Category: General

General posts covering a variety of topics.

Meet us at the London Ski Show

SteveGeneral
Andorra Resorts' stand at the London ski show

We’re exhibiting at the London ski show over the next few days (at Earl’s Court 2) so it would be great to meet you! Please pop along to see our stand – we’re at J1, right alongside the Andorran tourist board stand.

We’ve got a fantastic competition where you can win a ski holiday in Arinsal, including your airport transfers from Novatel, an apartment for 7 nights at Apartments Sant Moritz, plus two full area Vallnord lift passes and your ski & boot rental!

As well as our competition you can find out lots more about Andorra and see how easy it is to create your own independent flexible ski holiday.

New Website Design

SteveGeneral
Blue sky and white snowy slopes in Pas de la Casa, Andorra

It’s been several months in the making but we’re excited to launch the new design for our Andorra Resorts website. We’ve made it work well on tablets and mobiles too so you can check out our website whilst you’re on the move.

As it’s new we expect there may be a few teething problems, so if you find anything broken we’d really appreciate you dropping us a line via the contact form to let us know so we can fix it.

Over the next few months we’ll be working on updating our resort websites for Soldeu, Arinsal and Pas de la Casa so expect to see those changing over to the new design – it’s the same up-do-date resort information you’ve come to expect, just with a nice new design!

Hit The Slopes This Summer

SteveGeneral / Snowsports

Freestyle SkierIf the exploits of Team GB at the Sochi Winter Olympics have got you interested in learning to ski or snowboard then why not hit the slopes this summer to learn the basics ready for a ski holiday in Andorra next winter!  The team at Chill Factore in Manchester, the UK’s longest indoor real-snow slope, have put together an interesting infographic showing the benefits of training in Britain.

If you see yourself as the next Jenny Jones then you can also look at www.goskigoboard.org.uk which is a website from Snowsports England to help you find out where you can get involved in skiing and snowboarding. (more…)

Novatel Pick-up Point Changed at Barcelona T2

SteveAndorra / General / Holidays

*Please note. The following information is out of date, for the most recent update please click here.

Photo of a Novatel bus, for shared airport transfers

The pick-up point for Novatel shared transfers has changed at Barcelona airport for arrivals to terminal two.  For those of you familiar with the old bus stop it is basically on the opposite side of the road, ie. on the terminal side of the road, but a tiny bit further up in the large pull-in area for buses.

If you’re unfamiliar with Barcelona airport then terminal two is split into three sections: A, B & C, with all terminal two arrivals coming into the B section, which is where Novatel picks up from.

There’s a Novatel noticeboard on the wall by where the bus stops, although no signpost, so we’ve taken a few photos to make sure you know where to be!

A row of three photos showing the Novatel bus stop

Summer Skiing at Chill Factore

SteveGeneral / Snowsports
Indoor real snow ski slope at Chill Factore, Manchester

Indoor real snow ski slope at Chill Factore, ManchesterWith the heat of summer getting to us we decided to visit Chill Factore in Manchester to get in some summer turns to make sure we don’t forget how to ski before winter!  It was our first time skiing at an indoor slope so a pretty exciting day out!

The bright and spacious changing area has a fully equipped rental shop to get skis, snowboards and boots fitted, plus because they cater for absolute beginners as well as those who have been skiing before they have a full range of winter clothing which you can rent for your session.  I checked the website before setting off which said to take warm clothing and even then I was surprised at how cold it is inside the slope.  I know it sounds pretty obvious now but it really is a fridge, maybe even a freezer – minus 3°C to keep the snow in top condition throughout the day – so when you visit make sure you bring warm clothes and wrap up well! (more…)

Five Interesting Facts About Andorra!

SteveAndorra / General
Mountain Cows

Many people haven’t even heard of Andorra or struggle to say where they think it might be found so we’ve put together five interesting facts you might not know.  In between each fact we’ve added a fantastic photo from Andorra, taken by Andorran photographer Jordi Troguet, so you can see what a vibrant and interesting country it is.

1. Andorra isn’t in the EU

Whilst sandwiched by two EU countries (France and Spain), Andorra isn’t actually part of the EU, even though it uses the Euro as it’s currency.  Over the past few years there have been moves to create more ties with possible future inclusion within the EU.  During 2013 the designs have been drawn up for Andorran Euro coins and if all goes to plan they will start to be issued from early 2014.

(more…)

Top Ten Après Ski Activities in Andorra

SteveAndorra / Après Ski / General / Holidays
Caldea Spa, Andorra la Vella

This list was compiled in 2013 (checked March 2017), for our list of ‘Five New Après Ski Activities in Andorra’, just click here.

When you visit Andorra for your ski holiday it’s definitely not just about the skiing or snowboarding!  Après ski is fantastic here so we’ve compiled a list of our top ten off-the-slopes activities we think you should try.

1. Caldea Spa, Andorra la Vella

Caldea Spa, Andorra la Vella

A magnificent eye-catching building in the heart of the capital holds the recently enlarged Caldea spa which is the highest natural spa in Europe.  The various spa pools and treatments on offer provide some much needed recovery after a hard day on the slopes! (more…)

Top Tips For Winter Trips

Guest PosterGeneral
Car driving in the snow

Car driving in the snowNow the season is well under way and we head into winter back here at home too, we’ve teamed up with the RAC, the UK’s leading suppliers of breakdown cover, to offer you some tips to make sure you’re safe and sound on the roads this winter.

Winter Driving Tips from the RAC

1) Check Your Car Before You Set Off

The cold weather can cause all sorts of issues for your car but if you take the time to do some simple preliminary checks on these components, you might just save yourself a frozen fiasco: (more…)

Getting From the Airport to Andorra *Updated*

SteveGeneral / Holidays
Transfer Coach

Transfer Coach**Updated 05th March 2017**

If you’ve been researching how to get to Andorra you may have realised by now that Andorra doesn’t have it’s own airport, and therefore relies on holidaymakers flying in to either France or Spain.  This actually means that you’ll probably have a great selection of flights to choose from because you have a variety of airports all within fairly easy reach of the slopes.

The most popular airports for holidaymakers are Barcelona and Toulouse, but you can also fly in to Girona, Reus, Carcassonne, Montpellier, and more recently Lleida.  When searching for flights though, you should always bear in mind how you are going to travel from the airport to Andorra because you might find some bargain flights but then be stuck with a long wait at the airport. (more…)

Christmas Holiday to Andorra

SteveAndorra / General / Holidays
Santa snowboarding in Arcalis

Santa snowboarding in ArcalisChristmas is a special time of year for most people in the UK however normally a white Christmas is just a fond memory rather than a reality when you spend the festive period at home.  If you’d like to bring back some of those memories and experience Christmas in a winter wonderland full of snow then you should think about coming on a ski holiday to make your holidays season that extra bit special!

If you haven’t been skiing at Christmas then we’ll let you know a little more about what goes on here in Andorra.

First up, will the slopes be extra busy?  Well, the week of Christmas Day isn’t one of the busiest of the season and it’s nowhere near as busy as the New Year week, so you don’t have to worry about competing with loads of people for space on the slopes.  It’s often the first week that the main UK tour operators have guests so the resorts normally have a great buzz about them as workers see there first busy week of the season, and holidaymakers are all excited about what presents they’re going to be getting! (more…)