I visited one of the most exclusive ski towns in Europe for the first time. Here are 14 things that surprised me.

Lech is a small ski village in Austria with a big reputation for attracting high-profile clientele. From Princess Diana to Formula 1 legends like Niki Lauda, anyone who's anyone seems to have visited.

In a way, it's like Europe's version of Aspen, except with more exclusivity. Whereas billionaires buy into Aspen, even the richest outsider can have a tough time with Lech's real-estate market. Properties for sale are not just rare, but very tricky to purchase because the local government doesn't want foreign-owned chalets being empty most of the year, a property specialist at Lindforth told Insider.

Instead, visitors pay big bucks to stay in five-star hotels. I visited Lech during peak ski season to see how lavish it really is and was surprised by several different things.

While I'm sure the rich and the famous have their own ways of getting to Lech (think private jets), the easiest way to get there if you're not based in continental Europe is to fly to the small city of Innsbruck, Austria.

From there you can take an hour-long taxi or a series of local buses and trains to Lech, which is nestled in the mountainous Arlberg region of Austria, close to borders with Germany and Switzerland.

Skiing is an expensive vacation. In St. Anton, a slightly more affordable alternative to Lech, renting a day ski pass still costs 61 euros, or around $67. You can imagine what a week's worth of skiing can do to your bank account.

But Lech isn't just expensive — it has an air of exclusivity. I took a local bus from St. Anton to Lech and was the only person on board besides a family of four. While a few locals got on and off along the way, I was the only one to actually disembark in Lech, which made me think anyone arriving for a vacation wouldn't dream of taking public transport.

One thing I kept noticing when I got to Lech was how so many people staying in the five-star hotels lining the high street drove around in golf carts. As someone used to lugging ski equipment by hand to chairlifts, I was in awe of this luxury.

But behind how bougie the golf carts looked, it turns out they're eco-friendly alternatives to cars. Hannes Schneider, the owner of the Hotel Arlberg where Princess Diana used to stay in Lech, told Insider the golf carts are electric and are just one example of how "environmentally orientated" the area is.

Schneider casually spoke about hosting Princess Diana in the 1990s and said the reason she came back to Lech five years in a row was that "she could be on holiday without anybody paying attention."

Royals blend in with the rich and famous in Lech, and are treated with the same amount of respect as anyone who comes, Schneider said. They get an unmatched sense of privacy, "a huge privilege" for someone like Diana, he added.

This was similar to what a staff member at the Strolz winter-sport rental shop told Insider, nonchalantly mentioning how the Dutch royal family had come by just two days prior. "They come in when the store opens and get fitted like everyone else," they said.

I wear the same snow pants, goggles, and gloves I've had since I was a teenager when I ski because buying new gear can be super expensive.

But that's an issue many of Lech's visitors don't have to worry about. When I was walking around, I kept seeing people wearing the most luxurious ski gear, such as fur-lined coats, fluffy boots, and hats.

There were also plenty of perfectly-matching snow outfits and people touting designer brands like Gucci sunglasses or Louis Vuitton handbags.

I was surprised to see so many luxury brands on Lech's high street. Two stores that caught my eye in particular were the Swarovski jewelry outlet, which happened to be closed midday when I visited on a Sunday, and Huber Fine Watches and Jewelry, which had a window display of Rolex watches.

I'm used to skiing in St. Anton, where the high street is pretty much filled with cafes, wine bars, and small stores selling ski-related items, so this was definitely new to me.

You won't have trouble finding fine dining experiences in Lech. I ended up having dinner at Die Stube, one of the three restaurants in the Hotel Arlberg, where raclette will set you back 45 euros, or around $50.

But after a few hours walking around Lech, I came across Cafe Gotthard, a well-reviewed bakery on TripAdvisor. Inside, I was pleasantly surprised to find traditional "krapfen" donuts priced at just 1.70 euros, or around $1.90.

It was a relief to know Lech did have at least a few affordable food options among a plethora of five-star restaurants.

Walking around town, I noticed that the main street was pretty much five-star hotels and restaurants, which got me thinking: where do the locals live? When I asked my waiter at Hotel Krone's outdoor bar, she told me that no one besides seasonal workers or hotel owners actually live in town.

Even though the local government wants to stop Lech from becoming a ghost town of empty chalets, it sounds like a lot of Austrians either can't afford to live there or choose to live outside of town, away from the tourist hubs.

Speaking of Hotel Krone's outdoor bar, it was just one of several that I saw with expensive bottles of Champagne from brands like Moët & Chandon used as decoration.

Literally hundreds of these bottles lined the walls at the bar I went to and there were even more set up on the table I was seated at.

I can't remember the last time I saw one of these in the UK where I live — the British government banned the sale of tobacco products in vending machines back in 2011. This came a year after cigarettes being sold in vending machines was banned in the US, according to Nicotine and Tobacco research in the Oxford Journal.

There were also no health warnings on the machine, which I was surprised about.

The worst part about skiing or snowboarding is renting equipment, in my opinion. If you go during peak season, shops are always packed, smell a bit like wet shoes from boots drying overnight, and it's just overall a stressful environment.

But not at Strolz in Lech. When I walked in I saw a glistening chandelier trickling down three flights of stairs, heard soft pop music playing in the background, and was served within seconds of getting to the front desk, which made the experience so relaxing it was almost like I was at a spa.

After I got measured, I was told to bring my snowboard and boots down to the depot, where they would be stored for me overnight. I took a lift down to avoid carrying the heavy equipment and found the depot to be just as relaxing as the main floors.

The depot had a fancy seating circular seating area with a fire built in the middle that I could almost picture being in a Kardashian Architectural Digest tour. I also loved the soft leather couches, which had live plants in the center.

I found Lech to be a contrast between modernity and traditionalism. Modern features included the golf carts, fancy stores, and efficient ski rental.

But in terms of what the town actually looked like, at least from the outside, most of the architecture was traditional. The majority of chalets and hotels had wooden exteriors, colorful window shutters, and no buildings were taller than the steeple of an old church in the center of town.

Lech is generally a cute village that almost feels like you've stepped onto the set of a Christmas Hallmark movie.

On a tour of the Hotel Arlberg, Schneider told Insider most of the hotels and restaurants in Lech, like his own, were family businesses.

"The whole area here is all brothers and sisters. Go back three generations, we are all relatives," he said. I was surprised to hear that so many of the five-star hotels were family-run.

But it's the new generation coming up that Schneider said keeps Lech a hotspot for returning guests.

"When the new generation comes in, new ideas come," he said, as he showed me the outdoor heated pool and the high-tech hotel ski room, which has lockers equipped with heaters to make sure every guest's ski boots are perfectly dry for another day of skiing.

I was keen to see if I could find a semi-affordable hotel in Lech so I ended up booking Haus Schrofenstein, a small bed and breakfast 12 minutes' walk from the town center, where one night in a single room cost 164.20 euros, or around $180. For full disclosure, Insider paid for the accommodation, according to our reporting standards.

Although the location wasn't ideal, I found the hotel to have unexpected luxurious perks, like an in-house sauna, which was such a treat after a day of walking around in the snow.

It definitely wasn't as big or as fancy as what I saw on my tour of the Hotel Arlberg, but it goes to show that even the more affordable hotels in Lech offer a sense of luxury.