"St Anton over one weekend" Sankt Anton am Arlberg by ZenLady34

Little did I know when agreed to join a group of friends who where going to St Anton to downhill skiing over one weekend. I knew nothing about the place in beforehand but was ready to go in an instant.

St Anton am Arlberg is located in Austria, area of 166km2 elevation of 1304m with a 2900 people living in there. It is said to be one of the world's most famous international winter sports and a summer resort.

What I learned was that after-skiing was really important in here. It felt kind of a see and be seen of trip to me. I liked the place, admired the views, enjoyed the different slopes, disliked the quality vs price of the food there, liked the locals, used the local transportation which worked well, was happy with our accommodation and the quietness around it and also there were a groceries down the hill (20mins walk one way).

We booked flights to Munich (Germany) where we rented a car and drove around 3 hours to St Anton. A word of warning to all of you who plan to rent a car: I live in Finland and the rental cars have always winter tyres under when we have wintertime (its the law). Our winter tyres means that the tyres are either with studs (metallic spikes) or they are MS eg friction tyres (all year around tyres). Well, while booking a car from Munich Hertz there were a choice for "Winter option" and (if I remember correctly) "winter chains". We chose the winter option but no chains as winter tyres should be enough we thought (as in Finland, we never use chains!). It was a big surprice that the winter tyres were without studs and according to a police in Austria, we should have chains in the car according to the law! Now, as the weather was really bad when we arrived and the hills were sharp I strongly advise you to choose for the chains. Why? Because, according to the police, its the law and secondly you will not get up and down the hills without chains. Trust me, I've tried this and believe me, I'm experienced drive in snowy conditions.

The Nesserein in St Anton

The Nesserein skiing point was the centre of our stay in St Anton. This photo is taken from the bus stop which came from our apartment. You can buy skiing tickets from lefthand side. Ski-storage shop Jannewein is located in the white building and the lifts to slopes went on the roof of the building in the left hand side. Very compact and handy.

What I must say is that I was very disappointed in the food of this village. We ate out every evening (three nights in total) and it was quite expensive and not so good. Well, it was eatable but not delicious. One weinerschnitzel came with the schnitzel and french fries, that was standard. The cost was around 14-20euros for the schnitzel. If you wanted to have sallad, you had to specially order for it. Nah, we summed up the culinary experiences of ours into: "In Finnish service stations you'll eat better and cheaper than here".

• Pros:Good hills for skiing, great views, well organised place (busses, ski equipmt.rental etc)
• Cons:Expensive
• In a nutshell:Expensive, great views,