Lech Ski Resort

One of the best known names in skiing, Lech has a long history as a snow holiday destination, as well as a reputation for being one of the world's most exclusive resorts.

Part of the large Arlberg ski area, it shares the region with equally famous St Anton. Both legitimately claim to be vitally important in the history of downhill skiing, which was invented in the area little over a century ago by Hannes Schneider, then exported across the continent and to North America and Japan.

Today, Lech is one of the world's leading resorts, with both exceptionally good skiing and excellent resort infrastructure. It has an unrivalled 60 plus 4-star hotels as well as seven 5-star options. These luxury hotels greatly outnumber the lower-rated hotels in the resort, underlying Lech's upmarket nature.

But, if that's still not exclusive enough, the smaller neighbouring village of Zürs could be the answer; several of Europe's royal families return to holiday there year after year.