Apres Ski in Stuben am Arlberg
The Village of Stuben am Arlberg
Stuben is a small, unspoilt village located near the centre of the Arlberg ski area, 10km west of St Anton am Arlberg and 5km from Zurs, offering good quality accommodation for up to 700 guests in mostly family-owned hotels, guest houses (B&Bs) and apartments.
The history of Stuben can be traced back to 1218 when the first warming hut (Stube) was built as a refuge for travellers and merchants making the difficult journey over the Arlberg pass. Stuben’s first economic boom began with the construction of the Arlberg rail tunnel c. 1850 when as many as 800 people lived in the village. Once the tunnel was finished most of them moved away, leaving Stuben with just a few hundred permanent residents. Tourism has long since replaced the old forgotten trades, thanks especially to Hannes Schneider, Stuben’s most famous son.
Born in Stuben in 1890, Hannes Schneider was hugely influential as a ski teacher and pioneer of downhill skiing technique. He moved to St Anton in 1907, first as a ski instructor for the Hotel Post, then Chairman of the Arlberg Ski Club from 1929 until 1938. He fled Austria and the National Socialist Party in 1939 to live in North Conway, New Hampshire, USA, where he ran the ski school until he died in 1955 aged 65. The village has not changed much in the past hundred years or more and with no land available for further development it’s likely to stay unspoilt.
Most of Stuben’s winter guests are experienced skiers and boarders attracted to Stuben as a good value base from which to explore the Arlberg and because of the Albona’s off-piste terrain and superior snow record.
There’s little to do during the day besides skiing, boarding, eating and drinking, although you can go for a walk or try Nordic skiing on the cross-country ski tracks to Langen forest. Once a week, usually on a Tuesday night, the Stuben ski school organises floodlit tobogganing from Alpe Rauz down to Stuben. There are buses to Lech-Zurs for more activities like ice skating. Apart from shops selling ski equipment and accessories, there is a general store for food and other basic provisions, but few shops.
For a small village there are plenty of bars and restaurants, many attached to the hotels, and some have live music on one or two evenings a week, but there are no nightclubs, so if you want to dance until dawn you have to take a taxi to St Anton.
Because Stuben is so small, all the accommodation is within 5 to 10 minutes’ walk of the ski lift and piste.
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Apres-Ski Bars & Restaurants in Stuben
Most of Stuben’s hotels have bars and restaurants. The Fux Bau is where skiers often congregate after coming off the slopes. There are regular live music events at the Apres Post, and the popular Willi’s bar has a good atmosphere late into the night.
The Sun Terrace (“Sonnenterrasse”) at the Apres Post Hotel is one of the most popular lunchtime venues in the village and the sun terrace is great for apres-ski on sunny days.
The Fux Bau near the Albona 1 lift and the bottom of the piste is the main hang-out for skiers and boarders coming off the slopes. In good weather, the whole area around it becomes part of the bar. There is always music playing but rarely does it turn into the ‘dancing in ski boots’ scene that you find in the bars in St Anton. As it gets darker and colder, people retreat inside or move onto other places like the Hannes Schneider bar, also part of the Apres Post Hotel, but with a separate entrance onto the street. About once a week this also hosts live music events from about 9pm to 11pm – most are orientated more at the ‘sitting-down and listening’ crowd rather than the ‘getting-up and dancing’ crowd. And there are similar events at some of the other hotels.
All the hotels have restaurants, and most are reasonably priced for a ski resort. If you want something cheaper there is a pizzeria on the main street. If on the other hand, you want to splash out, the Hotel Hubertushof offers haute cusiine dining. The restaurant at the Après Post Hotel allegedly has the finest wine cellar, and they sometimes hold tastings in the cellar itself. For something different, try the local goulasch at S’Murmele or other regional specialities like pork knuckles or Arlberger cheese spätzle at the restaurant attached to Willi’s bar in the centre of the village.
After dinner, there are plenty of places to carry on drinking, including all the bars and restaurants mentioned above, but the most popular is usually Willi’s bar (its official name seems to be ‘The Pilsstüble of the Mathies Family‘ but everyone seems to refer to it as Willi’s bar, including its own sign). People sit either at the large horse-shoe shaped bar on the various tables around it, and are served by men in lederhosen and women in dirndls. It sounds corny but it has a great atmosphere and late at night it’s usually packed with locals and ski guides as well as visitors.
Other Activities in Stuben am Arlberg
Stuben, a tiny village with only 100 inhabitants and nearly 700 guest beds, has no shops of any significance and there’s little to do besides skiing and boarding, eating and drinking.
Floodlit tobogganing in Stuben
Once a week, usually on a Tuesday night, the Stuben ski school organises floodlit tobogganing from Alpe Rauz down to Stuben. The price includes taxi from Stuben to Alpe Rauz and a gluwein on arrival at the finish line in Stuben.
Cross-country skiing in Stuben
There’s 3km of cross-country skiing in Stuben, but barely enough to whet your appetite.
Non-skiers in Stuben
Non-skiers can snuggle up with a good book in a cosy hotel or, weather permitting, on a sun terrace at the Hotel Apres-Post, or the S’Murmele bar restaurant.
There is plenty more for non-skiers to see and to do nearby in St Anton (12km) and in Lech (9km) which are easy to get to by car or using the regular day time Post bus service between Stuben, Zurs and Lech. To travel by bus from Stuben to St Anton or St Christoph, take the Stuben – Lech bus as far as Alpe Rauz then change to the Lech – St Anton Post Bus.
The best (and the most expensive) shopping in the Arlberg is in Lech, the best lunch spots are the Hospiz Alm in St Christoph, and the Berg, Goldener Berg and Berg Vital hotel restaurants on the mountain at Oberlech.
Tourist Office Information
For more information contact the tourist office in Stuben
Tourist Office Stuben am Arlberg
Situated beneath the terrace at Hotel Post
Open: 9:00-12:00 and 3:00-6:00 daily in winter season
Tel: +43 5582 399-4
Web: www.stuben.com