Category: Vallnord

Superb Start to Season

SteveAndorra / General / Grandvalira / Vallnord
Snow on tree in El Tarter

The season has started with all areas open having good coverage since December 1st, however with more snow on the 4th and huge snowfall yesterday, the slopes have a huge base for the season as well as massive amounts of snow for the first major test of the season, the Purissima holiday weekend which sees a large number of Spanish tourists arrive to enjoy the skiing and snowboarding.

For most of the sectors in both Vallnord and Grandvalira the base is now at least a metre which sets up the season nicely.  The snow fell right to the resort levels and below, so everywhere is currently a picture postcard of winter wonderlands!

The temperature is set to stay low for the next couple of weeks at least which means the snow should stay in great condition plus the mountain operators will be able to keep the snow cannons working to keep everything topped up.  It’s been the best start to the season for a few years, so you should definitely think about getting booked up for a ski holiday to Andorra!

Focus On: Arinsal

SteveAndorra / Vallnord
The bottom of Arinsal ski area

The bottom of Arinsal ski areaThe resort of Arinsal is in the Vallnord ski area of Andorra offering 63km of linked runs and 93km of runs in total on the lift pass.  We’re been working in Arinsal since 2005 and it’s the resort we call home, so we thought it only right it was our first resort featured in our blog!

To help you get to know a bit more about the resort here’s our guide to the most important bits.

Geography

There is one main street running through the village although it is split into three areas.  You have the top of the village which is by a chairlift with access to the piste, and here there are a couple of hotels, a couple of ski hire shops and a couple of bars and restaurants.  There is a little area higher than this but it is predominantly residential.  Heading down the hill you’ll come to the village centre where you will find the majority of bars, restaurants and hotels as well as the gondola providing the main access to the slopes.  There are two small supermarkets as well as several ski shops.  Further down the hill you have the lower area around the Hotel St Gothard.  There are a few apartments here as well as a tapas bar and hotel bars.  To get to the slopes from here you can either walk up the hill around 10 minutes to the gondola or there is a free bus.

Ski Area

Arinsal has a great reputation for beginners partly to do with the great nursery area and partly to do with the outstanding ski school with a good number of British instructors to help you learn.  But don’t worry if you’re not a beginner because as you head up the mountain you find more challenging slopes as well as a cable car linking the neighbouring Pal ski area which offers some fantastic un-pisted runs, off piste areas and tree-lined slopes.

The third area covered on the Vallnord lift pass is Arcalis, which is smaller at 30km of slopes but it is arguably the best skiing in Andorra.  To get to Arcalis there is a free bus departing from the bottom of Arinsal twice each morning.

Apres Ski

A ski holiday isn’t just about your time on the slopes!  Arinsal has some great bars and restaurants and the best part is that they are all family friendly, which is important when you’re on holiday with your children, although if you don’t have kids then don’t worry – the parties go on until the early hours with two nightclubs, one a dance club and the other with cheese!

There are also lots of activities to get involved in ranging from relaxing at the Caldea spa through to exhilarating helicopter flights!  There’s also sledging, quiz nights, pub crawls, meal nights, shopping trips, ice skating and lots more to keep you entertained.

You can find out more about Arinsal at www.arinsal.co.uk.

Independent Ski Holidays

SteveAndorra / Grandvalira / Vallnord1 Comment
Ski lift in the mountains with lots of snow

 

Ski lift in the mountains with lots of snowWhen it comes to booking a holiday you have a few ways to go about it – first of all you have the traditional package holiday where you pick your package from a brochure or online and it includes everything from the flights and transfers to your accommodation and ski extras, or the alternative is to put your own holiday together and come independently.

Booking all or part of your holiday independently means you have much more flexibility to meet your own requirements, whether that means you want to arrive on a particular day of the week, have a short/extended break or want to have a day off from skiing in the middle of the week.  Our guide below will show you the various parts of the holiday that you will need to book.

Flights
Andorra doesn’t have it’s own airport however there are several airports available to choose from fairly close by.  The most popular airport for independent holidaymakers is Barcelona as there are five daily shared transfers plus an extra service at weekends during the winter, however there are also shared transfers available from Toulouse and Girona.  Other airports used less frequently are Reus and Carcassonne.  Lleida is the closest airport with international flights although they are very limited.

Transfers or Car Hire
You need to decide how you’ll get from the airport to your resort, and this depends on a couple of factors – do you mind driving overseas?  and how much do you want to spend?

It’s easy enough to rent a car, however if you go for this option before you book make sure that you can drive the car across the border into Andorra and also find out if you will be charged extra for this.  We’ve previously used Europcar as they allow cross-border travel and don’t charge extra, but always check before you book.

For airport transfers if you’re flying to Barcelona, Girona or Toulouse you can have shared or private transfers, or from other airports it’s just private transfers.  To book airport transfers a good website to try is www.andorraairporttransfers.com.  Obviously a taxi transfer or private minibus is going to be more expensive than the shared option, but it means that you leave the airport as soon as your group have arrived.

Choose Your Resort
Andorra has two main ski areas, Grandvalira and Vallnord.  Grandvalira is the largest skiable domain in the Pyrenees, not just Andorra, boasting 205km of linked pistes which means you have a huge range of slopes to keep you occupied throughout your holiday.  The main resorts here are Pas de la Casa and Soldeu, and both offer completely different atmospheres albeit access to the same slopes.  Pas de la Casa (or just Pas to locals) attracts quite a young crowd and is renowned for partying as much as it is for skiing and snowboarding, however Soldeu is much more family friendly although still has a few great bars for après ski.  The other accesses to Grandvalira are Grau Roig, El Tarter, Canillo and Encamp but these aren’t as popular with tourists.

Vallnord is a smaller ski area with 93km of pistes but in my opinion this includes probably the best skiing in Andorra!  The main tourist resort is Arinsal which is also linked by cable car to the Pal ski area, and it’s arguably the most picturesque of the Andorran ski resorts.  The bars and restaurants are all family friendly but there are also a couple of nightclubs to keep younger ones entertained.  Arinsal has a fantastic school for beginners, but Arcalis is the hidden gem of a ski area, and with no hotels it is usually much quieter than other areas, so it’s worth taking the free ski bus across to give it a go.

Ski Extras
Whether you’ve arranged the whole of your holiday yourself or if you’ve booked a package for the main components, the most popular part of a skiing holiday to book independently is the ski extras: lift passes, lessons and ski hire.  The main benefit of doing this “DIY” is that you can choose the standard of equipment you want, you can see which shop you’ll be collecting from beforehand, and you can also take advantage of special products such as the non-consecutive lift pass which allows either one or two days off from skiing or snowboarding.

The Next Step…
Please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have questions or need help organising your holiday, or for links to all the relevant pages to plan and book your trip, visit our Andorra holidays page >>