Born in England but gave up offshore job and associated snowboarding/travelling lifestyle to live wi...
Born in England but gave up offshore job and associated snowboarding/travelling lifestyle to live with my danish girlfriend and 2 year old daughter in Denmark. Life is good.
Member since:05.07.2005
Reviews:38
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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 in the centrally-located capital, Andorra La Vella, and hire a 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 to explore. You can drive East to Soldeu or further on to Pas de la Casa, or head west for Arinsal, Pal and the otherwise inaccessible (and therefore uncrowded) Arcalis. You can pick up hitchhikers and get them to show you the off-piste or tell you about the restaurants in Andorra la Vella. Plus, you can shop at leisure in the capitals duty free boutiques, and eat in peace at its restaurants.
Alternatively, you have the freedom to head out of Andorra altogether, and explore a little of France or Spain. It is not a hard drive down to Barcelona, Motorways all the way once you negotiate the pass out of Andorra, and there is plenty of entertainment here whatever the weather. I guess there are also good places to go in France as well, 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.
The "Caldea" spa baths are as much Andorra as Gaudi's Sagrada Familia is Barcelona - ask anyone what to do and this is where you will be pointed. The baths themselves are expensive but impressive. There are a range of pools (inside and out) and saunas, and there used to be one Jacuzzi with a TV above it playing non-stop "Simpsons" videos. If that isn't luxury I don't know what is. Caldea gets crowded during the evening après ski period, so go either during daytime or absolutely last thing at night to get value for money.
Andorras biggest selling point is probably shopping. Anyone can spend a day just shopping here in the city. For the ladies there are clothes, shoes, and perfume, whilst the gents can head over towards sports stores, electronics goods and, of course, standard duty-free booze. You can find most of the big fashion names in the shops here, and if you need new skis/boots/snowboard/mountain bike/clothing/almost ANYTHING expensive, the savings you can make will go a long way towards paying for the cost of the trip. The Validomat department store is a good place to start, and don't be afraid to haggle. It looks so much like John Lewis you would never think of it, but if you are buying 2-3 big ticket items they will often give a discount - I got a free pair of Oakley ski goggles (worth 30 quid) this way, although I did have a Spanish speaking friend with me to help.
The restaurants and bars are where the difference between city and the ski resorts is most apparent. The food I tried was predominately Spanish, with good seafood and Tapas bars too. Tapas are small, cheap dishes served on individual plates, so you could recreate the tapas experience in England by ordering 4 starters. It takes longer to eat the food this way - which is part of the charm. An evening spent eating tapas and quietly drinking beers in a relaxed Spanish bar is hard to beat, and feels a million miles away from the noise and hustle of the resorts, where stressed staff will be trying to get the tables cleared for when the tour chains come in with their 18-30 drinkers.
In summary, it's a great place for shopping and makes a fine base for a "different" ski holiday. I would like my next trip there to be in the summer time, when I have heard the mountain bike trails are great, but I have made no plans for this as yet. My girlfriend doesn't care when we go, so long as the shops are open… One last tip for the slopes - make sure your boards and skis are kept locked up if they are new. I had a new board stolen from a board rack in Soldeu in the time it took to buy a cuppa, and I know others who have had the same problem.
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