LIVE TR: 23-27 December. Soldeu.

A snowHead

We are off to Andorra for the first time on Tuesday morning. Me, Mr. O, and our 14 and 12 year old sons. We're staying in an AirBnB and the kids won't be going into lessons.

This will be our third Christmas on the slopes.
2022 - Rauris, Austria
2024 - Cervinia, Italy.
2023 we stayed home and then realised it was a mistake. And so a new family tradition was born.

We fly out of LHR at 6am on Tuesday.
Land in Barcelona at 9am and should be on the road by 10/1030 once we've picked up the car.
3 hour drive to Andorra, but we're allowing 4 to 4.5 so that we can stop for lunch and coffee as we go.

Should be in resort for about 1430. We'll go for a walk, get another coffee and the lay of the land, including picking up lift passes. Then wander back, check in and empty the car before heading back out to get ski kit.

We're not skiing Tuesday, so we have plenty of time to get our kit sorted and get settled, meaning we can be up and out early with no faff on Wednesday.

A snowHead

Finished packing a little after midnight last night. Having finished packing with 26 hours to spare is a new record for me. It's usually closer to 26 minutes.

We are flying BA, hand luggage only. Mr. O and I are taking our boots, and all of us are taking our helmets.

Costs:
Flights return LHR-BCN £350 (including £100 Avios discount) total.
3 bed Air BnB in Soldeu, 8 minute walk from lifts £728
Car hire with Enterprise £234
Pod parking LHR £175
Passes/hire package through Andorra Travel Service £1018
ULEZ Charges £25

Total for a family of four for 4 nights: £2530.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

We left home (just outside Bath) at 0245, arriving at LHR at bang on 0400. Plenty of parking in pod car park and no waiting for a pod. We were so swift that security wasn't even open yet, so we waited around 15 minutes for that to open.

Easy and quick through security, though my case was once again selected for a random inspection. Every single time. There's nothing open at Heathrow at 0430 in the morning so we made our way to our gate and just hung out there.

Flight took off 15 minutes late at 0615 and landed 5 minutes early. Took us about half an hour to clear passport control, and then we headed to the hire car desk. We were given an upgrade at no additional cost. The car had 20km on the clock!!!
During a conversation about winter tyres (not provided), the guy said he could offer socks and before I knew it, we'd been charged a €50 add on. I was clearly sleep deprived as my research had told me to just stop at the first petrol station in Andorra and buy some for about €20, so that's annoying, but hey ho. We left the airport at 1025.

We opted to drive straight through rather than stop for lunch as per our original plan. The roads were pretty clear. We stopped a couple of times for short breaks, but still crossed the border into Andorra at 1330. We got up to the reservation office at 1420, but had been told it didn't open until 1500, so we hung out in the car playing cards.

Absolutely rapid check in with a lovely couple, and the accommodation was only 500m up the road. I plumped for the indoor parking as we had to dig the car out in Cervinia last year, and I didn't fancy that.

We then headed up into the centre of Soldeu to collect our passes from Andorra Travel Service, who were excellent, and we had probably the most efficient ski hire experience of our lives at Sports Calbo at the gondola station. We've opted for a locker in the gondola station in Soldeu as our apartment is downhill from the gondola and no-one fancied that slog in the morning.

We then grabbed dinner at an Italian on the main road, and are now back in the apartment. It's 2015 local time and I'm in bed as I'm wiped!

First impressions of Andorra are excellent so far. Customer service has been incredible all day long. We are very excited to check out the skiing tomorrow.

We are looking for recommendations of places to eat on Christmas Day, if anyone has any.

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Having ski hire, lift pass and ski storage in the same building is a real joy.

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@Owlette, great report so far but you’ve arrived in one of the ski areas with some of the best snow in Europe and have managed not to mention it in your report

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

@Owlette, great report so far but you’ve arrived in one of the ski areas with some of the best snow in Europe and have managed not to mention it in your report

After all it is free

@Owlette, you've hit superlucky with the snow!! snowHead

We went at Feb HT a few years back and although it was all skiable, it was a bit lean.

Have fun tomorrow!! snowHead

A pretty spot to stop is the Pessons restaurant by the frozen lake... https://share.google/L9b2AiNYac8upNPBI

@Le Grand Renard, I was by myself out today so just decided to ski a bunch of runs that I’ve not got to or have been closed so far this season. I pretty much skied all the open runs in Canillo (just 1!), El Tarter and Soldeu. It was good but I was expecting better considering how much snow we had. Visibility wasn’t great though. https://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?t=174394

@Owlette some restaurant recommendations on the Pyrenees thread.

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@Owlette, glad you had a good day.

My day around Soldeu was the day before, my post was made quite late (like this one!). Today I messed around in some gentle off piste bits then headed to Grau and Pas.

Some tips, on the Pessons blue (the one down to Grau), stop at the Pessons restaurant/snack bar. The flat expanse in front is a frozen lake and quite a lovely view.

A quick way back to Soldeu from Grau is to go back on a red called Serrat Pinos. It’s a really gentle red - in fact most in Andorra are fairly gentle compared to lots of places. It’s worth seeing if your husband will give them a go. By doing this you can get back from Grau in just two lifts (and a v.short rope tow) and two descents (one red, a combination of blues).

Rather than stop at the Villager, check out The Harp and Fat Alberts. Both very family friendly and get a little lively. Also a bit cheaper for a beer than the Villager usually (I’ve not been to any of them this season).

snow reports

Great tips, thank you.

We know the tow you speak of. We used it twice yesterday, once when lapping to go back up to Espiolets, though it was switched off when Lad2, Mr. O, and I got to it (Lad1 was ahead of us and got on when it was working). I got up with a combination of skating, side-stepping, and using the rope to help occasionally. It was one heck of a workout.
Lad2 took his skis off and walked. Mr. O was slow and steady walking up on skis with the rope for support. As he was 3/4 of the way up, someone in a Grandvalira uniform arrived and switched it back on, so he cruised the last bit.
We were very relieved to see it still working when we arrived back on the way home.

I'm working on building his confidence on reds. On the way down to Llac yesterday,the initial red turned blue, but then turned red again. Thankfully he was able to look around and see that actually, it was completely cruisey and well within his capabilities. And he even noted as we made our way back to Soldeu and turned off left down a steep blue that it was very steep for a blue. Meanwhile we could see the red with the same name stretching out ahead looking very flat. He can do them, but he doesn't want to hear it. He's got a real fixation on colours that are directly linked to his comfort level. Even when he knows that navigating chopped up, busy blues are tough, he will still refuse to take the quieter red in better condition.
That said, he's happy to go back over to Grau because 'I can do that red', so he'll just be practicing. He's also clocked that the numbers denote the length remaining, so I reckon I can get him on some short ones, now. We learned in Austria where pistes are numbered, not named, so he hadn't realised why the numbers change in France, here etc.
He's a remarkably intelligent man, but when it comes to skiing, I'm chief navigator, and he just follows me.

We spotted the Pessons snack bar and thought it looked lovely, so will likely stop there today. Thank you.

We are finding prices in Andorra to be remarkably reasonable. We usually ski in France, so are very used to French on the mountain prices. Yesterday at La Cabana we had 4 hot drinks, a pain au raisin, and two giant cookies, and it was €24. In Les Arcs, that would have been around €35.

We spotted Fat Alberts the day we arrived and thought the name was terrific.
The Villager had Happy Hour when we arrived yesterday, so Mr. O got a San Miguel for €3.50

Mr. O commented that he would definitely return to Andorra, based on just one day of skiing.

Just getting ready to head out. We enjoy a slower start on our Christmas trip. The boys don't go into ski school, so we're not time limited. Just Lad1 and I this morning. The other two will meet us at La Cabana at midday. Its currently snowing again and we can see a piste basher at work directly below our window.

Merry Christmas, you lovely lot.

Lack of visibility was the main takeaway today.

Lad1 and I headed out first and after a gorgeous run down Astoret, took the chair up and headed down Miquel, which is a red. Lad1 is fearless and bombed straight off. The light was so flat that I chose to side slip down the steepest section as I just couldn't see where to turn. Met up with Lad1 at the bottom and even he said 'that was challenging'.

We headed back up but opted to cut out the top of Miquel the second time by taking Esquirol before cutting across. This turned out to be a mistake as we ended up downhill of the lift we wanted to get us back over towards Espiolets, so that was a hike up! We then had a nice cruisey run back, where we were due to meet Mr. O and Lad2 at La Cabana.

Scored ourselves a table and had a good chat with a British ski instructor on how he got into it as that's Lad1s plan. Mr. O and Lad2 arrived and after a coffee and pastries, we headed back over to Grau. We only made it as far as the base of the Llac lifts as we could see it had really closed in up top. We had a leisurely lunch where both lads spent most of the time playing out in the snow and headed back to the Soldeu side where we'd seen the sun was trying to break through before we'd gone over the ridge. It had gone overcast again, but was better than the Grau side.

Mr. O struggled more than the rest of us with visibility as he has a visor helmet. He said his visor kept steaming up, so he kept needing to put it up, and then was skiing into the wind and snow with no eye protection, so was squinting. The rest of us wear separate goggles and had no issues. So his first order of the day tomorrow is to buy a new helmet and some decent goggles.

Skied back to base for about 1630. Kids and I headed back to the apartment as they wanted to chill, and I wanted to make sure they were settled. Mr. O waited for me in the Villager. I went back out to meet him, and after a drink we went to check out Fat Alberts, but it's closed today.

We went back to the apartment where he cooked a spaghetti Bolognese before an after dinner game of chess with Lad2 whilst I read, and Lad1 chatted to his girlfriend. Then Mr. O and I headed out again for a couple, opting to go to the Park Piolets hotel, as I am partial to a swanky hotel bar. Finally managed to get myself an Amaretto Sour, but at a cost €17.50 per drink! They're only €12 in Arc 1800. I'll never complain about that again!

Hoping Albert's will be open tomorrow evening as we are keen to try out your recommendation!

With all said about the visibility, the snow was absolutely incredible. Miquel was pretty much untracked and pure powder. I did take a photo, but I can't find an image hosting site that works to be able to post it.

We absolutely love Andorra, and have said that we will return.

You know it makes sense.

@Owlette, see if Mr O will accept a private lesson (or two) specifically aimed at his aversion to run colours rather than obvious challenges such as pitch, ice, bumps etc. Could really help him enjoy the holiday more (and in future).

We usually stay in El Tarter, and the main blue from ski school to village is often carnage in the afternoon. Tight turns, steep patches, beginners/boarders pushing snow into lumps/exposing ice… “but hey it’s blue”.
Enjoy your stay!

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

@Owlette, glad you are enjoying Andorra. Yes the hotel bars are generally pricey, especially the Piolets Park and Hermitage (which The Villager is part of).

Both Fat Alberts and The Harp have live music most nights. I think tonight is The Shambles in Fatties - it’s a band made up of ski instructors. Despite living here for a number of years, I’ve still not heard them. The problems of having a day job! Although I’m off work at the moment.

Agree with yesterday, the snow was excellent where we skied. We didn’t get out until later and the visibility wasn’t too bad. Today, the wind has really made a difference blowing away the top layer of soft snow leaving hard pack covered in stones in lots of places.

I agree with @Orange200, about lessons for Mr O especially before Monday as that’s when it gets busier. It’s good to get beyond the checking out colour grading of pistes and just choosing it because it looks nicer/more fun/more comfortable. On Wednesday, the easiest pistes I skied were two black runs (technically closed) they were perfectly pisted and just delightful. I’d seen them from the lift and thought it would be a shame let the, go to waste!

If you have any questions about instructing for Lad, give me a shout. My stepson’s been instructing in Andorra for the last four years. This week he’s been instructing 9 hours each day this week - a 3 hour group session and 6 hours of private lessons each day. He loves it most of the time!

A snowHead

Thanks @hammerite, We will definitely be back so I may well hit you up for instruction advice and recommendations.

We are in Fatty's as I type. We've come for dinner. Great recommendation, thanks. We really like it and I'm now the proud owner of a Fatty's hoodie.

Day report to follow...

A snowHead

Lovely day of skiing today providing you stayed the El Tartar Soldeu side.

No-one else wanted to get up this morning, so I set off on a solo ski. Decided to turn right at the top of the gondola at Espiolets for the first time. Took a lovely red down (Torrallardona), joining Gall to end in El Tartar. I took the chair up to Migdia where I did two laps of the racecard themed fun slope, grinning all the way round.

I could see that it was overcast up on the ridges, but decided to head up to check it out. The winds were incredible. All the snow was being blown off the pistes, and trying to ski down was a challenge. The wind was stopping me dead. I beat a hasty retreat back towards El Tartar and Soldeu where blue skies ruled.

Did a couple of laps of Os/Gall, and stopped at Coma coffee pace on Espiolets for lunch. Easily the best on mountain lunch I've had in six countries. Avocado and poached egg on bruschetta, with cherry tomatoes and rocker. That and a cup of English breakfast for a tenner was not too shabby.

Skied down to base where I met the family who were kitting up at the lockers in the gondola station.

This afternoon we stayed over El Tartar side. Mr. O agreed to ski Torrallardona with me. He was grumpy halfway down 'I don't like it', but has said that he disliked the top, the bottom was 'easy'. So we're getting somewhere.

We skied the fun slope together, then got the short chair back up so Lad2 and Mr. O could have lunch at the restaurant next to the chair. Lad1 got the chair up and lapped Muflo a couple of times. I went to follow him up, but missed him, so took Llebre back down. That was sketchy as hell, with a huge patch of bare ground right in the middle of the steep section at the end. I side slipped that, and headed back to meet the others.

As we were waiting for Lad1 to come down from his most recent descent, an announcement went over the loudspeakers advising folks to get back to their sectors due to high winds. Glad we stayed on the right side for us.

We went back up T9, then skied Gall all the way back down to the base, a nice chilled end to the day, though conditions were spring like close to the bottom, with an element of slush.

Final day tomorrow, but need to be finished skiing by 1400 ready to head back to the airport. Tonight I will pack so its all done, bar our ski gear. That gets chucked in the boot post skiing and I finish sorting the bags at the airport.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

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@hammerite, your recommendation for Fatty's only went and swung our decision for next Christmas. We had a conversation about how we reckoned it would be great in there at New Year. We really don't like staying home for Christmas though, so Mr. O declared that the only possible solution was to come our for 10 days and incorporate Christmas and New Year.

I know we've been phenomenally lucky with the snow this year. What's it usually like over Christmas and New Year? Nobody is bothered about powder or off piste and we dislike ice. We're happy with a nice groomed run that has a smattering of soft stuff.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

@Owlette, wow! I’m impressed with your decision making based on a bar!

The snow at the moment is the best it’s been in the last 4 years. 5 years ago it was slightly better I’d say. However, there’s always been good skiing even if it’s on man made down low. As you’re not wanting to do off piste and jumps off cliffs either, I think you’ll be fine next summer.

I’m surprised you like the on piste food so much. I’m not a fan in general because it’s all very similar everywhere - they’re all resort owned. We tend to head towards Snack bar El Clos (at the base of the El Tarter chair) because it’s independent or go to Pas where there are a bunch of independent places too.

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Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

One thing I’ll add. I’ve been here 5 years and I can’t remember a period of time this long where the sun hasn’t made an appearance (at any time of the year). Usually you’d get at least 3 days of sunny skiing out of a week’s visit!

After all it is free

@hammerite, I thought tree surgeons mainly worked during the winter.

I’ve only skied in soldeu once and had one of the cheapest Indian meals I’ve ever had there. It was 11 euros for all you could eat and drink. The curry house was closing for the season and were running down the stock. One think that did surprise me was just how expensive lift passes were. That were more expensive than the larger les arcs for example.

My friend’s daughter owned a flat in soldeu but said that local law prevented her as a foreigner from letting it out.

One final question as Andorra is not in Schengen how do you get your passport stamped so the stay doesn’t count to your 90 days and have they installed EES booths , or this another thread?

@johnE, he's self employed but does most of his work for one or two companies. They have enough work to keep him busy throughout the rest of the year and provide him with all the equipment (apart from his PPE).

Lift passes are quite expensive, I agree. They operate dynamic pricing now so busy times cost more so does buying them late/in person.

As you come into Andorra, you can stop at the border to get the Spanish/French border guards to stamp you out of Schengen. The EES booths are there but they're not starting to use them until after the ski season to avoid teething problems during the busiest time of the year and avoid problems for seasonal workers who aren't Andorra/EU residents and want to return home (it was a big worry for many).

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On stamping though... I'm a resident so don't need to get my passport stamped. It looks like I've been in the EU for most of the last 5 years. Coming and going from many other places, no one has bothered trying to count up or even ask a question as to why! I could obviously prove it if I was questioned, I just never have been!

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I don't usually like on piste food. I usually find it very samey, consisting of burger/hot dog and chips or a local stew. So avocado and poached egg on bruschetta was a delight to find

John, we saw the booths, some were manned, but we weren't stopped, so we didn't stamp in or out. The staff seemed completely uninterested in the cars going past their windows. There was a huge queue to leave when we arrived on Tuesday, so as @hammerite, said, they're likely just trying to get the numbers through.

No queues at all to leave Andorra today.

We were out of the accommodation at 1030, and parked the car up on the street before heading up for a short morning ski.

The sun had come out today, typical as it was the day were leaving. We won't do a 4 night trip again. The ides is that it's a bit cheaper, but it isn't by much, and everything can feel rushed as there's a huge amount of pressure to get your monies worth.

We stayed on the El Tartar side, knowing we needed to get back. We'd planned to stop for coffee at Coma, but the queue was 30 deep, so we carried on towards El Tartar. We once again skied the fun slope, and after an uplift, headed back to the restaurant next to the chair. That was also 30 deep, so we trotted down the stairs on the terrace and went to the burger bar. Zero queue, we could still get tea and coffee, and we filled up on nuggets (them, I'm vegetarian) and fries (all of us).

There were the longest queues we've seen all week. There were people everywhere. We were going to get T9 back up, but the queue was huge and the chair kept stopping, so we dropped down to the one just below it that takes you right up to the ridge.

From there we skied all the way back to Soldeu base. Piste of the day has to be Os Varient. Completely misses out the icy section that leads to Espiolets, and also prevents the need to traverse the very flat Espiolets. Wonderfully wide and completely empty. I'm starting to find my way around so trusted my gut to turn right and made an educated guess as to where it would put us. Delighted to be right, and to discover that lovely run.

Handed in our hire kit and headed back to the car. The weather was pretty miserable all the way back to airport once we got over to the Spanish side.

Security and passport control had zero delays and we are currently sat at our gate awaiting our flight, which is sadly 25 minutes delayed.

snow reports

@Owlette, once he’s got the L1 he’ll need to get shadowing hours in. Make sure there’s a long enough gap between completing the L1 and planning to move onto L2 so he can - especially if you have to plan time to get them in being an hour away from anywhere.

With regard to the manned booths at the border… They don’t check generally, you have to stop and ask for a stamp. That will change once EES is in place.

I also noticed it was much busier today. I didn’t get out until lunchtime. The weather closed in, vis got worse, it started snowing heavily and as a result there were no queues! I went around skiing anything that has newly opened which is quite a lot. 50km more open today compared to yesterday.

You know it makes sense.

Half wish we had stopped now, I do like a passport stamp.

Despite out flight taking off 40 minutes late, we landed only six minutes late. We whizzed through passport control as we ised the scanning machines (helpful now the boys are old enough), and we'd parked in the POD car park, so no waiting for buses. We prebooked the parking, but weirdly it didn't scan my reg plate on arrival, and instead issued a manuel ticket. Imagine our horror when we inserted the ticket and the screen displayed a message saying the charge was £288, but do not pay, call for assistance. Guy on the other end said it happens a lot. When we gave him the reg number, he issued us a new ticket and opened the barrier. There was a moment where I was searching for the confirmation email, though!

Easy drive home and we got home at 0015. Not bad seeing as we didn't land until 2205.

Thanks for keeping me company on this trip, and for your excellent recommendations. We're definitely going to be back. We still need to check out Pessons, as the weather meant we couldn't get back over again.

Oh, and on the subject of food and drink, we stopped for a drink in Hotel Nordic by the base of the El Tartar chair (I saw El Clos in hindsight), and that was amazing value. A tea, a latte, a water, and two hot chocolates - €12!!

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

@Owlette, that is really good value. Never stopped at Hotel Nordic before. At El Clos today we had two cañas, a creamy hot chocolate and a pain au chocolate for €16 - I think El Clos has put their prices up because it was €4 for the cañas.

We stopped in Pas (L’Husky) for a late lunch today. €87 for four main courses, 2 aperol spritz, a large beer and a coke which I thought was pretty good.

Total journey time we find is consistently 10-12 hours from Andorra to home via BCN. It can be a bit quicker if driving rather than using the bus. It’s not a quick journey either way though!

Help!!

LIVE TR: 23-27 December. Soldeu.

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