Things to do in St. Anton: the Arlberg off the skis
More than the party reputation suggests, and a good deal of it free: seventeen marked walking routes, a ski show with a torchlit descent and a bus that runs the length of the valley. For anyone not skiing, the Gampen toboggan run is the headline and the Sonnenabo is the pass to buy if they will ride lifts most days. The quiet evening is dinner by candlelight on Galzig.
St. Anton has a loud reputation and has earned it, but a week here off the skis is easier than that suggests. The village is compact, the railway station is in it, and a free bus runs the length of the Stanzertal, so somebody with no skis and no car can still reach the walks, the pools and most of the toboggan runs.
Start with the walking, which needs no pass of any kind. The Verwall is the one to do first: take the ski bus up to Mooserkreuz to skip the steep start, and from there it is close to flat past the Wagner Hutte and round the lake. In the evening the Skishow in the finish stadium closes with a torchlit descent, and it costs nothing to stand and watch.
For somebody not skiing, the Sonnenabo is the buy if they will ride lifts most days, with a week on the main cable cars at both ends of the Arlberg. The Gampen toboggan run is the headline, a natural run down to Nasserein, billed as fine for families and beginners. The sleigh up the Verwall needs no lift and no car, and is worth getting six of you together for. On a wet day, the Arlberg WellCom has pools, a flume and a sauna suite, and its evening ticket suits a family coming off the mountain.
The evenings are what St. Anton is known for, and the geography matters. The famous apres bars are up on the piste, reached and left on skis, so somebody on foot should aim for Thony's at the bottom of the toboggan run, with live music every afternoon. For a quieter night, the gondola takes you up to the Verwallstube on Galzig for dinner by candlelight, with piano and the lights of the village spread out underneath. Book that, and the sleigh, before you arrive.
Free, and worth knowing
Eight things that cost nothing, from the Verwall walk and the valley bus to a ski show in the village, and a toboggan ride most passes already cover.
Seventeen marked winter walking routes
Eighty kilometres of marked and signed walking across the valley, free with no pass of any kind, and the tourist office publishes every route separately with its own distance on it, which is rarer than it should be. They run from a one kilometre stroll to a twenty four kilometre valley walk, and most of them start in a village on the free ski bus rather than at a trailhead that needs a car.
The Verwall is the one to lead with. Take ski bus line 3 up to Siedlung Mooserkreuz to skip the steep start, and from there it is almost flat for ten kilometres past the Wagner Hutte and round the Verwall lake. The short ones are genuinely short: the Kunstmeile, the Mile of Art, is a kilometre from the Arlberg WellCom to the Nasserein cable car station, and W6 does a three kilometre circuit from the tourist office through the park and back over the Rosanna.
The free ski bus, St. Christoph to Flirsch
The bus that makes an outlying village workable. It runs the length of the Stanzertal, joining St. Anton to St. Christoph and St. Jakob at one end and to Pettneu, Schnann and Flirsch at the other, and it is what puts the Verwall walk, the Pettneu pool and four of the region's five toboggan runs within reach of somebody staying in the middle of St. Anton with no car.
The Skishow, Schneetreiben
Forty five minutes of ski and snowboard demonstration in the Karl-Schranz finish stadium in the middle of the village, with a multimedia film running the history of skiing on a screen behind it and a torchlit descent to close. The tourist office, the lift company, the two ski schools and the Ski Club Arlberg put it on between them. It is in the village rather than up a mountain, and it runs most Wednesdays of the winter at nine in the evening.
Karl-Schranz-Zielstadion, St. Anton village
Stanton Ski Open, the season opening
Three days of live music on three stages, food trucks and free ski and snowboard testing to mark the official start of the winter, and the festival area is a few minutes' walk from the railway station, which makes it one of the very few things here that works for somebody arriving by train with no plan. Sunday is given over to the Arlberg Safety Days, with avalanche talks and transceiver practice run by the mountain rescue. Bring your own transceiver, probe and shovel if you want the practical session.
Festival area, a few minutes from St. Anton station
Schlagerliebe Open Air at the MooserWirt
A German television music show has been recorded on the MooserWirt terrace every December since 2001, and anybody can stand and watch it being made. Rehearsals run through the early afternoon and the recording itself happens just before dusk. No tickets and no reservations, so go early in the afternoon for a spot at the front.
Adventzauber, the Advent markets
Five Advent dates across the villages, running from the end of November to the weekend before Christmas, which puts three of them in before the lifts have even opened. Free to walk into, and the dates are already confirmed for this winter.
Tanzcafe Arlberg, the music festival
A spring music festival run jointly by St. Anton and Lech Zurs where every concert is free and none of them takes a booking. Two of the stages are down in the villages and reachable on foot, one in front of the St. Anton tourist office and one on the Rufiplatz in Lech. Admission from half past one in the afternoon, first come first served, so arrive with the crowd rather than after it.
The toboggan run, already paid for by most passes
Worth saying out loud to a group weighing up what to buy. Daytime use of the Nassereinbahn to reach the Gampen toboggan run is included in any valid ski pass, and evening use is included in a season pass, in a six day or longer pass, and in the Sonnenabo. So for most people in a normal week the ride up to the top of the sledge run is already bought and paid for.
On the mountain
The toboggan run and the pass built for anyone without skis, a sleigh up the Verwall with a stop at the Wagner Hutte, and dinner by candlelight on Galzig.
The Gampen toboggan run
The resort's headline thing to do without skis, and a genuinely good one. A natural run from Gampen at 1,850 m down to Nasserein, dropping five hundred metres and taking about a quarter of an hour, graded moderate but banked with snow along the edges and sold as suitable for families and beginners.
Price on request · Nassereinbahn valley station, Nasserein · Their page
The Sonnenabo, the pedestrian pass
The one product built specifically for a guest with no equipment, and better value than it first looks because a single card covers both ends of the Arlberg. Seven consecutive days on the main cable cars in St. Anton, St. Christoph, Lech, Oberlech, Zurs and Klosterle, the Valluga included, and it carries the toboggan run by day and in the evening.
Over 50 euros · Their page
Horse drawn sleigh rides in the Verwall
Two hours up the Verwall valley behind a horse, with a half hour stop at the Wagner Hutte in the middle of it. The meeting point is the Verwall junction opposite the Hotel Mooserkreuz, which ski bus line 3 reaches, so this is one of the very few paid outings here that needs no lift and no car at either end. Get six of you together, because that is the number the fifty euro rate starts at.
20 to 50 euros · Verwall junction, opposite Hotel Mooserkreuz, on ski bus line 3 · Their page
Candlelight Dinner at the Verwallstube on Galzig
Every Thursday the gondola runs at night up to 2,085 m for a three, four or five course dinner by candlelight with live piano and the lights of St. Anton laid out underneath. It is the sedate mountain evening St. Anton is not otherwise famous for, and it suits a non skier perfectly because the gondola is the only way up for everybody at the table. An aperitif is served at the Galzigbahn valley station before you go up.
Price on request · Galzigbahn valley station, St. Anton · Their page
In the village
The pool for a wet afternoon or the end of a ski day, and the honest geography of the apres that St. Anton is known for.
Arlberg WellCom, the pool
The village leisure centre and the answer to a bad weather afternoon. Indoor pools joined to an egg shaped outdoor flume, an outdoor lap pool and a children's pool, then a five room sauna suite, a fitness studio, tennis, massage and a solarium. It is also where the Arlberger New Year's Concert is held.
Under 20 euros · Hannes-Schneider-Weg 11, also published as Kandaharweg 11 · Their page
Apres ski, and the venue a non skier can actually reach
St. Anton's reputation rests on this and it is a legitimate reason to come, but the geography wants saying out loud. The famous places, the MooserWirt, the Krazy Kanguruh, the Sennhutte and the Arlberg Hospiz Alm, sit on the piste, which is how the crowd arrives and how it leaves.
Price on request · Their page
These are our own picks, not paid placements. Prices and opening times change, so it is always worth checking before you set off.