Andorra Skiing and Boarding
This tiny country made its living for years smuggling. Today it's a center for duty-free merchandise, decent skiing, great prices and some dandy food.
More than most winter sports countries, Andorra invites generalizations. Because it's such a small country, all the resort villages are remarkably similar, having almost all the same pluses and minuses: low prices (including duty-free goods), ugly villages, lively bars and clubs, good ski schools, fairly reliable snow, young clientele, a lot of Brits, mainly easy, well groomed, and often busy slopes with plenty of snowmaking facilities and mediocre mountain restaurants, are all fairly typical of Andorran resorts across the board.
There's an immediate temptation to compare Andorra to Eastern Europe. Some of the above pluses and minuses would be appropriate to Borovets and company, too. But Andorra really is in a different league. It is somewhat more expensive (though still cheap by Alpine standards), has much better lifts and other resort infrastructure, much livelier nightlife, attracts a mostly young and lively clientele rather than families, and has more reliable snow.
In recent years there has been substantial investment in efficient, modern lifts and this year's reporters have been extremely complimentary about the new lifts and the high standard of piste maintenance and grooming.
Boarding
As with most places that draw a young crowd, boarding has a big following in Andorra. Most of the resorts now boast fun-parks and half-pipes amongst their facilities, and many areas are installing more chairs and gondolas. Tuition is excellent, and there is a lively après-board scene, with good cheap bars and pumping clubs.
| What's Great | What's Not-So-Great |
| + Cheap packages; duty free prices in resort | - Fairly limited slopes, with little to challenge experts |