Ahotels Piolets and Spa, Soldeu

Advantages: cheap everything, great nightlife.
Disadvantages: not such good snow or terrain as the Alps.

..., though I have only ever heard Andorran people recommend Barcelona. Which brings me neatly to another thing. The language. Although Andorra is usually described as half Spanish-half French, my experience is that it's a lot more Spanish. There is also a sizeable Catalan influence, with many locals speaking this language too. So don't expect to get by on GCSE French. Andorra la Vella is Andorra's capital city, and is the place to stay if you want to meet Andorran people who have not become disenchanted with English visitors by the drunken excesses of the resorts. Most people come to Andorra to drink as much as to ski, and are based in the mountains at either Soldeu-El Tartar or Arinsal-Pal. Nearly all packages offer a day trip (or at least an evening) into Andorra La Vella, usually to visit the Spa Baths and go shopping, with good cause... Read review

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Advantages: Cheap, excellent snowboard school
Disadvantages: Transport

...After planning to go snowboarding with my best friend for 4 years, we got our act together and booked to go this January. It had to be cheap, and we were absolute beginner boarders. Both competent skiers mind. Getting there. We home at 3 in the morning to get a 7.30 flight out of gatwick to toulouse, followed by a 3 hour bus journey up to the tiny village of soldeu in Andorra - El tarter is the next village over on Andorras only road. We arrived at our hotel at around 2 in the afternoon, unpacked, and then reached the first and only major problem of the holiday. The only public transport is buses, and they are infrequent, and manned by drivers with little English. Still, we eventually found one and got down to the kit shop in the village (two kilometers away) to hire our boots and boards. The next 5 days passed in no time... Read review

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Advantages: Nature and sport activities
Disadvantages: crowds and heavy traffic in the town centre (I don't recommend you stay there)

...to find best prices... Let’s get away from them and their shopping bags full of cheap licor, cheap cigarettes and other nice staff that doesn’t particularly interest us at time being. We didn’t come here to get stressed. We came to relax, walk and enjoy what we can. If it’s winter you most certainly will go skiing. Skiing, snowboarding, toboganning and all kinds of possible winter sports are available at the five ski resorts. I’ve been to three of them, Pas de la Casa – Grau Roig, Soldeu El Tarter and Pal. I certainly prefer Pas de La Casa – Grau Roig, especially when you get to the slopes by Funicamp, the telepheric which provides excellent views and saves time. While looking for information about Andorra for this opinion (I can’t remember all the names and routes correctly so I had to check... Read review

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