Discover Andorra

Andorra is a principality of 468 square kilometres and about 90,000 people in the eastern Pyrenees between France and Spain: the sixth-smallest state in Europe and the largest of its microstates, with an average elevation of 1,996 metres, a highest point at Coma Pedrosa of 2,942 and a lowest of 840 where the Gran Valira leaves for Spain. Its capital, Andorra la Vella, at 1,023 metres, is the highest in Europe; the country's three valleys meet there in a Y, and its seven parishes hold a population that lives almost entirely on the valley floors. Only 8 per cent of the land is built on.

It has been governed since a charter of 1278 by two co-princes, today the Bishop of Urgell in Catalonia and the President of France; its parliament, the Consell de la Terra, was founded in 1419 and is the second-oldest in Europe; and its constitution of 1993, approved by referendum, made it a parliamentary democracy and took it into the United Nations the same year. The sole official language is Catalan, with Spanish, French and Portuguese all in daily use. Andorra is not in the European Union or Schengen, but has been in a customs union with the EU since 1991 and uses the euro under a monetary agreement in force since 2012; it can be entered only through France or Spain, and leaving Schengen to enter it is why the tourist board tells third-country visitors to hold a two-entry visa.

Around eight million visitors come each year, for the ski slopes of Grandvalira and Vallnord, for the duty-free shopping that France and Spain police at the border, and increasingly for the mountains: the Madriu-Perafita-Claror valley, a roadless glacial landscape that is the country's only World Heritage Site, the Sorteny and Comapedrosa natural parks, and the Ordino parish that UNESCO made a biosphere reserve in 2020. The national buses cost 1.90 euros a zone, the emergency number is 112, and the advisories' only real warnings are the mountain ones.

How do I get there?

By road only: coach or car from La Seu d'Urgell, Barcelona, Lleida or Toulouse, or train to L'Hospitalet-près-l'Andorre or Lleida Pirineus and bus from there. There is no airport or railway in Andorra.

Do I need a visa?

Not for Andorra itself, but you can only reach it through France or Spain, so you need whatever the Schengen area requires of your passport, and a two-entry visa if you need one at all.

How much is the bus?

1.90 euros for a zone-1 single, 3.45 for zone 2, 4.80 for zone 3; a monthly pass is 30 euros for all zones.

Is it in the EU?

No, nor in Schengen, but it has a customs union with the EU since 1991 and uses the euro. That is why the shopping is cheaper and why France and Spain check what you take out.

What are the emergency numbers?

112 for everything; police 110, ambulance 116, fire 118.

What language is spoken?

Catalan is official; Spanish, French and Portuguese are everywhere, and English in the resorts.