Andorra, ski paradise, has revamped its access and quality
Andorra, Principality of (Press Release) October 4, 2007 --
Andorra, the tiny mountain-top principality in the Pyrenees straddling the Franco-Spanish border, has enthused and infuriated skiers over the past twenty years. Now it has faced up to its problems and implemented important changes bringing renewed interest from top ski operators.
Difficult of access and subject to traffic-stopping blizzards the beautiful ski domain had multiple problems to deal with: small unlinked ski areas, anarchic construction projects, poor quality hotels and, above all, cheap drink. What was supposed to be Andorra's trump card - its duty-free status - turned out to be its Achilles heel. Busloads of British lager-louts turned up winter after winter to party their way through the season. There was too much 'après' and not enough 'ski'.
A series of particularly harsh winters in the period 2000-2005 meant that transfer buses from the nearest airport in Toulouse, France struggled to make the 3 hour journey over icy and snowbound roads: many a skier from those days has less than fond memories of overnighting in a school gymnasium in Ax-les-Thermes thirty miles short of their destination.
All this has now changed. The French authorities have refurbished the main N20 road up to Andorra - half is now motorway - cutting access time to 2 hours. Unruly construction has been curbed and new high-quality hotels built. Hoteliers are now loath to accept groups of young British skiers while encouraging bookings from families and individuals. The tiny ski areas have all been linked into one vast domain - Grandvalira - with over 180 kms of skiing, 110 runs and 63 lifts. It's now the biggest domain in the Pyrenees and in the top twenty worldwide.
Black spots still remain, of course. The border town of Pas de la Casa, target for French weekenders looking for duty-free goods, is not pretty. But if the ski-lift area feels like a hypermarket car-park skiers soon forget the tawdriness as they climb up into the unspoilt whiteness of the Pyrenean peaks and swoop down the sizzling red and blue runs into the hidden valley of the Andorran interior.
Although some big tour operators programme Andorra canny skiers will opt for the more flexible - and knowledgeable - local agents who are based in the Pyrenees. One such is FRANCE A LA CARTE, a Toulouse-based agency, who offer a small but complete selection of packages in three of the main resorts in the Grandvalira: Soldeu, Vall d'Incles and Pas de la Casa. The advantage of this approach is that customers can choose their own flights and arrival airport, benefiting from low-cost prices to Toulouse, Carcassonne, Perpignan or Girona. FRANCE A LA CARTE will then supply a hire car or transfer at the airport.
One last point: in these times of global warming snowfall in Andorra is reckoned to be consistently higher than in any other Pyrenean resort ... or many in the Alps.
Difficult of access and subject to traffic-stopping blizzards the beautiful ski domain had multiple problems to deal with: small unlinked ski areas, anarchic construction projects, poor quality hotels and, above all, cheap drink. What was supposed to be Andorra's trump card - its duty-free status - turned out to be its Achilles heel. Busloads of British lager-louts turned up winter after winter to party their way through the season. There was too much 'après' and not enough 'ski'.
A series of particularly harsh winters in the period 2000-2005 meant that transfer buses from the nearest airport in Toulouse, France struggled to make the 3 hour journey over icy and snowbound roads: many a skier from those days has less than fond memories of overnighting in a school gymnasium in Ax-les-Thermes thirty miles short of their destination.
All this has now changed. The French authorities have refurbished the main N20 road up to Andorra - half is now motorway - cutting access time to 2 hours. Unruly construction has been curbed and new high-quality hotels built. Hoteliers are now loath to accept groups of young British skiers while encouraging bookings from families and individuals. The tiny ski areas have all been linked into one vast domain - Grandvalira - with over 180 kms of skiing, 110 runs and 63 lifts. It's now the biggest domain in the Pyrenees and in the top twenty worldwide.
Black spots still remain, of course. The border town of Pas de la Casa, target for French weekenders looking for duty-free goods, is not pretty. But if the ski-lift area feels like a hypermarket car-park skiers soon forget the tawdriness as they climb up into the unspoilt whiteness of the Pyrenean peaks and swoop down the sizzling red and blue runs into the hidden valley of the Andorran interior.
Although some big tour operators programme Andorra canny skiers will opt for the more flexible - and knowledgeable - local agents who are based in the Pyrenees. One such is FRANCE A LA CARTE, a Toulouse-based agency, who offer a small but complete selection of packages in three of the main resorts in the Grandvalira: Soldeu, Vall d'Incles and Pas de la Casa. The advantage of this approach is that customers can choose their own flights and arrival airport, benefiting from low-cost prices to Toulouse, Carcassonne, Perpignan or Girona. FRANCE A LA CARTE will then supply a hire car or transfer at the airport.
One last point: in these times of global warming snowfall in Andorra is reckoned to be consistently higher than in any other Pyrenean resort ... or many in the Alps.
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