We chose Andorra for a few reasons. First, we like the mountains for hiking and mountain biking in the summer. Second, we thought it would be cooler, with less chance of a canicule. Thirdly, we heard about the great snow the Pyrénées got (that's how it's spelled in French) during the winter of 2025-26, and we wanted to check it out for our future skiing.
The form of government
in Andorra tickled us. It is a co-principality. It is headed by two symbolic co-princes (the President of
France and the Bishop of Urgell, Spain) but is run by a prime minister, the Cap
de Govern. We were flummoxed by the road signs—the official language of
Andorra, and the first language on the signs, was Catalan. Even the polyglot,
Dimitri, who speaks Spanish, only sometimes understood.
At first glance (and second and third), the mountain vistas were not as gorgeous as they were in the summer and winter of 2025 in the Dolomites and Val Gardena. But then again, the Dolomites are a very special region. The main valley of Andorra is very narrow, and the mountains rise very steeply from the one main road, Carretera Nacional 2. That road carries all of the traffic; it was noisy, and the speed of the cars was scary. It was necessary to get up high to see the vistas, and they were good mountain views, not great ones.
We stayed in apartments at two different 5-star hotels in Soldeu, the town on the western side of the long valley. It was a 35-minute drive (without traffic on the main (the only) road), or a one-hour drive to the capital of Andorra, Andorra La Vella. We only went there a few times during our month-long stay. We had all of our meals in and around Soldeu because an hour or more of driving for dinner turned us off.
Andorra is a financial center and a shopping mecca (something inimical to us) because it offers lower prices than France and Spain on gazole, perfume, alcohol, cigarettes, and other stuff. The main areas for shopping get over-crowded and unpleasant. We couldn't even imagine how awful the traffic would be in the high winter season with the hoards and the snow.
Our first apartment was for our first week, and it was at Serras Andorra Hotel (Carretera General 2 nº26, AD100 Soldeu, Andorra, +376 751 150). We really liked the layout of the apartment as well as the size. The people working there were wonderful to us, particularly Armando Sanchez, the front office manager. He was the one who proposed we switch from a (too) small suite to the apartment and made us an offer of 655€ per night with (one shared) half board, which we took. We enjoyed the air conditioning, the space, the two full bathrooms, and the view of the baby slope with all of the sheep. The room was personalized, and Armando left us fruit and flowers as a lovely welcome.
The food at the restaurant La Bruna was very good, but the menu was limited, and we got bored before our week was over. The Chef even made us special desserts. Dani and Sophie, working at the restaurant, were great to us.
During our first week, we took El Toll Bullidor, a hike labeled easy, to a waterfall and on a steep path that had large rocks to navigate; it was not easy for us. We also rented (good) e-mountain bikes and went to the Vall d'Incles on a road to the end (and on a dirt path past the end). That was okay but not worth repeating and not long enough.
Each hike labeled "Easy" had a steep ascent that was too radical for us. The views were not worth the climb.
After a week, we moved to our second hotel. Our stay at Sport Hotel Hermitage & Spa (Crta General II - Tram Soldeu 56, AD100 Soldeu, Andorra,, 376 870 670) was very, very nice. Elena Mateu, the Residence Manager, upgraded us after the first awful night in a cramped apartment (with the noise from the wedding in the Sports Hotel Village and the heat of our apartment with the windows closed because of the noise). Elena assured us that there would be no more events in the neighboring building during our stay, and gave us a full credit for the price of that first night. Our butlers, Kevin and Katherine, helped us move, and it wasn’t so bad.
We loved all of the attention that Elena and our butlers gave us; it really made our stay memorable. They were personable, professional, and very, very helpful. (Before we arrived, we weren’t sure how we would make use of butlers, but we certainly did during our stay.) We were greeted with gorgeous flowers and fruit, as well as chocolates and other goodies. We were given two more gorgeous bouquets of flowers during our stay. Elena, Kevin and Katherine certainly knew how to make Audre happy.
Our second apartment (835.40€ with breakfast and parking) had 4 bedrooms and 3 full bathrooms and was supposed to be 180 m2 (we suspected it was not, just like our first, 120m2 apartment that was actually measured at 89m2). It was very comfortable for our one-month stay- we spent a lot of time in it, even though it was not air-conditioned.
The weather in Andorra during our August stay was generally hot and sunny in the morning, with temperatures in the 20's/70's during the day and cool at night (our apartment faced south and got the full brunt of the afternoon sun). It got very hot during the afternoon and retained the heat at night. During our final week, when the heat dome over France left, it got much cooler in Andorra. One morning it was around 10/40's. If it rained, it was generally in the afternoon or evening.
Our apartment had an entry hall, a dining room/kitchen, with enough space for Dimitri’s desk (which Elena provided, especially for him). The salon/living room had a sofa in front of the TV and enough room for a table for Audre’s desk. It was nicely decorated, with designer touches, and even had a wood-burning fireplace.
We used
the 4 bedrooms to unpack all of our suitcases (winter, summer, extras bag, and
kitchen bag) and re-organize all of our stuff. As an amenity with our apartment, we could have 5
pieces of laundry washed per day. We had everything washed during our 28-day
stay! The laundry was impressive—they even got a bike chain grease stain out of Dimitri’s
hiking pants that had eluded all prior laundries.
With Elena’s help, we had the lights in the apartment improved and everything fixed, including the water temperature in the showers. Housekeeping was really good; we had dedicated housekeepers--generally Alquin during the day and Elva for evening service. They learned our preferences and it was a pleasure to have them work in the apartment.
On one side, our view was of the gondola going up the mountain and the black run where, during a World Cup race, Lindsey Vonn fell and got hurt. On the other side, we were on the main road. The main road was noisy night and day.
It is our opinion that even a 5-star hotel cannot call itself luxury accommodation without air conditioning. Needing to keep the windows open, with the heat of the sun and the noise of the road, makes it not what we would call luxurious. The apartments were not well sound-proofed inside either—we could hear the noise of people overhead.
The fitness/gym had enough strength training machines and cardio machines to make us happy. It was not air-conditioned, but with the windows open we got some air.
We used the hammam, sauna, and Jacuzzis. Elena even had the temperature in the Jacuzzis raised for us. It was very pleasant with the mountain view, but the Jacuzzis were still not hot enough.
Our breakfasts were enjoyable with Oscar looking after us (sometimes it was Rodrigo, who was Katherine's brother). Oscar remembered that we liked to alternate between porridge one day and eggs the next. It was enjoyable talking to him each morning. Seating was “first come, first served” but Fernanda and the other greeters kept it orderly. Breakfast was well-organized, and even when it was crowded, the staff kept tables cleared. We talked to the staff, and Flor was particularly helpful. There was a good buffet, with great fruit and other typical buffet items. We were brought mango every day because someone at our first hotel, Serras Andorra (perhaps the food and beverage manager), told Oscar we liked it! We could order eggs and other things off of the menu too. One day, the kitchen made us pain perdu/French toast in the way we prefer! The kitchen made us porridge too, so we could alternate eggs with that.
Walking back to our apartment after breakfast, we would stop and talk to Josep Calbó, the owner of the Sports Hotel Hermitage (and other businesses in the valley). That made our stay even more pleasant. One day, when Dimitri had a backache, Josep recommended a particular masseur, Franco, at the hotel's Wellness Spa. It worked! Dimitri's back felt better.
Of the
four restaurants in the hotel that we tried, we liked Sol i Neu the best. It
was a Michelin recommended restaurant that was unpretentious and which served
very good food in good portions. The seating and the service was very good. The
next favorite was also a Michelin recommended restaurant and it was a Japanese Mediterranean
blend called Koy that produced tasty food. In that restaurant, we had to have
two menus so we had leftovers. The seating was very uncomfortable however so
the experience wasn’t great. The 1 Michelin starred, Ibaya, was not for us. The
formula is one we have experienced in other starred restaurants—a big deal is
made of the amuse bouches either in the kitchen or nearby. In Ibaya it was done
with a flourish but, unfortunately, the food preparation for the entrées or the main dishes or the desserts
did not warrant a star. Our least favorite was the Glass Bar for lunch. The low
tables and uncomfortable chairs made it unpleasant for us.
We tried to have our dinners at restaurants near our apartment in Soldeu, and to do that we repeated some. By the end of our stay, after we had been at least once and sometimes twice to all of the restaurants that we wanted to try in our area, Audre even cooked with ingredients bought at the excellent grocery store in Andorra La Vella called Andorra Pyrénées. We went to Asian restaurants in La Vella and bought takeout for our dinners at our apartment too.
Dimitri found us a wonderful hike near Ordino, another Andorran town, as an alternative to the super-popular hike in the area that was way too crowded. It was not too strenuous and had great shade and even a cascade.
We did touristic things in Andorra, like the Tibetan Bridge, that we could have lived without.
One night we even went out to dinner with Elena and her husband, so we had some social life! It turns out that Elena's husband, José Luis Bonet Solivellas, is the General Manager of the Sports Hotel Hermitage! This is the first hotel where we have met many couples working there.
We had a nice stay in Andorra, even though it was not all to our liking.
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