A BACKPACKER’S GUIDE TO ANDORRA

City Guides

This little-known principality is tucked into the Pyrenees Mountains between Spain and France. It’s known for its mountains and valleys, skiing slopes and tax-free haven status – including cheap cigarettes and booze – is a nice little country to tick off your bucket list. It’s also the location of Stoke Travel’s marvellously messy Andorra Ski Weekenders, by virtue of it having amazing ski slopes, and its location just up the road from our Barcelona headquarters.

Facts About Andorra

Andorra’s Population: 77,000

Tourists to Andorra in a year: 7,800,000

Andorra’s biggest cities: none. Andorra la Vella is the biggest “city” with 22,000 inhabitants and is located in the valley at one of the country’s lowest points, which means warmer weather

Languages spoken in Andorra: Catalan is the only official language, although Andorra’s location means that Spanish and French are widely spoken

Average wage in Andorra: €2000

Price of things in Andorra: dinner for two in a pub €37, lunch menu with drink €13, pint of beer €3, packet of cigarettes €2.95

Average summer high temperature in Andorra La Vella: high 25.1°C, low 14°C
Average winter low temperature in Andorra La Vella: high 10°C, low 0°C

Skiing and boarding in Andorra

This is the reason most people know about Andorra. Close enough to downtown Barcelona and France’s southern Mediterranean cities of Montpellier and Perpignan, while being firmly nestled in the Pyrenees mountains, Andorra is a paradise for winter sports enthusiasts. With a variety of resorts to choose from, reasonable lift pass prices and bountiful accommodation, Andorra is a great place to beginner to intermediate skiers and boarders (or advanced sportspeople who live in or near the aforementioned cities).

Ski Resorts in Andorra

Skiing Grandvalira

Grandvalira is the largest ski area in Andorra, encompassing 200kms of marked trails over six interconnected ski areas. There’s something for everyone in Grandvalira. The ski areas are:

Pas de la Casa

The area closest to the border with France and known for it French food and lively party scene.

Soldeu

A bit more relaxed than Pas de la Casa and great for families with its ski school and spa facilities.

El Tarter

A great spot for more advanced skiers and borders with freeride terrain and a freestyle park.

Canillo

Centrally situated and well-connected, Canillo is another Grandvalira resort that is more family friendly.

Encamp

A town with plenty of food and drink options that’s connected to the main slopes by a gondola.

Grau Roig

There’s nowhere to stay here, but there are plenty of wilder slopes to take on.

Skiing in Vallnord

Vallnord is the other major ski area in Andorra and the one that Stoke Travel frequents on our Andorra Ski Weekenders due to its pumping aprés-ski and nightlife scene.

Pal-Arinsal

These two mountains are connected by gondola, or regular shuttle buses, and are where Stoke Travel skis, boards and parties on weekends. Arinsal is our ski-in-ski-out mountain, a steep bowl at the top, leading down to a friendly – and aprés-ski adjacent – beginners slope with ski life and magic carpet.

Pal is a short well-connected trip from where we stay in Arinsal and features a wider terrain, with more tree-lined runs, some steep pistes and a couple of well placed bars.

When Stoke skis and boards Pal-Arinsal we stay in Arinsal village and spend the aprés-ski afternoons at the Derby Deli (ask Kev for some shots) which is at the bottom of the beginner slopes. The early evenings we spend dancing at the outdoor Surf Arinsal bar with DJs, and we have dinner and finish the night in the legendary and wild Ciscos Arinsal.

Ordino-Arcalís

Recently added to the Pal-Arinsal Skinord pass, this is a quieter hidden gem where skiers and boarders can explore off-piste and more challenging slopes without beginners getting in their way.

Festivals in Andorra

There are plenty of festivals in Andorra every year, especially for a country of this size. These range from the Andorra Jazz Festival to the Andorra la Vella Festa Major, held every summer in the capital. The best festivals, however, have to be the Stoke Travel Andorra Ski Weekenders, that squeeze in extra hours on the slopes, and more importantly in the clubs and bars at the bottom of the slopes.

How to Get to Andorra

GIven its size and mountain location, there are no airports in Andorra. This means that you’ll be driving in when you arrive, either in a hire car, or on a bus. Stoke Travel organises private coach transfers for our Andorra ski trips that leave from, and return to, Barcelona. The trip is around three hours, but can be longer depending on traffic and hold ups at the border.

Accommodation In Andorra

There are plenty of hostels and hotels in Andorra la Vella, as well as in the many ski resorts and the villages that surround them. During the ski season these hotels fill up quickly, and prices are high, as Andorra attracts skiers and snowboarders from around the world. Hikers will find a variety of mountain huts available for a nominal fee in the summertime.

Andorra Food And Drink

The Pyrenees, in which Andorra is located, are famed for their top-quality farming and produce, in particular their meat. Being located practically inside Catalonia, we find many of the dishes famous in Barcelona and Spain here in Andorra. Nevertheless there are some dishes that are unique to this mountain principality, like trinxat, a bubble-and-squeak-like mixture of last night’s dinner, potato and bacon fat, and truta a la Andorrana, which is local freshwater trout, served with a slice of pork on top. They also have a tradition of making paella with squirrel meat, although backpackers would be lucky(?) to find somewhere serving this peculiar delicacy.

There are also a small number of Andorran wineries, which is surprising given how many vineyards there are on either side of Andorra, in both the cava regions of Catalunya and the rosé wine areas of southern France’s Languedoc.

General Andorra Advice

Scams and dangers in Andorra

Andorra, being a very small country, is overwhelmingly a safe destination. The main dangers in Andorra are self inflicted, usually the result of falling on the ski slopes, getting lost when hiking through the Pyrenees, or injuries sustained when partying too much after a big day in the mountains.

Driving in Andorra

Driving in Andorra is the same as elsewhere in Europe, with noticeable differences being the often confusing alpine and valley roads, as well as the often-long traffic jams going into Spain and France when leaving Andorra, the result of Andorra’s tax-free status and its cheap alcohol and cigarettes. Remember that if you are caught entering Spain and France with more than 300 cigarettes, 1.5 litres of spirits, or four bottles of wine, you could be fined.  

Best way to access and use money in Andorra

The euro is used in Andorra and there are plenty of ATMs to access your money.

Visa options for  and how to stay longer than the allocated three months in Andorra

While it doesn’t have closed borders, Andorra is not a member of the European Union and visitors to Andorra will be leaving the Schengen zone are allowed a stay of up to three months without a visa. Entry to Andorra is only through Spain or France, as there are no airports, so all visitors must be allowed travel elsewhere in Europe.

Places to visit in Andorra

The best places to visit in Andorra are its famous mountains, valleys and ski slopes, whether for hiking, or participating in snowsports as a part of Stoke Travel’s Andorra Snow Trips.