Arlberg

What is the Arlberg like?

Ski Arlberg is the lift-linked ski area around the Arlberg, in western Austria. Ski Arlberg gives 300 km of pistes, more than 200 km of off-piste powder runs and 85 lifts between 1,300 m and 2,800 m, and calls itself Austria's largest ski area. Its figure for natural snowfall is an average of nine metres a season.

The lift company divides it into three regions: St. Anton, St. Christoph and Stuben; Lech, Oberlech and Zürs; and Warth-Schröcken. This guide covers two villages so far, both in Lech Zürs: Lech and Zürs.

All of these places are lift-linked. The Flexenbahn gondola joins Zürs to Rauz, for Stuben, St. Christoph and St. Anton, and the Auenfeldjet joins Lech to Warth-Schröcken.

Where should you stay?

Lech and Zürs share one tourist office and one ski region, but they are different places to stay. Lech, at 1,450 m, is the main village, with the church and the shops, and car-free Oberlech on its plateau above. Zürs, at 1,717 m, has about 150 inhabitants, and the tourist office says every hotel there is ski-in, ski-out. The Flexenbahn to the St. Anton side leaves from Zürs; from Lech you ski there first.

St. Anton, the Lech Zürs tourist office's "sporty classic", is the other main base, with its own railway station. This guide does not yet cover it, St. Christoph, Stuben or Warth-Schröcken.

• Lech

  The village half of Lech Zürs: hotels on the slopes, car-free Oberlech above, and the Der Weisse Ring circuit from the Rüfikopf.

• Zürs

  Smaller and higher than Lech, with every hotel on the slopes and the Flexenbahn to the St. Anton side leaving from the village.

How the villages link

Within Lech Zürs, the Rüfikopf cable car takes you from Lech towards Zürs, and the Madlochbahn takes you from Zürs over to Zug and back to Lech. That loop is Der Weisse Ring, a 22 km circuit with 5,500 vertical metres, signposted all the way round.

Two lifts join Lech Zürs to the rest of Ski Arlberg:

• Flexenbahn. A gondola from Zürs to Rauz, for Stuben, St. Christoph and St. Anton.
• Auenfeldjet. A 2 km gondola from Lech across the Auenfeld to Warth-Schröcken. The road between Lech and Warth is generally closed in winter, so this is the way across.

Together they carry the RUN of FAME, which Ski Arlberg calls the longest continuous ski circuit in the Alps: 85 km and 18,000 m of climb from St. Anton via Stuben, Zürs, Lech and Schröcken to Warth and back, in both directions, over the Arlberg, Flexen and Hochtannberg passes. The lift company asks you to note the operating hours of the two link lifts; after they close, there is no way back on skis.

The diagram follows the Lech and Zürs guides and Ski Arlberg's Lech Zürs, St. Anton and RUN of FAME pages. It shows St. Anton, St. Christoph and Stuben as a single node, and Rauz as the Flexenbahn's end on that side.

Skiing the Arlberg

Ski Arlberg has three regions. On the tourist office's and lift company's pages, Lech Zürs has Der Weisse Ring and, from the Rüfikopf, the Langer Zug, a 4.7 km ski route with an 80% gradient in its upper third. St. Anton has the Valluga for freeriding and the Rendl. Stuben, the smallest Arlberg village, has its local mountain, the Albona, with backcountry terrain around it.

Off the marked runs, the Lech Zürs tourist office advises a ski guide and lists the kit to carry: helmet, avalanche transceiver, shovel, probe, first-aid kit and bivouac sack. Ski Arlberg publishes an interactive piste map with live lift and piste information, and an app.

Lift passes

One pass covers all of Ski Arlberg, from Lech and Zürs to St. Anton, Stuben and Warth. For 2026/27, an adult day costs €85 and six days €468 in the main season, from 19 December 2026 to 2 April 2027. In the early and late weeks, 2 to 18 December and 3 to 18 April, a day costs €80.50 and six days €395. Passes are on chip cards with a €5 deposit, refunded when you return the card.

Prices change each season; check the official price list before you buy.

Getting there

Innsbruck is the nearest airport to Lech Zürs, about 120 km away over the Arlberg Pass, with Zurich, Friedrichshafen, Memmingen and Munich the other options. From Zurich Airport, trains run to Langen am Arlberg every two hours in about three hours.

The railway stations for Lech Zürs are Langen am Arlberg, 15 km away, with bus line 750, and St. Anton am Arlberg, 20 km away, with line 760. Lech and Zürs are on the Flexen Pass road; Austrian motorways need a vignette, and winter tyres are compulsory on wintry roads from 1 November to 15 April. The Lech and Zürs guides have the details.

When to go

Ski Arlberg gives its 2026/27 season as 2 December 2026 to 18 April 2027, with limited operation possible at either end. The lower-priced weeks are at the start and end; the main season runs from 19 December to 2 April.

The village snow fronts in Lech Zürs are at 1,450 m and 1,717 m, well below the top lifts, so use the official pages for conditions rather than any figure copied here:

• Lech Zürs webcams and weather (tourist office)
• Live lifts, pistes and conditions (Ski Arlberg)