Free Walking Tour St. Anton am Arlberg: Lift to Church

The Five Stops of Your St. Anton am Arlberg Walking Tour

1. 1

   Museum St. Anton am Arlberg

   

   The walk begins with the only paid interior on the route apart from the lift, and a modest ticket at that. The Museum St. Anton am Arlberg is where you get the village's own account of itself before you go out and look at the pieces: the lift that made it a ski resort, the railway that brought the guests, the street where everyone meets.

   Here the obstacle is the clock rather than the money. The museum keeps shorter hours than the village around it, so check its current opening times before you build your morning around it. If you find the door locked, don't wait: start with the Galzigbahn and pick up the museum at the end of the village loop. On a wet day it's the stop to bank on, a dry hour with something to look at.

   From the museum it's 420 m to the valley station of the Galzigbahn, about 6 minutes on foot.

   Hours

   Tue–Sun 12:00–18:00, Mon closed (summer season until September 13, 2026)

   Price

   5 EUR adults, 3 EUR children (7-16), free for children under 7, 4 EUR per person for groups (5-10 persons)

   Website

   museum-stanton.com ↗

   Location

   Museum St. Anton am Arlberg on Google Maps ↗

2. 2

   Galzigbahn

   

   The valley station sits in the western part of the village centre, at 1320 m, and the cabins climb from here to the Galzig, St. Anton's home mountain, at 2086 m. Today's lift opened on 9 December 2006 and works as a Funitel: each cabin couples onto two parallel ropes instead of one. When it was built, the system was combined with a world first in cableway engineering, a fitting detail for a place that has always measured itself by its lifts.

   The story starts much earlier. The first Galzigbahn opened on 19 December 1937 and was the first mountain lift anywhere on the Arlberg. It had two cabins holding around 30 people each and could move 120 passengers an hour, yet in its first year it carried 60,000 people. Its success led to the founding of the Arlberger Bergbahnen AG, the company that runs the Arlberg ski area today.

   Take a moment for the man behind it. Rudolf Gomperz is remembered as the pioneer, champion and visionary of the Galzigbahn. In 1942 he was deported and murdered in Maly Trostinec. The lift he fought for still carries skiers and walkers up the mountain every season.

   The old lift was rebuilt for the last time in 1964 and could then manage 700 people an hour. Over the years that wasn't enough: queues grew, a neighbouring chairlift was upgraded in 1990 and still couldn't keep up, and in the end the old lift was torn down and replaced.

   Should you ride? It's paid, with single rides or an all-in ticket, and it runs in seasons, so check the schedule. If you want the mountain as well as the village, go up; if you're here for St. Anton's story, the valley station is enough. From here it's 450 m, about 6 minutes, to the railway station, passing the Rendlbahn on the way.

   Hours

   Daily 08:15–16:30, last descent 16:30 (summer season July 3 to October 4, 2026; closed September 7 and 8, 2026)

   Price

   29 EUR uphill or descent single route (adults/seniors), 15 EUR children/youth/disabled; 39 EUR All-in ticket (unlimited lift rides, 28 EUR pre-season until July 2, 2026; 28 EUR afternoon from 13:30)

   Website

   arlbergerbergbahnen.com ↗

   Location

   Galzigbahn on Google Maps ↗

3. 3

   Bahnhof St. Anton am Arlberg

   

   This is the highest station on the Arlberg railway, and without it there would be no resort. The building you see is not the original: the through station opened in 1884, and when the line was rerouted in 2000 a new station replaced it about 300 m from the old site. It is separated from the village by the Arlbergstraße and the Rosanna.

   The first station stood on land belonging to what was then the municipality of Nasserein, yet it was named after the hamlet of St. Anton from the very start. Its importance was technical. Close to the highest point of the line at the eastern portal of the Arlberg tunnel, it was a watering stop for steam locomotives, and the place where banking engines were moved to the front of the train before the run through the tunnel or down toward Landeck. Because of that, express trains stopped here even though the village had fewer than 900 inhabitants as late as 1901.

   Tourism followed the tracks. It began in 1896 with the Posthotel next to the station. On 1 October 1909 the station was renamed St. Anton am Arlberg, because a station called St. Anton im Montafon had opened at the end of 1905 and passengers kept confusing the two.

   The tunnel's poor ventilation made this one of the first stations on the mountain line to go electric. Electric trains ran to Langen from 20 November 1924, and until the section to Landeck opened on 29 April 1925, electric locomotives pulled trains through the tunnel to and from St. Anton. Famous trains such as the Arlberg-Orient-Express and the Transalpin stopped here.

   The station is free and open around the clock. From here it's 560 m, about 8 minutes, to the Dorfstrasse.

   Hours

   Open 24/7

   Price

   Free

   Location

   Bahnhof St. Anton am Arlberg on Google Maps ↗

4. 4

   Dorfstrasse St. Anton

   

   The Dorfstrasse is the promenade and pedestrian zone at the heart of St. Anton, the street where the village shows its face. There's no single building to study here; this stop is for strolling, looking in shop windows and walking side by side, which is exactly what a car-free street is for. Take your time, because it's also the last easy stretch of the day.

   The Dorfstrasse is where you decide how the walk ends. The leg to the church in St. Jakob starts here, and at 2,210 m and about 31 minutes it's the longest single stretch of the route. Choose while your options are still open: carry on now, take a break first, or finish your walk in the village if the long leg doesn't suit you today.

   Hours

   Open 24/7

   Price

   Free

   Location

   Dorfstrasse St. Anton on Google Maps ↗

5. 5

   Pfarrkirche St. Jakob

   

   After the walk out of St. Anton you reach the parish church of St. Jakob am Arlberg, the oldest church in the upper Stanzertal. A church here is already recorded in a tax register from 1275. From outside the baroque building looks modest, but a large painting of St. Christopher decorates it, a sign that this was an important church for the Säumer, the packhorse carriers of the region.

   The building you see dates from 1773. Its predecessor stood where the cemetery is today, with masonry walls and an open roof truss visible from inside. When St. Anton built its own church in the 1690s, the people of St. Jakob grew unhappy with their old walls, and eventually they built anew. The architect was probably Franz Singer from Götzens, and the influence of the Götzens school of builders is clear. The new church was consecrated on 22 July 1778.

   Look at the tower. It was kept from the old church, and the new nave was built above it. In 1888 it got a massive new spire that looked like a medieval watchtower and became the village's landmark. On 20 April 1943 a great fire destroyed every house around the church, along with the roof and that spire; the new one was built in the style of a pointed late gothic helm. On the south side of the tower, look for the memorial stone set up in 1885 for the workers who died building the Arlberg tunnel between 1880 and 1884, a quiet link back to the station you saw earlier.

   Go inside: entry is free, and the vault paintings by Johann Perwanger are the reason to step in. A two-year renovation began on 16 April 2007, and Bishop Manfred Scheuer reopened the church on 24 October 2008. Church and cemetery are both listed monuments, and this is where the route ends.

   Hours

   Daily: 09:00–17:00

   Price

   Free

   Website

   sesos.at ↗

   Location

   Pfarrkirche St. Jakob on Google Maps ↗

Shorter Ways Through St. Anton

The route splits naturally at the Dorfstrasse, where the long leg to St. Jakob begins. If you don't want that walk, or you'd rather skip the paid stops, one of these fits better.

Village loop without St. Jakob

Stops: 1, 2, 3, 4

For a half day in the village, or when your legs are already tired from the mountain. Museum, lift, station and Dorfstrasse sit close together: 20 minutes of walking in total. The museum costs entry, the lift ride is optional and paid; everything else is free.

The free stretch, station to church

Stops: 3, 4, 5

For arrivals by train and anyone who wants the history without buying a ticket. You start on the platform, stroll the Dorfstrasse and walk out to St. Jakob: 39 minutes on foot, and all three stops are free.

How Long the St. Anton am Arlberg Walk Takes, With or Without the Lift

The walking alone adds up to 51 minutes over 3.6 km. The first three legs are short, at 6, 6 and 8 minutes; more than half of the walking comes in one piece, the 31 minutes from the Dorfstrasse out to St. Jakob.

With time in the museum, a proper look at the station, a stroll along the Dorfstrasse and a visit inside the church, count on about two and a half hours. A round trip on the Galzigbahn with time at the top adds at least an hour.

Each of the two shorter variants takes about an hour and a half: the village loop because of the museum visit, the free stretch because of the long walk to St. Jakob.

Before You Set Off in St. Anton

• Start: At the Museum St. Anton am Arlberg is the recommended start, but you can join at any stop; arriving by train, the Bahnhof is the obvious place to begin.
• End: At the Pfarrkirche St. Jakob in St. Jakob am Arlberg, 2,210 m from the Dorfstrasse. Plan your way back before you set off.
• Time of day: Walk in the daytime and check the museum's and the lift's current opening times first, since both run on their own schedules and seasons.
• Tickets: The museum charges entry and the Galzigbahn sells single rides and an all-in ticket. The station, the Dorfstrasse and the church are free.

Questions Before You Walk