St Anton

Those who know about where to ride would have to agree that St Anton has the best terrain in Austria, making this place an absolute must. You'll really need to be of at least intermediate level to really get the most out of this place, and if you like to party Austrian style as hard as you like to ride, then put this place at the top of your shortlist.

Your Arlberg ski pass allows you to ride the linked areas of St Christoph and Stuben, and (via bus) the resorts Lech and Zürs which all offer great snowboarding terrain, with amazing amounts of powder. The whole area offers 280km of pistes, but it is the 180km of marked off-piste runs that really sets St.Anton apart from most other resorts. With steeps, deep powder, and trees on all sides of the mountain slopes, it’s hard to beat. The resort practically encourages you to venture beyond the pisted-runs, but you'll need to ease off the booze the night before a powder day, as this place gets ridden out quicker than no other. There's plenty of guiding companies which will take you beyond these marked areas, and if you've got the cash, then it is the only place in Austria where you can heli-board.

It is really freeriders and mile hungry piste lovers that will get the most out of this. For freestylers, although there are plenty of incredible natural hits all over the area, the terrain park in Rendl and Lech really should be stepped up for a resort of this pedigree. Beginners won't find this resort the easiest to make their first turns. Many of the blue runs do have some much steeper sections, many of the lower runs are little more than narrow cat tracks, and unless you get a bus to Stuben or St.Christoph, the only way you can access some of the nicer beginner runs is via a black run.

If you are new to the area and want to get the most out of the place Black Sheep Snowboarding offer some excellent guiding packages both to the lift accessed terrain and the off piste areas.

Aprés ski starts high up on the mountain on the infamous bar crawl know as run-1 and culminates in the euro schlager music sweat fest, the Mooservert. By 8pm its kicking out time in most of the apres bars, and with most bars not allowing you in with your snowboard boots after this time, it's a quick change before heading back out.

St.Anton village itself has a traditional feel to it, plenty of top end hotels, and the main street is cobbled with most of the bars and restaurants hanging off it. Prices are higher than the norm, and the place still attracts plenty of rich posseurs, and British public schoolers. Getting to and around couldn't be easier, with direct train services and an almost 24hr bus service connecting the nearby villages.