The first adventure

The first adventure this year rather than the very first adventure ever … obviously!

I have been very lucky to have friends who are passionate about organising hikes and ski holiday. However, I felt (I was told) that it was about time I started organising some myself.

Very cheekily, I made it easy for myself and chose to opt for Andorra once again. After skiing there two years in a row, I knew that it was a beautiful area, with a lot of great slopes to choose from and I would not have to break the piggy bank to pay for it.

Accommodation

The first thing we chose was the accommodation. As we were organising it in November, we still had a lot of good options to choose from. We looked into AirBnB as well as hotels in the area, but as a group of 6 – 8 we found that renting an apartment was the most convenient and the most cost effective option for us.

We wanted the accommodation to be as close to the chairlift as possible so we would avoid walking too far up the hill on icy pavements (El Tarter roads and pavements are not very well looked after). We ended up booking apartment with Pierre & Vacances Andorra El Tarter, which was only 10 minutes walking distance from the chair lift and 15 minutes walk from the gondola.

With three rooms (1x double on suite & 2 twin rooms) and a sofa bed in the living room this was ideal. And no bunk beds involved!

Flights

To get to Andorra is a bit of a headache. However, it is so worth it. With numerous airlines (BA as well as Easyjet and Ryanair) flying to Toulouse and Barcelona, there are quite few options to choose from.

Airport Transfer

Whilst in the past we would rent a car, this year our group was too big and no one was brave enough to drive the mini bus so we used the services of Andorra Travel Service (ADS) for the airport transport (and then pretty much for everything else). It was comfy, the pick up and and drop off were convenient and the staff were super helpful. The pick and drop off times were a bit odd as they did not match up with any of the airlines so depending on the flights you either have to pray that they are on time so you do not miss your bus or really late so you avoid the 5 hours waiting times.

Ski Passes, Ski Classes and the Skis

Half of our group wished to improve their ski skills so the packages we found on the ADS website worked really well. It took a bit of time to find the right packages to get the best deal, but we ended up with:

  • ski passes for 6 days which covered all lifts and gondolas
  • ski classes for 9, 12 or 15 hours for all levels – the school is located on the slopes, so if you are a beginner you will need to take the gondola on the first day rather than the ski lift
  • lunches on the slopes – the vouchers are valid in a few establishments in the area – the food was pretty good and a great value for money
  • ski hire (skis, boots, poles & helmets) – even though we all ordered the packages through the same website, some of us were told to pick up our great from the Nordic Esports and others from Pic Negre – all the equipment was good so not sure what the difference was

Lockers

I felt that carrying the skis for 10 – 20 minutes each day each way was not a big deal. However, as soon as my friends found out about the lockers at the back of the Nordic Esports shop (round the corner from the Snack Bar El Clos) just by the El Tarter chairlift I was more than happy to go along with this indulgence.

Food and Drinks

As we stayed in El Tarter, which seems to be one of the smaller towns in Grandvalira, the options were a bit more limited. One supermarket and a few restaurants. However, with a number of cafes throughout the mountains we had more than enough places to choose from.

As our lunches were included in the cost of our ski passes, we bought everything for breakfast and dinner in the local supermarket. We ate our a few times in the local restaurants – Dylan’s and Trattoria San Pietro.

Yum yum …

Other Activities

We looked into dog sledging , snowmobiles, snow shoeing, helicopter rides, toboggan, thermal spa and a few others on the ADS website. But in the end we just wanted to ski as much as we could and ended up using spa in a local hotel, Llop Gris.

We discovered that Nordic, another local hotel, had a happy our and a very decent entertainment, including pool tables & bowling.

£ EUR
Accommodation  £              171.43*
Flight £                43.67
Airport Transfer £                56.67
Ski package + lunches £              401.00
(incl. 9 hours of lessons)
Locker €                10.00 *
Spa €                10.00
* Based on 7
persons sharing		 £              672.77  €                20.00
+ Breakfasts
+ Dinners
+ Drinks & Entertainment