A few words about the country Legend says that Charlemagne founded Andorra in 805 in recognition of aid given by its inhabitants against the Saracens. This small mountain principality wedged between France and Spain has enjoyed a varied history since then and was declared an independent democratic state in 1993. Home to a resident population of 83,000, who enjoy a very high standard of living and officially Europe’s highest country, tax free Andorra’s main income generator is tourism with 10.7 million people visiting in 2007. In addition to the high tech and very much improved winter sports offer across the two valleys of Grandvalira and Vallnord other tourism draws include tax free shopping, spa and wellbeing tourism and an expanding summer activity offer. Andorra is truly beautiful with only 8.5% of the surface area of 486 sq kms being built upon the rest consisting of National Parks being mainly woodland areas, lakes, meadows and 65 peaks of over 2000 metres.
The ski resorts in Andorra have been the subject of a massive 200m Euro infrastructure improvement programme so they enjoy some of the best state-of-the-art lifts and equipment to be found anywhere on the globe, ensuring long queues are a think of the past. Andorra is great for beginners and intermediates and has some of the most acclaimed ski schools in Europe. In addition to these attributes Andorra enjoys a record number of winter sunshine hours thanks to its location between the Atlantic and Mediterranean and a great snow record. Despite resent improvements to the offer Andorra remains great value and has some of the best tax free shopping in Europe and great cuisine.
There are good road links to the nearby airports at Barcelona, Toulouse, Reus and Girona which connect Andorra with Europe and the rest of the world.
Capital cityCatalanPopulation71822Official languagesAndorra la VellaCurrencyEURDial code+376