Tag: holidays

Family Ski Holidays

SteveAndorra / Grandvalira / Holidays / Vallnord
Children throwing snow

Children throwing snowGot children?  Worried about bringing them on a family ski holiday?  Have a read of this article which will hopefully put your mind at ease and answer a few of your questions!

We’ll give you a few ideas about what you can do before you book as well as some tips on which resort to choose.  You’ll have to see which options are available depending on the ages of your children and you can always get in touch with us if you’re stuck and need help booking.  Skiing is a fantastic choice for family fun with children usually loving to opportunity to try something new, get active and make new friends!

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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…)

Epic Snow in Andorra

SteveAndorra / Holidays
Skier in deep powder with tracks in the snow
Skier in deep powder with tracks in the snow
Powder skiing in Arinsal

After a fantastic start to December the snow seemed to have a holiday for a couple of weeks but came back with a vengeance for January, delivery epic snow conditions which are the best for several years!  Over one three day period the Arcalis sector of Vallnord received 2.5 metres, with all resorts getting well over a metre!

The snow hasn’t let up yet either, with almost daily snowfall adding to the perfect conditions with the occasional break of bright blue skies and sunshine offering some of the best powder skiing available.  The coming week’s forecast also offers plenty of new snow but also some clear days which should mean awesome powder fun and great weather for apres ski on the sun terraces.

If you haven’t booked your ski holiday yet this year then you should think about visiting Andorra to experience the conditions for yourself!  To find out more visit the ski holidays section of our website.

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…)

Andorra Ski Holidays

SteveAndorra / Grandvalira / Holidays / Vallnord
Photo of loads of snow covering Arinsal in December 2012

Photo of loads of snow covering Arinsal in December 2012If you’re currently looking to decide where you want to go skiing this winter, then look no further!  Andorra has had the best start to a ski season for a number of years, with the base already up to almost a metre of snow, which has been topped up regularly since opening for business on December 1st.  Snow has fallen regularly for the past three weeks now and more is forecast to continue falling for the next few days, with everyone’s fingers crossed for a white Christmas!

For those of you new to the idea of a holiday to the tiny country of Andorra, perhaps having visited other more well known areas, then you might be in for a bit of a surprise.  Andorra boasts two fantastic ski areas, both with interconnected resorts covered on their lift respective lift passes.  If you have beginners in your group then it’s definitely worth investigating options in  and Arinsal as these both have lots of British ski instructors amongst their ranks which makes it much easier for people to learn when their instructor speaks their native language.  For avid snowboarders you should look at Pas de la Casa as the resort has a very young party vibe with many snowboarders returning year after year.

But if you’re a hardened skier who thinks you won’t be challenged, then think again!  This year the resort of Soldeu held both European and World Cup downhill racing on the women’s circuit for the first time, which is being followed in 2013 by European Cup racing on the men’s circuit.  The famed Avet slope running to the centre of Soldeu has for some years now held FIS certification, and this year this has been joined by another FIS certified slope in neighboring El Tarter!

Arinsal has a family friendly traditional charm about it and proves very popular with returning guests each year so if you’re looking for a friendly resort with great skiing then maybe you should look here.  A big benefit of spending your Andorra ski holiday in Arinsal is that Arcalis is also included on your lift pass, and this is often thought of by locals as the best skiing in the country, so well worth a visit.

So if we’ve whetted your appetite for Andorra then take a look at our holidays page, and maybe we’ll see you on the slopes here soon.

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 >>