Andorra is the most difficult place you can imagine trying to navigate without a guide – there is no official mapping, and the ones which do exist all contradict each other, and are very inaccurate. Additionally, almost every valley below 1800m is covered in thick forests, so you can’t even see where you are! However, it’s this which makes Andorra almost unique in Western Europe – our trail network is almost deserted, other than by a few locals and guided walkers. There’s no lack of trails once you know where to find them, but they simply don’t get much use. The only busy trails tend to unrideable walking routes up in the craggiest areas, where you wouldn’t want to be with a bike anyway! This means that almost wherever we ride we barely see anyone at all. We take you to phenomenal singletrack in every corner of this tiny country, yet we have genuinely had weeks where we have not met another trail user! You are going to be amazed, not just by how good the riding in Andorra is, not even by incredibly beautiful and unspoiled it is: mainly you are going to wonder “why the hell have I not ridden here sooner?”!
We have gradually evolved our Andorran Holiday over the past few years – it has become a trail rider’s dream, with perfect natural singletrack unfurling under your wheels at every corner! See the bottom of the page for info on some of our favourite rides, but we always tailor each week to the group we are riding with, in order to give you the best possible holiday. We gradually increase the difficulty of the riding so you go home full of confidence and new-found skills.
Andorra is a mountain biking paradise – don’t make the mistake of thinking the Pyrenees are a soft option compared with the Alps. With huge, snow capped mountains; it feels very Alpine, but with a climate more similar to that of nearby Spain. The positive attitude to bikers from the incredibly warm and friendly people is amazing, and the natural riding is staggering…and completely devoid of other bikers!. It is Andorra’s busiest & best positioned summer town, full of fellow riders enjoying Vallnord Bike Park, host to the 2015 MTB World Championships and now an annual World Cup venue.
We changed accommodation a couple of seasons ago in order to be absolutely in the centre of La Massana. As mentioned earlier this is Andorra’s most vibrant and lively summer town – it’s not an out of season ski resort, it is a fully functioning small town filled with shops, restaurants and bars. The locals are incredibly bike-friendly and you are guaranteed of a warm welcome – especially in the hotel, which is family run, despite being very new, and is ranked number 1 in TripAdvisor.
The hotel is right next to the lifts at Vallnord, so we have direct uplift access to the top of the mountain – over 1000m above – genuinely 10 seconds from the front door! The town has loads of facilities – there are several great bike shops, bars that offer everything from sunny terraces to live music, food to suit any tastes and a great atmosphere wherever you go. We will be on hand to make sure that you find the best of them, of course!
As mentioned the hotel is extremely bike friendly – and has the most secure bike store you will ever see in a hotel! It is located underground, and to get in reception have to open the outer door by remote control, and then you go underground where the bikes are stored in a locked steel cage. The store has bike racking bolted to the floor, so you can even lock your bike to that too if you wish.
Our guided guests also have access to our tools, workstand and track pump etc, which are locked away separately in a side room for your exclusive use. Bike washing is very easy too – La Massana has multiple bike-wash stations around the town, which are very rarely crowded – you will normally not need to queue to use them.
Location-wise, this accommodation offers us an opportunity to really mix up our routes, making use of our unparalleled local contacts – we will sometimes ride direct from the door, and at other times we’ll load your bikes into vehicles and head further afield too. Andorra is incredibly mountainous, but we don’t spend much more than 20 minutes or so in the van at any time. We often do point-to-point rides where we start and finish in different locations too. La Massana sits in the junction of several huge valleys, and mountains tower all around. This means that there are several amazing descents which return you right to the front door – most of which descend around 1000 vertical metres!
Another benefit of La Massana is that you can jump on a very cheap bus almost outside the hotel and be in the capital city – La Vella – in less than 10 minutes. The city is famous as one of the premium duty-free shopping destinations in the world. There are hundreds and hundreds of shops, from big-name brands to department stores…even bike shops! Prices are quite a bit cheaper than the UK – and you will find that the dozens of electrical stores will even let you haggle if you need a new gadget. Also in the city you will find Europe’s largest Spa baths (The Caldea) which are enormous, great fun and are always well-loved by everyone who visits them – it’s not “just for girls” – we couldn’t get the boys from Dirt to leave!
Eating and drinking in Andorra is remarkably cheap – think Spanish prices, minus VAT – so to give you a few examples: a large beer is around 3E (£2), tapas is available from 4E (£3) per dish, a full-sized pizza in a nice restaurant is 9E (£6), main meals in most places start from around 10E (£7) and if you go to the very best restaurant in town and eat the very most expensive dish on the menu you will still only pay around 25E (£19)!
Spending a week in Andorra really does not mean spending a lot of money – you will be very hard pushed to find a better value-for-money riding destination anywhere in Western Europe! You will probably spend half as much money here as you would compared with the Alps…unless you go into the bike shops and get excited, of course…
Our Andorran guided holidays have 3 price points: these simply reflect the amount of uplift (gaining height be vehicles and lifts) which you can expect in those weeks. Mostly this comes down to lift opening dates – we still use vans for uplifts in cheaper low-season weeks, but there may be routes which we have to adapt and do a little more climbing in order to access the highest areas. In higher season weeks we use maximum uplift in order to achieve a huge amount of descending in comparison with how much pedalling there is – we aim for at least 3 times the descending to climbing…and some days we do not climb at all!
| Overview | Available Dates (commencing) |
7 Night Price | Short Break Price | Single Supplement | Special Offers | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
– Partially Uplifted – Fully Guided |
May 2019 |
£630 |
£490 4 night break, 3 days riding
|
£175 – week |
Low Price, Partially Uplifted Weeks These weeks are before or after the lifts are open fully. On several days we use some vehicle uplift for high start/ low finish rides, but on some days there is more climbing at a gentle pace and we make alterations to our route choices to reflect the extra effort. Certain big-mountain routes involve longer climbs avoided in higher priced weeks, but no areas or major descents are inaccesable. For example, “Jordi’s Way” & “Ridgeliner” are accessed via van uplift followed by an extra 500m of climbing normally done by two ski lifts. |
|
– Mostly Uplifted – Fully Guided |
June 2019 Sept 2019 |
£670 |
£530 4 night break, 3 days riding |
£175 – week |
Mid Price, Mostly Uplifted Weeks These mid-season weeks are traditionally slightly quieter weeks. There will be a mixture of vehicle uplifts for high start/ low finish rides, plus use of ski lifts on certain days, but these may only open on certain days of the week. These rides will feature some form of uplift every day, but there may be certain routes that have less uplift than normal if the lifts are not fully open – for example “Jordi’s Way” and “Ridgeliner” require extra climbing normally done by ski lift. Some routes may be slightly shorter than in high-season weeks, as certain linking lifts we use to add additional descending in high season weeks may not be open. |
|
– Fully Uplifted – Fully Guided |
June 2019 July 2019 August 2019 |
£695 |
£555 4 night break, 3 days riding |
£175 – 7 nights |
Full Price, Daily Uplifted Weeks These high-season weeks have heavy use of ski lifts and/or vehicle uplifts every single day for high start/ low finish rides and involve minimal climbing! If you are wanting to maximise your descents, and minimise your climbing these are the ones to go for as we have the widest uplift options available. During these weeks we aim to achieve at least 75% descending every day, and some days are entirely uplifted! Some short climbs of upto 30 minutes or so are still neccesary mid-route on our biggest backcountry trails, but this is minimised wherever possible – but, of course, there are not always lifts or roads to the very top of highest trails! |
"the land of huge mountains, beautiful singletrack, naughty switchbacks, burgers and beer!"
Shaun Simmons
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