Andorra Experience

Pas de la casa

Advantages: Fantastic Ski and snowboard school
Disadvantages: Not great Apres ski

We stayed in Pas de la casa which is a 2 and a half hour transfer from Tolouse. It is not a pretty town, but has a lovely backdrop of the mountains. We stayed in self catering accomodation which was clean and basic. Food and drink in restaurants was not as cheap as advertised online (although drink in supermarkets is cheap, 1 litre of smirnoff vodka 7.40 euros which is £4!) The service was friendly and it helped we spoke french and spanish, but food ...
...which is not good for a big group. I really enjoyed my two snowboarding lessons which are excellent and a must for all learners that go there. I went for the one on one lesson, you learn so much quicker that in a big group.Overall a great place to learn and go tax free shoppping, but definately a budget holiday resort. ...

annie81 31.01.2008 · Read full review
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Review of Pas de la Casa/Grau Roig

Arinsal-Pal for beginners

Advantages: Ski School,Value for money
Disadvantages: small ski area, mountain restaurants

...car from the centre of Arinsal which tends to get very busy at peak times at top and bottom, for those staying at the top end of the village there is the advantage of a two man chair right up to the base station and snow conditions permiting a choice of a blue or black run right back down to the Hotel Crest and Patagonia Apartments which never seems to get busy.So the skiing, well arinsal's stretches right up the mountain with a series of easy blues ...
...chance of getting lost, ideal for beginners/early intermediates, but beware, these slopes are used by ski school which stretch accross the hill therefore get horribly busy and congested, better going high to avoid this where there are some nice(short) reds and a couple of blacks. Over in Pal which is reached by a 50man cable car, this offers a better variety of runs amongst trees with nice views.Early in the week its almost deserted over there as ...

Bairsty 27.03.2004 · Read full review
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Review of Arinsal

Get the most from ski-ing Andorra.

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

The individual resorts in Andorra, to my mind, are not big enough to have the necessary terrain to entertain a good skier/snowboarder for a week. Most people have covered the resort where they are staying in a couple of days, and from this point on, unless the snow conditions are exceptional, the world-beating apres-ski comes to play an increasingly large part in the trip. And so what if it does? ;-) Well, there is an alternative, which is to stay ...
...car to drive to the resorts. Sure, it's more expensive to buy day passes than weekly ones, but if you decide to take a couple of days away from the slopes (no great loss if the weather is bad) you will be onto a winner. Car hire is cheap in Andorra, it is probably one of the cheapest places in Europe to hire the 4wd you will need to reach the ski resorts. And with 5 resorts to chose from instead of two, you have suddely got a chamonix-sized area ...

jimh1 07.07.2005 · Read full review
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Review of Andorra: General

Andorra - not just Pas de la Casa

Advantages: cheaper and quieter than the Alps
Disadvantages: long transfer

Andorra has always been a great resort to learn to ski and board due to both the fantastic ski schools and cheap prices. This has given it a reputation for being a bit cheap and cheerful but over the past couple of years it has been trying to shake this image and go more upmarket. We have visited Andorra 4 times in the winter and once in the summer, and over the past year or two we have seen so much work going on, they are pouring in what seems like ...
...la Vella is a shoppers paradise but it is sooo busy traffic wise. Pas de la Casa is the most popular resort but also in my opinion the ugliest (but hey you're not skiing in the town - it has fab pistes!), whereas some of the other resorts are prettier with old stone buildings etc. Arcalis/Pal An undiscovered couple of gems in Andorra.. A car is recommended as we experienced long waits for the ski bus. Last year we stayed at the bottom of the red ...

girlscanboard 30.11.2007 · Read full review
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Review of General: Andorra

First time boarding in Andorra

Advantages: Cheap, excellent snowboard school
Disadvantages: Transport

...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 ...
...time. Learning to snowboard is a bit like learning to walk, you just keep falling over. We had cracked it after 3 days though, and had lots of fun sliding down mountains with very little control. The resort itself is just bars, hotels and ski shops, with a couple of small general stores thrown in for colour. Nightlife is good, skiers go to the aspen bar where they have kangaroo boxing, and snowboarders go to the T-bar which is run by a couple of ...

robachamings1 28.01.2005 · Read full review
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Review of Soldeu El Tartar (Andorra)