When the snow does eventually melt, sometime in May, the mountain becomes a playground for hikers, mountain bikers and motorsport enthusiasts.

That said, when the slopes close in the evening, Niki will be waiting to entertain you.

 www.pizbuin-ischgl.at/en