The Arlburg, Austria
Best Ski Resorts in Europe
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| At Arlberg, your legs will give out before the runs do (Osterreich Werbung) |
"The Arlberg" is the name given to five picturesque towns in western Austria and the roughly 85 lifts and scores of runs that link them. St. Anton (www.stantonamarlberg.com), one of the most famous resorts in the world, is the biggest of the bunch.
Lying deep in a valley along the main east-west rail and highway route across Austria, it now has a pleasant pedestrian center, with lifts rising directly from the outskirts and chalets perched on steep slopes. St. Anton is popular with young, energetic, and aggressive skiers and snowboarders.
The Valluga, a spiky summit, boasts the Arlberg's most challenging terrain—and, some would say, its most aggressive nightlife too.
High above St. Anton is St. Christoph, a tiny, tranquil hamlet built around a hotel called The Hospiz, which was originally run by monks for wayfarers. Arlberg. This small and relatively isolated resort offers doorstep skiing on both sides of the high valley—with the Valluga-Galzig area on one side and the Albona on the other.
Stuben is a small village in a side valley below St. Christoph. It has a more authentic atmosphere and lower lodging prices than elsewhere in the Arlberg, but it is definitely out of the mainstream. In addition to marked runs, the St. Anton—St. Christoph-Stuben section offers virtually limitless off-piste (translation: unmarked and ungroomed) runs.
Lech and Zürs are connected with the other resorts, but they also seem a world apart. They are achingly beautiful, with classic chalets nestled high in the Arlberg. Zürs sits astride the Flexen-Pass, while Lech lies at the end of the road in a side valley below. Both communities are known for five-star hotels that combine luxury, congeniality and the highest Alpine style. The mountains closest to these villages, the Madloch, the Trittkopf, and the Kriegerhorn offer slopes for all abilities. An excellent bet for families is Oberlech, a satellite resort perched about 600 feet above Lech.
Europe's Mega Resorts
European "resorts" are really entire regions rather than a single resort with a base lodge as we know it in the States.
For instance, Trois Vallées in France, with its 200 lifts and hundreds of acres of skiable terrain, is comparable in size to all of the resorts in Utah's Wasatch Mountains (Alta, Snowbird, Solitude, Brighton, Park City, The Canyons, Deer Valley) thrown together, if those resorts happened to be inter-linked and a single, inexpensive ski pass would allow you roam freely between them.
