Three Countries, One Day: A Trip from Barcelona to Andorra
Can you travel to three countries in one day? You can if you set out early from Barcelona, make your way through the Pyrenees and the South of France and onto the European microstate of Andorra, one of the world’s smallest countries.
If we’re being honest, Andorra was not a place I’d really thought about before this year.
Knowing we’d be Barcelona ahead of a cruise, we started looking at where we could go to take advantage of the geography. Sitting right there on the border between Spain and France is Andorra, an independent country in the high Pyrenees with influences from both sides of the fence. At only 468 square kilometres (181 square miles), it’s one of the smallest countries in the world. Naturally, our curiosity was piqued.
Is a day trip possible?
Andorra is somewhat unusual in that it has no commercial airport or railway, so access is essentially by road or helicopter. From Barcelona, that means about a three- to three-and-a-half-hour drive each way, whether you take a bus from Barcelona-Sants or drive yourself. No matter how you cut it, you're looking at a minimum of six to seven hours just getting there and back.
So, we split the difference and booked a tour that took us straight from Barcelona in the morning, across the border into France and then into Andorra and the surrounding mountains. Ours was via GetYourGuide, but there are similar tours available through Klook and other companies.
From Barcelona into the Pyrenees
The tour began, as many Barcelona tours do, early in the morning, with a pickup outside Barcelona Sants (Estació de Sants), the city's main train station. It's easy to get to from pretty much anywhere in Barcelona, and we managed to catch a bus almost directly to and from our hotel.
Too often, long bus trips are simply about getting from point A to point B — or B(arcelona) to A(ndorra), in our case — with a couple of functional pitstops along the way. Yes, we got a loo break near Riu de Cerdanya, but this was also where we got our first proper glimpse of the snow-capped Pyrenees.
This was one of those journeys when it paid to look out the window. It also helped having a guide who could point out what we were seeing along the way.
Cruising along the C-16 highway, we spotted a building seemingly floating in the water. It was the lonely Romanesque monastery of Sant Salvador de la Vedella, the only visible remnant of a village that was submerged when the Baells reservoir was built in the 1970s.
Perched on a hill, the ninth-century monastery survived the flooding, leaving it as a striking reminder of the village that once stood around it.
A view of the Pyrenees from a truck stop
A quick stop in Mont-Louis, France
Mont-Louis, found in the south of France, isn’t necessarily a standard stop if you’re driving directly from Barcelona to Andorra.
Three things were immediately obvious when we pulled into this small pitstop. It was full of charm, terrific food (including more cheese than we could hope to carry) and the periodic sound of gunfire.
Now, that last one was little unexpected. Home to the French Army's National Commando Training Centre, the restricted areas were clearly marked — but we made sure we kept to the paths. Still, there were casually adorned bikes. Casually winding paths. Vendors selling their wares just for us. Large pans of paella and a melange of smells. The whole thing framed by the mountains we would soon be amongst.
Into Andorra: The Pyrenees get dramatic
Well, this was unexpected.
Having started the day in the heat of Barcelona, we found ourselves standing by the side of the road looking directly out over the Pyrenees. Surrounded by mountains. Beneath our feet, the crunch of snow.
It’s a short stop, just outside of Encamp, but it was our first glimpse of the small European nation.
Andorra la Vella
Is it possible that an entire city is a duty free store?
With its low general sales tax (IGI) of just 4.5%, Andorra is famous for low-tax shopping and it shows. Walking up the river from the bus and coach station, the entrance to town is marked with a large melting clock statue, La Noblesse du Temps (The Nobility of Time), by arguably the most famous Catalan artist: Salvador Dalí. (That said, Joan Miró may want a word).
The rest of the city felt like an open-air mall. In fact, as the official tourism site says, “Andorra measures just 468 km2, but it has more than a thousand shops spread over several shopping areas.” Think of that duty free bit of the airport you have to walk through on the way to the gates. Now, imagine that’s a city.
Pro-tip: Looking for a cheap local souvenir? Stamps are low-cost, readily available, unique and, best of all, really easy to pack.
We wandered the shops. Tried to stay out of the sun. Popped into the post-office to buy a stamp. Old Town offers a glimpse of what the city was like before the shopping and ski tourism, especially the Church of Sant Esteve (Església de Sant Esteve) and its nods to the original 12th century Romanesque design.
Having only been standing in snow only hours before, the late-spring sun — anticipating the coming European heat wave — made us a little parched. It was time to find a local watering hole.
A Beer in Andorra: Blót Viking Brewery
If you’ve followed this site before, you know we always try and find local beer whenever we travel. Having grown quickly tired of the duty free shops, and starting to melt under the encroaching sun, we looked around at the many restaurants and bars. Then we found Blót Viking Brewery.
The moment we stepped through the door we knew it was for us. The lights were dim, the beer was cold and brewed on site. The theme? Vikings. Cue the Led Zeppelin music.
We sampled a couple of beers: a sessionable Golden Blót and malty Amber Blót and copious amounts of complimentary water. We got to chatting with the owner, about our travels and the beer we liked. Without being asked, he brought over some samples of the Double IPA over for us to try. Unsurprisingly, delicious.
Plus, while the city itself has free Wi-Fi for all visitors, the Wi-FI in the venue is blisteringly fast, clocking in at 700 Mbps. So, if you find yourself in Andorra la Vella in need of a local drink, head straight here.
Is an Andorra Day trip from Barcelona worth it?
You don’t exactly stumble upon Andorra by chance, so you have to make a deliberate run out of France or Spain to see it. We very rarely take organised day trips, often preferring to make our own day, but this was definitely one of those times when the tour got us exactly what we wanted.
It’s a long day for sure, well over 11 hours in total. But there’s few other times in your life that you start the morning in the city, eat cheese in France, walk on snow in the Pyrenees and then spend the afternoon cooling down over Andorran ale. While you might have to temper your expectations about how much there is to do in the city beyond shopping, it’s one of our more memorable excursions.
