Skiing in Arlberg, Austria, in one of the biggest resorts of the world.

Time to open the ski season with an epic trip to the Austrian Alps 🙂

End of November 2019, I decided to open my winter by Skiing in Austria.

I started looking for places to go. Until now, I have been to France most often. It is a bit further away from my hometown but definitely worth to go to for skiing. Skiing usually in France I am spoiled with huge Ski-Resorts and didn’t want to settle for anything small now. I wanted to have an epic mountain with plenty of slopes. But, compared to France it shouldn’t be further than 3 hours away from my home. That’s why we chose the Arlberg Skiing-Resort that had it’s opening weekend on November 29th. We were looking forward to Skiing in Arlberg in Austria’s and one of the worlds biggest ski resorts!

Travelling to Arlberg

We travelled to Austria the day before the opening. The drive from Stuttgart to St. Anton was okay. Just before entering vienna we bought a Vigniette which is necessary to be allowed to drive on certain roads in Austria. When we arrived at the hotel Garni the lady was welcoming us warmly. The house/hotel was big. It has a flair of “home” but is still professional as a hotel.

Buy a Vignette at a gasstation close to the Austrian border to drive on Austrian roads legally.

Full day of skiing

The next day we woke up, opened the curtains and saw snowfall.

For breakfast the hotel offered a big variety of food. All kinds of bread, chees, sausages, marmelades, fruits, cereals, eggs and bacon were served at the buffet. For drinks we could pick of many kinds of juices, tee and coffees. We had our food for energy which we really needed afterwards on the slopes.

We took the car to the main Gondola, which wasn’t the smartest choice as parking is very limited. Luckily we found a spot, walked to the Galzig Gondola Station, rented skis right besides the lift, bought the tickets and went up the mountain. We weren’t very lucky with the weather. It was constantly snowing and it felt like blind skiing most of the time. The visibility was okay further down but on top of the mountain you could hardly see what was 5m ahead of you.

Nevertheless, the whole day was an amazing experience. Even in the stormy snowfall, lifts were comfortable as many are equiped with a bulb protecting from wind and rain or snow. The snow was 90 percent powder because of the heavy snowfall. The slopes were marked nicely so that even at very foggy places you could always find the slope. This is a big plus for this Ski-Resort as you feel save even in worst weather conditions.

For lunch we had the traditional Germknödel, which is a big delicious dumpling filled with plum and served with vanillasauce and poppy seeds.

Eat traditional Germknödel for lunch 🙂

After an exhausting day some relaxation in the sauna of our hotel just felt like the perfect thing to do. The sauna area was amazing, clean and even had towels and water (also some sirup to give your water a good taste) offered.

For dinner there are plenty of food choices in the St. Anton downtown. The city is cosy and has a very nice relaxing atmosphere. People from all over the world get together and celebrate the passion for skiing/snowboarding.

Check out St. Anton’s downtown flair at night.

Summary

After two days at St. Anton am Arlberg and even if I only had seen a little part of the Ski-Resort, I can say it is definitely worth to visit. The Area is huge, the slopes are nice and wide, making it enjoyable for beginners and advanced skiers to ride on the same slope, and the mountain scenery is just beautiful!!

See in the following more information on the destination, how to get there and where to stay. If you’re missing some info write a comment or send me a message!

Cheers,

Jenni

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The Destination:

The biggest Ski-Resort in Austria is Arlberg. It is indeed one of the top 5 largest Ski-Resorts worldwide. The main areas are St. Anton, St. Christoph, Stuben, Zürs and Lech.

Some facts about the Resort:

305 downhill skiing kilometres
200 kilometres of deep snow skiing
88 lifts and cableways

The area counts on average 9 meters of snowfall each winter and is covering 70 percent mechanically to make the area one of the most reliable in term of snow conditions. This way, no matter what time of the year you choose to go there you will have enough snow to ski for sure.

Accomodation:

There are lots of hotels and airbnb offerings for Arlberg. When looking for hotels and airbnb check within following cities:

St. Anton
St. Christoph
Stuben
Zürs
Lech

I can personally recommend the hotel in St. Anton we stayed in. In general, Garni is a hotel chain and probably all Garni hotels are pretty similar. Delicious breakfast, great rooms and sauna area.

How to get to the Arlberg Ski-Resort:

As you have chosen your accomodation now, let’s see how you can get there.

By plane: There are plenty of airports within 100-300k. Depending on where you come from you can choose from the following:

Altenrhein / St. Gallen (CH) 100 km (Wien)
Innsbruck (AT) 120 km (Amsterdam, Frankfurt, London, Wien)
Friedrichshafen (DE) 125 km (Europa)
Memmingen / Munich West (DE) 160 km (Europa)
Zürich (CH) 200k (International)
Munich (DE) 330k (International)
Milano (IT) 330k (International)

When arriving at the airport you can choose to either take the airport shuttleservice, rent a car of take the train to Arlberg.

Airport-Shuttleservice: The Arlberg-Express is offering daily Bus-Shuttle Service from Zurich airpot to Lech, Zürs, St. Anton, St. Christoph and Stuben. Reservate your sear min. 24h before arrival.

By train: There is a train stations in Langen am Arlberg and in St. Anton am Arlberg. There are shuttles offered to the main Ski areas and many hotels offer a pick-up service as well. Check the timetables on the OBB website.

By car: Check the best route from wherever you are located right now. Just make sure to buy a Vignette at a gas station near the Austrian border if you want to drive on the Austrian Autobahn. Usually, gas stations have a sign at the door stating they sell a Vignette. You can choose from 10-days, 1-month or yearly Vignette. It now is also possible to buy it online to be able to drive the roads in Austria without any hustle. Check out this Link to buy online. Furthermore, the drive through the Arlberg-tunnel is charged about 10 Euro.

Parking at the lift is limited. You have to be early to get a spot. Therefore, check the Ski buses near your hotel to make skiing as comfortable as possible.

By the way… being outside in nature and exercising is great for us. If you have not read my article about the effect of physical exercise on happiness follow the Link to the article.

travel, health, fitness, movement & recovery