Lech or Zürs: the family village, or the high, quiet one
The Ski Snug teamUpdated 12 October 20265 min read
Lech and Zürs share the Arlberg lift pass, along with St Anton over the hill, and the same season, December to April. You fly to Innsbruck or Zurich for either. So this is not a choice of ski area at all.
It is a choice of where you wake up. Lech is the refined, family friendly village, bigger and busier, with more skiing around it. Zürs is a tiny, exclusive corner of the same mountain, quiet, and 270 metres higher. Both are upmarket. The difference is who they suit. The numbers first.
The numbers, side by side
| Figure | Lech | Zürs |
|---|---|---|
| Village altitude | 1,450 m | 1,720 m |
| Top of the skiing, measured | 2,440 m | 2,440 m |
| Linked ski area | The Arlberg, shared with Zürs and St Anton, not yet classified in our data | The same |
| Piste we measure around the village | 175 km | 75 km |
| Blue and easier | 79 km, 45% of the piste | 31 km, 42% of the piste |
| Black | 26 km | 6 km |
| Marked off piste itinerary | 56 km | 40 km |
| Piste steeper than one in four | 33% | 33% |
| Piste gentler than 15% | 31% | 21% |
| Piste at or above 1,800 m | 61% | 74% |
| Season | December to April | December to April |
| Nearest airport | Innsbruck or Zurich | Innsbruck or Zurich |
The piste figures are our own measurement of what lies around each village, and they overlap, so never add them. They tell you what is on the doorstep, not what the pass can reach.
Altitude: Zürs sleeps higher, the skiing tops out level
Zürs's village is at 1,720 metres, the second highest of the 13 Austrian resorts we cover and 270 metres above Lech's 1,450. On our measure, the skiing around both tops out at exactly the same height, 2,440 metres.
79 km blue and easier 45%70 km red 40%26 km black 15%
31 km blue and easier 42%38 km red 50%6 km black 8%
Marked off piste itinerary, kept out of the piste totals: Lech 56 km, Zürs 40 km.
The difference is in what sits between. At Zürs, 74 percent of the piste we measure is at or above 1,800 metres, and nearly half, 47 percent, is above 2,000. At Lech the figures are 61 and 30 percent. Half of Zürs's piste is above 1,984 metres; half of Lech's is above 1,880.
We have not called either village snow sure, and we have not ruled either out. The top of the skiing at both is 60 metres short of the 2,500 metre line we use, and that call is one we are making by hand. What the figures do say is that Zürs keeps more of its skiing up high. Nobody can promise snow, but if height at the door is what you are paying for, Zürs has it.
Size: Lech has far more on its doorstep
We measure 175 kilometres of piste around Lech, the tenth most of the 55 resorts we cover, against 75 around Zürs: more than twice as much. The Arlberg's total size is not yet classified in our data, so we compare on our own measurement.
Both villages are on the same pass. But the measured figures tell you how much skiing is close, and Lech's is the bigger, broader neighbourhood. That matters most for the less confident, who will not want to travel far to find their kind of run.
The skiing: Lech has every level, Zürs is for strong skiers
Lech has 79 kilometres of blue and easier piste, two and a half times Zürs's 31, and 26 kilometres of black, the sixth most of the 55 resorts we cover and more than four times Zürs's 6. Its piste is one of the most evenly split between easy, red and black of the 55 resorts we cover, joint seventh on our measure.
79 km blue and easier 45%70 km red 40%26 km black 15%
31 km blue and easier 42%38 km red 50%6 km black 8%
Marked off piste itinerary, kept out of the piste totals: Lech 56 km, Zürs 40 km.
Zürs is weighted to red: half its piste, with 42 percent blue and easier and 8 percent black. Both have the same share of piste steeper than one in four, 33 percent, joint eleventh of the 55 resorts we cover and well above the 26 at a typical resort we cover. But only 21 percent of Zürs's piste is gentler than 15 percent, against 31 at Lech.
The gradients are averages per run segment, and a run's grade is set by its steepest pitch, so read them as how the week feels. Zürs's reds average 24.2 percent, steeper than the Austrian average for a red of 23.4. Lech's average 22.3. The blues are close, 17.5 against 17.0, and both above the Austrian 16.4.
Then there is the off piste. Lech has 56 kilometres of marked itinerary around it, the second most of the 55 resorts we cover, and Zürs 40, the fourth most. These overlap too. The longest we measure around Lech runs 8.5 kilometres with 827 metres of vertical.
Who each one actually suits
Lech suits families, couples and mixed groups, and anyone who cares where they eat. The village is pretty and low roofed, with a river through the middle, and building is tightly controlled, so it has stayed that way. Oberlech, above it, is car free and ski in ski out, reached by cable car, and a favourite with families. The ski schools are strong, lunches at Oberlech are long, and the evenings are a glass on a terrace or a drink by a hotel fire rather than dancing on tables. When the group wants noise, St Anton's après is a lift ride and a transfer away.
Zürs suits strong skiers who want quiet. By our own description it is exclusive and quiet, a tiny corner of the Arlberg, and it is upmarket like Lech. If your group skis red and off piste with confidence and wants to sleep high, away from the bigger village, Zürs is the one. If anyone in the party is still finding their feet, it is not.
The bit nobody tells you
Zürs's name is for money and quiet, and people tend to assume that means gentle cruising. Measured, it is the opposite. Its share of piste gentler than 15 percent, 21 percent, is the smallest of the 13 Austrian resorts we cover. Its reds are the fifteenth steepest of the 55 we cover, and it has 40 kilometres of marked itinerary around it.
What it does not have is much black, 6 kilometres. The challenge at Zürs is in the reds and off the piste, not on the black runs. For a strong skier that is a good mountain. For an intermediate who booked it for the quiet, it can be a hard week.
So, which one
your group has children, beginners or a mix of levels, you want the most skiing close by, more blue, more black and the itinerary as well, and a village with good restaurants and a bit more life.
everyone skis confidently, you want to sleep 270 metres higher with nearly three quarters of the piste above 1,800 metres, and the quiet is part of the point.
It gives every level of skier more on the doorstep, the same pass and the same top, and Zürs's skiing is on that pass when you want it. Zürs is the right answer for a strong group who want height and quiet, and know it.