Lech lies at about 1,444 m in Vorarlberg, on the quieter side of the Arlberg, and is administered together with Zürs, Zug, Oberlech and Stubenbach. It shares the Ski Arlberg pass with St. Anton but not its character: where St. Anton is loud and steep, Lech is restrained and open.
How to get there: the nearest railway station is St. Anton am Arlberg, on the main line, with the road over to Lech from there. Innsbruck and Zurich are the nearest airports.
Slopes and lifts: Ski Arlberg covers 300 km of marked runs and more than 200 km of off-piste variations. The resort describes it as Austria’s largest connected ski area and the fifth largest in the world.
What else there is: cross-country trails run along the Lech river, and the valley offers winter hiking, snowshoeing, tobogganing, ice skating, curling, horse-drawn sleigh rides and tandem paragliding. Heliskiing is available here, which is rare in Austria.
What the skiing is like: the Arlberg calls itself the cradle of alpine skiing, and Lech is the half of it where wide, open pistes matter more than couloirs. The snow record is the reason people book the same week year after year.
Where you stay: Lech is a village of hotels rather than apartment blocks, and Oberlech above it is car-free, reached by lift, with luggage moved through an underground tunnel system.
