Step inside Lech, Austria, Princess Diana's go-to luxury ski resort that royals and the ultra-rich return to year after year

Lech is one of five ski villages in the Arlberg region of Austria. Before I arrived, I spent a week with my family at the nearby resort of St. Anton, which is relatively more affordable and known for attracting experienced skiers. While I was there, I spoke to several instructors who laid out exactly how luxurious Lech is in comparison.

"You can ski to Lech and Zürs from St. Anton and you can directly see how much the people change. They only wear the really high-class ski suits," Rosa Guggenmos, a seasonal ski instructor from St. Anton, told Insider.

"The really rich people go skiing in Lech," Anton von Rosen, another ski instructor from St. Anton said. "It is more fancy in Lech, and everything is a higher price."

Higher prices, "high class" ski suits, and luxury experiences in Lech all made sense to me given the type of clientele who tend to stop by during ski season.

From reading Royal Central, I knew the Dutch royals have gone on family vacations to Lech every February for over 60 years. And per The Spectator, Monaco's Princess Caroline of Hanover — daughter of the late Grace Kelly — is also a frequent visitor and owns a chalet in the neighboring town of Zürs.

For a small town in the middle of the Alps to have a big reputation for royal guests, Lech was bound to exude a sense of luxury I hadn't experienced yet.

Princess Diana is one of the biggest names to have ever come to Lech. She frequented the small Austrian village in the 1990s, and would often be spotted on the slopes with a young Prince William and Prince Harry.

It must've been an important place for her because Elizabeth Debicki, who will play Diana in the upcoming fifth season of "The Crown," was recently spotted filming scenes recreating the princess' time in Lech, Tatler reported.

To get to Lech from St. Anton, I took a local bus just after 10 a.m., which cost me 5.40 euros, or around $6, and took under 40 minutes.

Besides myself, there was only a family of four traveling up to Lech when the bus pulled in so I had space to put my suitcase in the seat next to me and gaze out the window. If there was ever somewhere I'd recommend taking a local bus, the Arlberg region of Austria definitely has to be it.

From my seat near the front of the bus, I caught jaw-dropping views of snow-capped mountain valleys, and even spotted a few skiers going off-piste along the way.

Stepping off the bus in Lech, I immediately recognized Hotel Arlberg, where Princess Diana stayed whenever she came skiing in Austria. The hotel was right at the top of the high street and had perfect access to the mountain.

As I started walking Lech's main street, I could see it was already bustling with people heading to stores, skiing lessons, and restaurants at 11 a.m.

Right off the bat, I picked up on what I'd been told earlier by the ski instructors: people were indeed wearing fancy matching ski-suit sets and fluffy coats, and I even spotted a few rocking designer handbags.

Keeping my stay affordable in one of the most expensive ski towns in Europe was tough. The cheapest option when I was looking to book was Haus Shrofenstein, a three-star bed and breakfast type hotel that cost 164.20 euros, or around $182, for one night in a single room. For full disclosure, Insider paid for the accommodation, according to our reporting standards.

While I scored with affordability, the 10 minutes I spent lugging my suitcase down the high street, around a corner, and up an icy hill and multiple side streets was a real fitness test.

By the time I arrived, I was very sweaty and out of breath, but relieved to finally see the hotel that looked idyllic against the backdrop of the mountains.

It was a good thing I was by myself because there's absolutely no way anyone else could squeeze into this room. The layout was basic — an en-suite bathroom, single bed, small table and chair, and mini TV.

Given the price point of my room at Haus Schrofenstein compared to the cost of a room per night at other hotels in Lech, which according to Google ranges from around $400 to $850, I wasn't all too surprised with what I got. But the mountain view from my window was spectacular and the mattress was decently comfy, if a bit springy.

In the end, I was only really there for one night and was going to be spending more time out of the hotel than in it.

One thing I realized in Austria is just how quickly my phone was losing charge in cold weather. By the time I got to the hotel at around 11:30 a.m., it was already under 60% charged. With a full day of exploring to do, I wanted to make sure I had a full charge before heading back out — all of this could've been avoided if I'd brought a portable charger.

But while my phone charged, I had the opportunity to reassess my outfit and decided to layer some yoga pants under my baggy jeans to keep warm while exploring in the day.

A glaring difference between Lech and St. Anton is the number of luxury stores. From a Swarovski outlet to a Rolex watch store, Lech is clearly catered to big-budget clients interested in looking good both on and off the slopes.

As I browsed through a few of the boutiques, which advertised sales in the window, I saw price tags range from 39.95 euros, around $44, for a t-shirt to 485 euros, around $530, for a grey coat with fancy fur-like embellishments.

And out on the street, I saw the most incredible ski outfits I'd seen outside of my Instagram feed. Whenever I pack for a ski trip, I try to wear as much as I can from previous years to avoid buying expensive new clothes, which is probably the opposite mindset of Lech visitors.

One thing I kept seeing around town is people using golf carts to transport themselves and their ski equipment to and from ski lifts.

As someone used to lugging my own skis by hand up and down stairs, across streets, and to chairlifts, this was a type of luxury I'd never even seen before.

Even though it was just past 12 p.m., the bus journey, hauling my suitcase through town, and my walk so far had me ready to indulge in a little snack and a coffee.

So I decided to make my way to Cafe Gotthard, which I saw was rated the number one pastry shop in Lech on TripAdvisor. The bakery was right at the beginning of the high street and looked pretty humble from the outside compared to other restaurants I'd seen in Lech so far.

As I walked into the cafe, I was hit by the smell of pastry and coffee, which is my definition of heaven. There were only two people in front of me so I quickly got served by the waitress.

I wanted to try something I'd never had before so alongside a coffee with milk and sugar, I ended up choosing a "krapfen," a specialty apricot marmalade-filled donut in Austria that cost 1.70 euros, or around $1.88.

So you can get an affordable meal in Lech — you just need to know where to go.

After bringing my snack and coffee outside to the terrace, I ended up speaking to a lady sitting close by who told me she was local.

When I asked her what the biggest difference between Lech and St. Anton was, she told me Lech is a lot more peaceful and smaller. Like the ski instructors I'd talked to before, she said the two towns couldn't be any more different but said Lech was a lot less crowded with tourists than St. Anton.

If I was a royal looking for an escape, Lech does sound like the perfect place from this woman's perspective.

I noticed Hotel Krone's outdoor bar instantly while walking to my hotel — it was open-air and decorated with what looked like hundreds of champagne bottles from brands like Moët & Chandon.

After I arrived and was seated, I asked my server a question that had been on my mind — where are the regular homes? Lech's high street was filled with five-star hotels and chalets, but I was wondering where the real locals were. Her answer was that no one, at least no one she knows, actually lives in Lech but rather in neighboring towns and villages that are less expensive.

Sipping on my Aperol spritz which was 11.50 euros, around $12.70, as sunshine beamed down, I was surprised to see so many families with young children sitting next to guests who seemed to be there for a totally different experience.

It was only 1:30 p.m. but 1990s hits like Ultra Naté's "Free" were already booming through the speakers.

The bar provided some top-notch people watching, and close by I could see a glamorous woman rocking a Louis Vuitton handbag, crystal-embellished gold hoop earrings, and designer sunglasses, which made me feel slightly underdressed in baggy jeans, a sweater, and pigtails.

Before coming to Lech, I was keen to try snowboarding. I've been skiing since I was a kid but since I was visiting a new place, I thought why not try something equally new while I was here?

My snowboard instructor advised me to rent from Strolz. In total, the reservation for a board, boots, and helmet with breakage and theft protection, came out to 63 euros, or around $70, for one day of use. For full disclosure, Insider paid for the equipment rental, according to our reporting standards.

There wasn't anything too remarkable about the rental shop from the outside, but that was soon to change as I stepped inside.

I've never been inside of ski shop as quiet or as relaxing as Strolz. As soon as I walked in I was greeted by a danging chandelier of lights trickling down several floors. I made my way down the wraparound staircase to check in and didn't have to wait even a minute before I was being personally attended to.

The staff member who helped me was called Danielle, and while we chatted she mentioned that the Dutch royal family had been there two days prior and were a "very normal family" who came in like everyone else to get their equipment when the store opens in the morning.

The only difference was that King Willem-Alexander always has a few bodyguards looking over him at the store, she added, but otherwise, they seemed happy being treated like regular guests.

Skis and snowboards are heavy, but I'm used to carrying them inside a rental shop to a locker where I've previously skied.

But at Strolz in Lech, you don't have to carry anything for too long. An elevator on the floor of the check-in takes you right down to the depot, where staff show you to where you can leave your equipment overnight.

The greenery in the depot felt like a very fancy touch and I remember thinking there was no smell of wet, damp boots. The couches for people to sit while getting booted up also looked sleek and comfy.

"I was probably the person in Austria who knew her the best," Schneider told me during a tour of the Hotel Arlberg, which really felt like we were walking around his home rather than a five-star hotel. "One day she asked me whether I would like to be her personal police officer because we got so close at the end."

Schneider said Diana loved Lech because she felt like she could be a normal person here while also getting the privacy she desperately wanted. "What is a normal thing for us was a huge privilege for her, being on her own, normally treated," he said.

"I had Wills and Harry on my hips at that time," Schneider said. "We were very close."

In total, Diana came to the hotel for vacations five years in a row and when she died it "was hard to bear," he said. When I asked whether either Prince Harry or Prince William had ever come to visit, he said they hadn't.

"After the mother passed away, their father took care," he said. "They're creatures of habit. They have their infrastructure in place, like she had her infrastructure with me."

Even though Haus Schrofenstein isn't a five-star hotel in the town center, it definitely had its perks — one of which was a sauna. The staff member at the front desk told me to give her "10 minutes to get it warmed up," which felt like music to my ears after a full day walking around in the snow.

For the first five minutes or so I was the only one in the small, wooden room, and I felt totally relaxed. Two other guests soon joined, but after five more minutes, I was more than done and ready for a shower.

I'm not a big jewelry person by any means (mostly because I tend to lose it very quickly) but for my dinner at Die Stube at the Hotel Arlberg, I wanted to do my best to fit in with the Lech crowd.

I wore the only dress I brought with me for my 10-day trip to Austria, a pair of tights underneath a pair of leggings to keep me warm on my walk over to the restaurant, and gold earrings.

As the saying goes, when in Rome, do as the Romans do.

To make a reservation at Die Stube, you have to put in your order at least 24 hours in advance. I chose the raclette, which cost 45 euros, around $50, and came with a selection of things to pair with the cheese including apple slices, regional salami, and mixed pickles.

But my favorite part of the meal was actually the sparkling oolong tea, priced at 9.50 euros, around $10.50, which my server said "doesn't pretend to be something it's not." I'm not a huge fan of non-alcoholic alternatives, but the tea was delicious and I'd definitely order it again. When I asked for the bill, I was told Hannes Schneider, who had come in to say hello to me and other diners throughout dinner, had already covered it.

After a very eventful day and a very filling meal, my single bed looked more inviting than ever.

And as I lay down, I started to think about how everything I experienced – the amazing food, the calm and quiet ski rental shop, the friendly conversations with staff – explained why royals kept coming back to Lech year after year.

From what I could tell, Lech offers royals a luxury experience while also giving them a sense of normality and privacy they may not be used to. That said, being treated like a normal person in Lech is basically getting the "royal treatment" anywhere else, and for someone who isn't royal, I loved it.