Budget Digs in Andorra?
Replies: 12 - Last Post: Feb 14, 2013 8:16 AM Last Post By: almondy23
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Welcome back, hope you've been travelling without TT...Here's the main Andorra tourism (the official one):
http://www.andorra.ad/en-US/About_Andorra/Pages/informacio_practica.aspx
There's a link for accommodations, I see a listing there for hostel.
However: Please remember winter is the very high season for Andorra and since the snows are very good so far I imagine what is available will be at a premium price.
Good luck and remember you'll need a Schengen visa.
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Thanks for the response, I'm British and Australian, so either way I'm sorted for a visa, but how did you know #3? Hope someone hasn't been stalking my posts :) I've done some more research; the Andorra tourism website has a listing of every conceivable source of accommodation there, so the cheapest options (in winter) are the following:1.) HI Hostel; 20e for a dorm room, buts its up in the mountains behind Andorra la Vella and while undoubtedly a scenic spot, is only feasible with your own transport.
2.) 1-star pensions, I just reserved one for 25e/night for a single room with breakfast, in La Massana, which is good for accessing the Vallnord ski slopes. Even if its basic, not bad for high season in Andorra. There were also a few others dotted around too for less than 35e/single.
Other info; in winter buses run from Estacion de Nord in Barcelona to Andorra 3 times a day (direct), and a few times more indirectly. Costs 28e one way, or 50e return. From Bcn airport, there are also direct buses to Andorra, which are a bit more expensive.
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OP: Your profile says you're from Australiabjd You're right. My head was working sideways, I meant to point out under Schengen he'd have only 90 days but it came out as Schengen visa.. I should have reread it before posting. Thanks for the
correction.
OP: Glad you found the needed information and were able to put something together. I've been as far as Meren-les-Vals but never all the way into Andorra (I've been there spring, summer and fall, so no snow)...and it wasn't worth the extra drive to take advantage of the duty free.
Looks like you'll have good snow if it lasts...fingers crossed that it does.
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Ok fair enough, i forgot about the profile thing, no worries at all. Hopefully it all goes well in Andorra!9
To add further to this post, THE cheapest digs in Andorra is Pension la Rosa in Andorra la Vella, 20e a night for a single private room with shared bathroom, 4e more for breakfast. Its basic, little soundproofing, no kitchen, etc, but when its the same price as a dorm bed in most of the rest of Spain, whose complaining? Theres also another pension above a restaurant in Encamp for 20e a night. And easy enough to stay in La Vella and take the frequent local buses to the ski villages.Also, there's no visa requirement or indeed any immigration control at all for Andorra, if you are already in Spain/France, then its the same for Andorra. Only customs on the way out looking for people smuggling those cut price Andorran cigarettes and booze.
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Glad you've found some affordable places to stay, sounds like the kind of places where you'd encounter interesting people (travellers such as yourself).As far as border controls, there are people who come to TT looking for advice as they want to accumulate lots of stamps on their passports and are disappointed when they find out they can't (easily) get an Andorra stamp. There might be someplace where you could get yours stamped if you wanted to bother, seems Monaco (same sort of border controls, but by France and Italy) does have an office for Monaco stamps...
Don't know about Andorra but I'm reading reports of great snow falls in the Pyrenees further west...heaviest in 10 years or so.
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Actually not at all SFgirl, I'm sure I'm the only 'tourist' here, cheap pensions in Spain (and Andorra) are mostly occupied my working class local dudes, usually staying a long time. So they're not like hostels and not a good place to meet like-minded travellers; merely a cheap place to stay for the peak season. 99% of foreign tourists skiing in Andorra come on package deals, and it seems that well over 50% of those foreign tourists are Russians.Yeah, I wanted an Andorran stamp too, but they just don't do those anymore. There is indeed heavy snowfall, the mountains have 120-260cm base level of snow which is a record here for some years. On top of the mountain, it actually has hardly stopped snowing my 2 weeks, so lots of lovely soft powder to slide through! The same time last year, apparently you were skiing half on grass and mud there was so little snow.
