The hills are alive – with the sound of eating

As a keen skier, I’ve never really seen the point of mountains in the summer after the snow has melted, but when I was invited to spend a long weekend in the Tyrolean resort of Ischgl in July it would have been rude to say no.

TBH, I was worried that the very fact I’d accepted the invitation meant I was getting old. I’d always mentally filed ‘lakes and mountains’ holidays as something to do when I retired. I expected Ischgl, which I’d last seen crammed with party-going skiers and boarders, to be full of Austrian pensioners in leather breaches and hiking boots.

So I was surprised to see young men in lycra cycling through the otherwise deserted village streets on the afternoon we arrived. Turns out that not only does Ischgl have 300kms of hiking tails, but also 1200kms of cycle routes plus motorbikes for hire, a high-wire challenge and outdoor swimming pools, all of which means it attracts a younger clientele than your typical lakes and mountains customer.

These are not the men in lycra I saw, but hundreds of others competing in the Iron Bike contest in Ischgl

Still, I thought the activities the tourist office had planned for us travel writers would be quite tame – a bit of a trek to a mountain hut for lunch on day one, a tour of a museum on day two, a cycle ride on an e-bike, which sounded suspiciously like a mobility scooter, on day three. Even the ‘high-rope garden’ planned for the second afternoon looked easy-peasy to someone who’s conquered Go Ape.

Day one dawned and we were driven from Ischgl to the neighbouring resort of See, a few miles down the Paznaun valley where  a cable car took us up to 1800 metres. A Silvretta Card, which costs €53.50 for a week, gives visitors access to the entire lift access plus discounts on varies activities and services in the village.

We alighted at the top to find cows idly nibbling grass around a redundant chair lift, until about 200 journalists arrived to shatter the peace. We were then told we would be taking a two-hour trek up to a height of about 2,556 metres. Seriously? This was to be no walk in the park.

The first part was easy, along a tarmaced road, surrounded by idylic mountain scenery – babbling brooks, lush green pastures, that sort of thing – and we didn’t have to walk too long before we reached one of the Silvretta Mountain’s many mountain huts (they call them huts in these parts, but really it was a chalet-style restaurant) where we were greeted by an accordion player in traditional outfit, but I suspect he was only wheeled out for the media.

Cliched photo of an Austrian accordion player

We were offered a cold glass of creamy milk, a hunk of local cheese and some fennel crackers, but the Versing Alm Chalet would have been a lovely place to stop for lunch (with or without the accordion player) sitting on the wide terrace in the sunshine, overlooking the Paznaun Valley below. There was even an enclosure with goats and other small animals to entertain children.

We had a gourmet lunch waiting for us though in another restaurant, several hundred metres further up the hill. The second part of the walk was trickier. The route grew rapidly steeper and the ground under foot was rocky in parts, shingle in others. Thankfully a low mist kept us cool as we straddled streams that criss-crossed the mountain. When the sun did manage to poke through the clouds, it was scorching, but it only managed brief appearances.

It was tough, but not arduous and worth it for the stunning views of the valley below. We did pass a few elderly walkers, but most of the other folk on the route were young families and couples.

Our particular walk ended at the Ascherhutte, a  chalet-style restaurant, where not one, not two, but four Michelin-star chefs from other European countries had flown in to prepare a gourmet lunch. Now, not every walker is in for such a treat (the 4 chefs were there to spoil us journalists as we can’t be induced to walk without reward and we’re harder to please than travel agents) but they will be able to sample menus by the same Michelin-star chefs in four huts dotted around the mountain throughout the rest of the summer until October as part of the region’s annual Jakobsweg food festival. You see, one of the Paznaun Valley’s unique selling points as a summer destination is its gourmet cuisine and fine-dining experiences, both on the mountain and in the villages.

A cow that ate someone’s poles while we ate gourmet cuisine

The other mountain huts with gourmet menus are the Heidelberger Hutte, also in Ischgl, the Niederelber Hutte in Kappl and the Jamtalhutte in Galtuer. Back in the valley, our fine-dining continued that evening at the Walserstube, one of the region’s oldest region restaurants, where we sampled local specialities, including, of course, Wiener Schnitzel and apfelstrudel.

Crystal and Inghams both offer summer packages to Ischgl. I stayed at the four-star AlpVita Piz Tasna. Flights are available with SWISS from Heathrow to Zurich from where it is a 3-hour transfer, or easyJet flies from Gatwick to Innsbruck, 90 minutes away.