Photo spot in St. Anton, Lech & the Arlberg
The Flexen Pass and Zürs
A road cut into the cliff in galleries at the end of the nineteenth century, and above it Zürs at 1,716 metres — a handful of hotels in a bare white bowl in winter, and almost entirely shut in summer.
About The Flexen Pass and Zürs
Get directionsThe Flexenstrasse is the reason St. Anton and Lech belong to the same page. Built between 1895 and 1900 to link the Arlberg valley with the Lech valley, it was hacked into a near-vertical wall and carried through a series of stone galleries with open arches on the drop side — one of the great engineered roads of the Alps, and still the only direct link between the two halves of the destination.
The galleries are the frame. Standing inside one, the arches cut the light into slabs and the valley appears between the pillars; from the outside, the road reads as a thin line stitched across the rock face. There are pull-offs above and below the main gallery, and the modern avalanche gallery beside it is not the historic one — walk a little to find the arched section.
Zürs sits just above the pass at 1,716 metres, in an open, treeless bowl. It has no old village core to photograph, and it does not pretend to: what it has is scale, white space and clean lines, which is exactly what a couple in dark coats needs behind them. Winter is its season, and outside it Zürs is largely closed — most of the hotels shut and the place becomes very quiet indeed.
The road is kept open through the winter but closes without notice for avalanche control, sometimes for hours. Check the pass status the same morning if the session spans both sides. The drive from St. Anton to Lech takes roughly twenty-five minutes when it is open, and the regional bus runs the same route.
Best time to shoot
Midday inside the galleries for the light slabs; late afternoon on the open pass above Zürs
Tips
Check the pass status the same morning — the Flexenstrasse closes for avalanche control in winter. Zürs is mostly closed outside the winter season, so plan it as a stop rather than a base in summer.
Other spots in St. Anton, Lech & the Arlberg
The village street of St. Anton and the Rendl terrace
A pedestrian street of painted houses and old timber at 1,300 metres, the Galzigbahn's rotating boarding wheel at one end, and across the Rosanna the Rendl slope holding the afternoon sun long after the village is in shade.
The Valluga platform at 2,811 metres
Three cable-car stages from the village to a small steel platform on the highest point of the Arlberg, Tyrol falling away on one side and the Lechquellen mountains on the other.
Lech, the young river and the church of St. Nikolaus
A broad meadow village on both banks of the Lech at 1,450 metres, with the Gothic tower of St. Nikolaus above the water, wooden footbridges across it and car-free Oberlech on the slope above.
Ready to book?
Our concierge team will hand-pick 2-3 photographers who know The Flexen Pass and Zürs — free of charge.