A Guide To Snowboarding In Andorra

Andorra is one of the most under rated ski and snow boarding resorts anywhere in Europe. As a small municipality administered jointly by France and Spain, some characteristics of each country inevitably colour the snow boarding scene here. You may also be surprised to find how cheap prices are here compared to some of the major European resorts.

Airports such as Toulouse and Barcelona allow easy access. You can pick up a cheap flight into Perpignan or Zaragosa from budget airlines. None of the runs are exactly what you might call especially challenging, and are perhaps best suited to the novice snow boarder rather than to the die hard adrenaline junkies, who might find themselves running out of worthwhile options relatively quickly.

Pas de la Casa, Arsinal, Soldeu, Pal and Ordino Arcalis are the central resorts for main piste runs. The highest mountain in the area is the Coma Pedrosa, at 2,946 metres above sea level.

The region was once known as being the cheap and cheerful region for snow boarding and ski-ing in Europe, a kind of Butlins-on-ice, but in recent years it has worked really hard to shake off the shabby tag. This has led to increases across the board price wise, most notably for things such as lift passes.

Food and drink prices are a steal, ranking as some of the cheapest of any ski resorts within Europe.

Nightlife tends to be more concentrated on the small villages that nestle around the slopes, as well as a few good local restaurants. Ideally, the place is perhaps ideal for people visiting for a refreshing long weekend break or a top up course, while factoring in a little evening entertainment amid good, if not outstanding scenery, and all of which are achievable on a reasonable budget.

As languages go, you'll get by with smatterings of French, Spanish and, of course, Catalan. Like their near neighbours in Barcelona, the locals are intensely proud of what they see as their true national heritage. That said, the local currency is still the Euro.

Some resorts now also offer a combined lift pass that covers a number of areas. Typical of these are the twin main centres of Vallnord and Gran Vallira. For a small extra cost you will be able to access many more different pistes during your holiday.


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