© Lonely Planet Publications 396 lonelyplanet.com ANDORRA •• History 397 Andorra ANDORRA ANDORRA ANDORRA 0 5 km Andorra 0 3 miles ANDORRA ANDORRA Estanys de F R A N C E Tristaina To Aix-les-Thermes (21km); ORDINO Estany de l’Estany Toulouse (155km) Borda de (2339m) Sorteny Pic de la Serrera Ordino-Arcalís (2913m) Ski Area El Serrat Collada dels Meners Slip Andorra into the conversation and people may tell you, with horror or joy, that it’s all Estanys de CG3 (2713m) l’Angonella CANILLO Port de Pic de Coma Pedrosa (2300m) Llorts Pic de l’Estany skiing and shopping. They might add that it’s a one-road, one-town ministate. Riu Estany de Baiau Bordes de (2915m) N20 (2942m) Juclar Valira l'Ensegur (2756m) Refugi de Arans (2180m) L'Hospitalet They’re right to some degree, but also very wrong. Shake yourself free of the capital Coma Pedrosa El Tarter Estany de La Cortinada Soldeu del Pic de Casamanya les Truites Arinsal (2740m) Valira d’Orient Arinsal Nord Riu Andorra la Vella’s tawdry embrace to purr along one of the state’s only three secondary (2260m) Ski Area Port Canillo Segudet CG2 d’Envalira Ordino roads and you’ll discover villages as unspoilt as any in the Pyrenees. LA MASSANA Erts Soldeu-El Tarter (2408m) Coll d’Ordino Ski Area Les Bordes La (1980m) Port de Pal Massana d'Envalira A warning though: it may not be the same a few years from now. Greed and uncontrolled Cabús Col de Sispony Pas de la Casa Puymorens S P A I N Pal Ski Area Encamp CG3 CG2 Grau Roig development risk spoiling the side valleys. In the last five years, its resorts have invested Pic de Carroi bu Pas de la Casa (2334m) Ski Area Ski Area over 50 million euros in mountain cafés and restaurants, chair lifts and gondolas, car parks Pic d’Enclar ANDORRA Engordany ENCAMP (2382m) LA VELLA Escaldes To Porté Puymorens (4km); Estany Estany de Latour-de-Carol (16km); and snowmaking machines. Caldia de l’Illa Portella Capella de Sant ANDORRA Montmalœs Blanca Puigcerdà (25km); Perpignan (130km) Vincenç d'Enclar LA VELLA Santa Although Andorra, with a resident population of less than 80,000, absorbs well over 10 Coloma CG1 Port de Vall ESCALDES-ENGORDANY Civera million visitors annually (most of whom just pop in to shop), there are still areas where you SANT JULIÀ (2518m) DE LÒRIA Sant Julià de Lòria can be completely alone. Tucked into the Pyrenees and wedged between Spain and France, Aixirivall To La Seu S P A I N Andorra has the distinction of being the only country in the world where Catalan is the d'Urgell (10km); Barcelona (215km) Riu Gran Valira official language. Though short on historical interest and monuments of consequence, this La Rabassa Cross Country Ski Area La Farga de Moles tiny, political anomaly, rucked and buckled with scarcely a flat square metre to its name, has some of the most dramatic scenery and by far the best skiing in all the Pyrenees. And, once History opted in a referendum to establish Andorra the snows have melted, there’s great walking in abundance, ranging from family strolls to By tradition, Andorra’s independence is as an independent, democratic ‘parliamentary demanding day hikes in the higher, more remote reaches of the principality. credited to Emperor Charlemagne, who cap- coprincedom’. The new constitution placed tured the region from the Muslims in AD full sovereignty in the hands of the Andorran 803. In 843 his grandson, Charles II, granted people, although the coprinces continue to the Valls d’Andorra (Valleys of Andorra) to function as joint heads with much reduced Sunifred, Count of Urgell, whose base was La powers. The country retains its full name of Seu d’Urgell, in adjacent Catalonia. From the Principat (Principality) d’Andorra. counts, Andorra later passed to the bishops of Since the 1950s Andorra has developed as a Urgell, also based in La Seu. centre for skiing and duty-free shopping, the HIGHLIGHTS In the 13th century, after a succession dispute latter a legitimate progression from the more Cross the spectacular Port d’Envalira between the bishops and the French counts of dubious smuggling of French goods to Spain ( p410 ), the highest road pass in the Foix to the north, Andorra’s first constitutional during the Spanish Civil War and Spanish goods Pyrenees Soldeu documents, the Pareatges, established a system to France in WWII (Andorra remained conven- of shared sovereignty between the two rivals. iently and profitably neutral in both). With its Cross-country ski or walk the quiet coun- Ordino Port d'Envalira This originally feudal setup created a peculiar almost tax-free, no-questions-asked banking, La Rabassa tryside above ( p403 ) political equilibrium that, over the centuries, Andorra increasingly attracts savers from all Steep yourself in the warm mineral Caldea saved Andorra from being gobbled up by its over the world, especially Eastern Europe. waters of the space-age Caldea ( p400 ) powerful neighbours despite recurrent tension Tramp a few of the walking trails that between the coprinces down the centuries and Environment thread through the principality, especially French control passing from the counts of Foix Andorra, in the heart of the Pyrenees, is es- La Rabassa around Ordino ( p405 ) and Soldeu ( p408 ) to France’s head of state. sentially a pair of major valleys and the steep In March 1993, after seven centuries of mountains that hug them. It measures a mere being a ‘coprincedom’, 75% of the 9123 native 25km from north to south at its maximum, AREA: 468 SQ KM AVE SUMMER TEMP: HIGH 22°C, POP: 76,900 Andorrans who were eligible to vote (less than and 29km from east to west. Most of its 40 or LOW 12°C one-sixth of the actual population at the time) so villages and hamlets – some with just a few 398 ANDORRA •• Population & People lonelyplanet.com lonelyplanet.com ANDORRA LA VELLA •• Orientation 399 ANDORRA ANDORRA dozen people – are in the valleys. The main Autocars Nadal (%805 151; www.autocarsnadal.com A TAXING SITUATION WHEN TO VISIT river, the Riu Gran Valira, is formed near the in French & Spanish) Six buses daily to/from Barcelona’s capital, Andorra la Vella, at the confluence of It had to come. With neighbouring coun- airport (€26, 3¾ hours), calling by the city’s Sants train The ski season (December to April) is the ANDORRA ANDORRA the Valira d’Orient and the Valira del Nord. tries slapping on value-added taxes in station (€21, 3¼ hours). high season for visitors. For walking and Pic de Coma Pedrosa (2942m) in western excess of 15%, Andorra, an anomaly in so Autocars Novatel (%803 789; www.andorrabybus temperate mountain warmth, choose July, Andorra is the highest mountain, while the low- many ways, was way out of kilter. In January .com) Five minibuses daily (€26, 3½ hours) to/from August or September. est point, on the Spanish frontier at La Farga de 2006, a relatively modest 4% service tax was Barcelona’s airport. Moles, is still a healthy 838m above sea level. applied to prices for hotels and restaurants, La Hispano Andorrana (%821 372; www.hispanoan ski passes and the like. And oh, the fuss and dorrana.com) Hourly buses between Andorra la Vella and If you’re driving between the parishes of Population & People palaver from the locals! Some places absorb La Seu d’Urgell (€2.50, 40 minutes). Ordino or La Massana and those of Encamp A mere 36% of Andorra’s 76,900 inhabitants this modest imposition within their charges; Viatges Montmantell (%807 444) Four buses or Canillo, avoid this motorist’s nightmare (well over half of whom live in Andorra la others include it as an extra element. If the daily to/from Lleida (€17, 2½ hours) to connect with the by taking the scenically striking route over Vella and the contiguous parish of Escaldes- pennies count, check before you eat, sleep, Madrid-bound high speed AVE train. Services stop outside the Coll d’Ordino. This alternative is often Engordany) are Andorran nationals. The rest shop or ski. Caldea ( p400 ). impassable during winter due to drifts of snow are Spanish (37%), Portuguese (13%), French blocking the road. (6.5%) and others. While 76,900 souls may fit France comfortably into a suburb of your home town, account for some 80% of the country’s GDP. Of Autocars Nadal Twice each Friday and Sunday to/from PUBLIC TRANSPORT bear in mind that, scarcely 50 years ago, An- the 11 million annual visitors (very many drive Toulouse’s bus station (€21, 3½ hours). Six routes, run by Cooperativa Interurbana (%806 dorra’s population was only around 6000. in, shop hard and drive out the same day), the Autocars Novatel Two minibuses daily (€29, 3½ hours) 555), radiate out from Andorra La Vella along The state language, enforced by a 1999 law vast majority are Spanish and French. to/from Toulouse’s airport and train station. the principality’s three main roads. Tour- of the Andorran parliament, is Catalan. But The residual agricultural sector (in the ist offices carry a free leaflet giving current nearly everyone can speak Spanish fluently. main, tobacco growing and cattle raising), Getting Around timetables. Local lore has it that everyone speaks Catalan, these days represents only around 1% of total CAR & MOTORCYCLE Spanish and French, but plenty of Andorrans economic activity. The largely ignored speed limit is 40km/h know only a smattering of French and many in populated areas and 90km/h elsewhere. ANDORRA LA VELLA Spanish residents have little Catalan.