St. Anton am Arlberg is situated at the foot of the Arlberg, the mountain passage between the Tyrol and Vorarlberg. In the early Middle Ages a footpath led over the pass. By the end of the 19th century the railroad was built and today a tunnel links the two provinces. St. Anton am Arlberg is one of the largest villages in Austria. It is subdivided into the centre of St. Anton, which is dominated by tourism, the village of St. Jakob in the east and St. Christoph, which has developed around a hospice, at the top of the pass. After the construction of the railway tunnel through the Arlberg tourists have started to come. Today St. Anton, which was the host of the 2001 Alpine Ski World Cup, gets more than a million overnight stays annually, making it one of the most important centres for winter sports in the Alps.