Andorra la Vella
Mountain nation and tax-free destination
Andorra is a small country sitting in the middle of the Pyrenees mountain range between Spain and France, smaller than Bahrain but slightly larger than Barbados, and a massive three times the size of Liechtenstein. A pronounced lack of flat land dictates towns that are very crowded together and windy roads as they climb up hills. The population is just over 80,000 yet fewer than half of these people are native to Andorra, with around one quarter being Spanish and around five percent French. Andorra’s main attractions are the mountains for skiing in the winter (some of the best in Europe) plus hiking and other such outdoor activities in the summer. There are two roads in or out, one to each of its neighbours, and no airport in the country, however there is an airport operated on Andorra’s behalf by the Catalan government in Spain.
We stayed for a night in early 2003 in the capital Andorra la Vella, which appeared geared mostly around tax-free shopping, bars, restaurants and entertainment. The traffic was surprisingly bad, the roads confusing, twisty and often very steep. I believe the capital is not the prettiest town in the country, but unfortunately we didn’t have time to visit elsewhere. We did, however, go to one of la Vella’s most popular tourist attractions, the geothermally heated Caldea spa, undoubtedly the most expensive swimming pool I have ever visited but well worth it in the winter cold.
The capital, Andorra la Vella, is the hub of the country with just over 20,000 residents. It is functional in a 1960s ski resort brutalist style, although from this view it looks rather scenic. This was taken from the road that goes from the town up to Lake Engolasters, a reservoir to the east of town, which at the time was mostly empty and frozen solid. The peaks in the background rise to over 2,300 metres.
Tax-free shopping is one of the main draws of Andorra, especially for Spanish and French residents who live nearby. Andorra la Vella is in large part an outdoor shopping mall, with the best deals to be found on alcohol, electronics and cigarettes. There is also a plethora of sports and outdoors shops to keep your wallet from getting too heavy. This shot is looking along Avenida Meritxell.
The department store “Pyrenees” had cigarettes stacked to the ceiling, three-litre bottles of Jack Daniels and White Label, all sorts of sports gear and electronics galore in the basement. It also had a useful supermarket where we bought sandwich fixings as we were too poor to go to a nice restaurant.
Looking east along Avenida Maritxell towards the Banca Privada d’Andorra, which doesn’t need much help to translate. It eventually went out of business in 2015, following implications in the Panama Papers, amongst other dodgy dealings.
Looking up Carrer La Llacuna with its enormous mountain wall backdrop, one of many narrow lanes criss-crossing the town centre.
The village hall takes the form of Comu D’Andorra la Vella on Avenida Princep Benlloch, with the national flag flying outside.
Looking back along Avenida Princep Benlloch towards the mountains to the east, for a typical street view.
Getting out of urban jungle for a bit of mountain fresh air. Andorra la Vella sits at an elevation of 1,023 metres, and although we were there in early February, it had been a while since there had been snowfall.
Up at Lake Engolasters, we had a short hike around in the much-deeper snow at this elevation, only about 400 metres above the town.
A view from the road up to Lake Engolasters over some of the fantastic scenery in Andorra.
To the north of town, the Rec del Sola scenic path skirts the cityscape with a Madeiran-style levada running alongside, just visible behind us. The large black spikey pyramid in the distant centre marks Caldea spa. It has saunas, steam rooms, foot spa rooms, Roman baths, incense rooms, heat lamp and sun lamp beds, hot stone benches, indoor and outdoor pools and a music and light show every so often. It was very pleasant to sit in the warm water outside right next to the snow.
Created 2003 | Updated 2014, 2023
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