For that perfect skiing holiday, Austria has it all.
This is my second trip to this winter wonderland and I am continually amazed with its mountains, scenery, skiing, culture and cuisine. Many consider Austria to be the best value in European skiing with warm welcoming people who are proud to share their mountains and lifestyle with you. On this leg of the trip, I stayed in both the Arlberg and SkiWelt areas.
We started in the Arlberg region, which includes several world class resorts: St. Anton known as the apres hot spot, St. Christoph, Stuben, Lech, Oberlech, Zürs, and Warth-Schröcken.
Our journey took us from the Zurich airport onto the comfortable Arlberg Express shuttle bus and two hours later we arrive in Lech. It’s a really cool town and one of the most renowned winter sports resorts in Europe. It has always been a ski home to many of Europe’s rich and famous, including British royalty such as Princess Diana and her kids, however, the really cool part, it’s not over the top with glitz and glamour. It’s understated sophistication and class without that ostentatious feel. It’s a comfortable and welcoming resort town for all levels of skiers and lovers of winter.
Driving into town, you see unique boutique shops, equipment rental shops (including the famous Stolz) along with a number of wonderful après restaurants such as Die Krone von Lech with its champagne-lined glass wall and Tannbergerhof.
I enjoyed my new found ski-trip beverage Augustiner Weissbier, a delicious Bavarian wheat beer.
The town of Lech stands for many wonderful features, but I appreciate it’s moto, “We stand for quality before quantity” which includes world-class cuisine, shopping, spas, arts and cultural programs. Lech is fondly described as the World Gourmet Village, with a wide variety of dazzling four and five star hotels and restaurants, each with their own Austrian comfort and vibe.
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We stayed right on the mountain in Oberlech, which is a small community of high-end hotels and restaurants overlooking Lech. Our first stop was the 4-star, superior Hotel Bergkristall which is a quick five-minute tram ride on Bergbahn Oberlech from the town. Basically, a ski-in and ski-out hotel with a two-minute walk from the gondola. Don’t worry about anything and enjoy the cool ride up the mountain. Attendants take care of everything, including your luggage to the room and quick check in. It’s a stunning and elegant family generational run hotel with deep Austrian roots. It carries a rich history of comfort with large rooms and a spacious wellness spa. What really caught my eye was the enormous breakfast buffet. Start your day with fresh cooked eggs from the chefs station, waffles or pancakes, local meats, cheeses, fresh made breads, plus something that totally surprised me, European hot dogs and pizza, but I loved it. Dinner had another incredibly large buffet that included hot and cold options along with a pre-set menu and some of the friendliest staff you’ll ever meet. Oberlech is also known for it’s cool apres stops, offering fun vibes at Goldener Berg and Rud-Alpe.
Once again, you’ll need a guide for your first day because this is big. We skied the Lech-Zürs area, which has 122km of runs from wide open bowl skiing to glades, plus numerous privately owned mountain side restaurants, locally referred to as huts, for those wonderful two-hour lunches. I would recommend a stop at Schlegelkopf for their famous Wiener Schnitzel and incredible 360-degree panoramic views as well as Der Wolf which is another popular mountain stop. The food and atmosphere are so intriguing and enjoyable, you’ll see a number of non-skiers taking in the unique cuisine, atmosphere and jaw-dropping scenery.
Lech-Zürs is also popular for arts and culture with something very different. A unique on-mountain experience called Skyspace-Lech, atop of Oberlech featuring a mountain structure from famed artist James Turrell that observes the skies from a novel perspective. A meeting of heaven and earth in the alpine mountains. There’s plenty to enjoy in Lech-Zürs for non skiers, including Toboggan Oberlech for both young and old, with Bobs available for rent at the Oberlech cable car. Toboggan Zurs as well. There’s more than 27 kilometres of groomed, free of charge cross- country trails. Snowshoeing, winter walking trails, horse drawn sleigh rides, tandem paragliding at Kriegerhorn, Lechmuseum, Kästle (or Kaestle) Mountain Museum and Hall of Fame highlighting the many ski stars of the Arlberg, considered the home of Alpine skiing. There’s something for everyone in this beautiful part of the Arlberg.
The skiing at Lech Zürs is wonderful, often described as an intermediates paradise with gentle rolling red groomers. We enjoyed a number of glade and open runs in Lech-Oberlech, but for the more adventurous there’s the steeper runs off Madloch or Monzabonsee.
The next morning we took a short walk to the gondola in town and skied the open runs to Zürs with cool views overlooking the town. It was a glorious bluebird day and perfect for sitting outside and enjoying another traditional Austrian mountain side lunch.
Lech averages seven meters of snow a season with Zürs at 10 meters but the area also carries 60% snowmaking coverage so you’re never be disappointed in the conditions. Lech-Zürs is another Austrian gem in the Alps and a must stop on your ski journey.
Our next stop was SkiWelt, a 2.5-hour drive east from Lech. The size totally blew us away as Austria’s largest interconnected ski area featuring 280km of ski runs, 90 cable cars and 80 mountain huts (restaurants). This place is huge, consisting of six mountain resorts including our stop at Scheffau under the imposing watchful eye of the Wilder Kaiser range. Once again, do yourself a favour and hire a guide for the first day because this area is that big. When it comes to vast ski regions, take your time and don’t try to do everything in just one day. Find an area you like and stay for the day, then move to another the next day. Ski village towns/resorts are very close, often just a kilometre away.
Another total surprise was the luxurious Kaiser Lodge which looks like something right out of Alpine lifestyle in Architectural Digest. It’s an impressive and massive, uniquely designed wooden structure with spacious modern rooms, huge walk-in double showers, man made lake and wonderful mountain views.
Guests design their own stay with staff customizing their activities and dining. The spa is very impressive, but a new and much larger spa-wellness area is under construction. The hotel is conveniently located near the slopes with a free bus that stops right outside the door and five-minute ride to endless trails.
How about night skiing in Europe? It’s very rare but SkiWelt offers the country’s largest night skiing at Söll (or Soell). I’ve never been night skiing in Europe before but thoroughly enjoyed it with great cover lighting, good variety of runs and a mountain side fondue you’ll never forget at Ursprung Grill. The resort is also famous for its bewitching winter wonderland, which is part of the local folklore and features witches ice carvings, designs and “witch”-full evenings for the entire family.
For the really adventurous, KitzSki Welt boasts the longest ski circuit in the world at 88 kms on a variety of runs. We managed 26 kms of runs in one morning then enjoyed a traditional lunch of dumplings and local wheat beer on the mountain peak at Talkaser.
I love trying new resorts and ski areas and I can guarantee you won’t be disappointed in this lower profile area that still offers high profile opportunities and enjoyment.
Stay tuned for our next stop, the famous town of Kitzbühel.
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