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 have changed our hotel accommodation from 2022 based on feedback from our guests over recent summers. We are now based just outside La Massana; Andorra’s most vibrant and lively summer town – it’s 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, with recently refurbished rooms and a much more social environment than our previous hotel. Our guests told us they wanted outdoor space, less noise than in the town centre and a better onsite bar and restaurant – our new hotel ticks all these boxes…and more!
The hotel is slightly out of town – but amazingly it’s still a downhill to the lift and also at the foot of some of our secret Enduro trails down from Vallnord, so we still have easy access to the park! The town centre is only 2 minutes away by bike (or by a cheap, regular bus) – 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 been chosen due to its’ fantastcially social feel! Our guests told us they wanted a quieter location (the town has a lot of traffic noise) a better bar, a restaurant open, in the evenings and more areas to socialise on site. Our new hotel has all of these things – plus it has a riverside garden and terrace area for chilling out post-ride where we hope to host a few BBQs this summer!
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 almost to the front door – most of which descend around 1000 vertical metres!
Another benefit of the location is that you can jump on a very cheap bus outside the hotel and be in the capital city – La Vella – in less than 15 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
– Daily Uplift Supported Price includes: – Great family-run Hotel |
June 2024 |
BLACK FRIDAY OFFER – 7 night holiday, upto 6 days riding BOOK 2024 at 2023 Prices AND FREE LIFT PASSES worth upto £100!
|
BLACK FRIDAY OFFER – 4 night break, 3 days riding BOOK 2024 at 2023 Prices AND FREE LIFT PASSES worth upto £100!
|
£175 – week |
Early Season, Uplift-Supported Weeks WE NOW FEATURE SOME FORM OF UPLIFT EVERY DAY! These early-season weeks are before the lifts are open fully, but ALL June dates are now lift-assisted daily – this means we will use vehicle uplift for high start/ low finish rides (or the lift at Vallnord) EVERY DAY. In low-season weeks, even WITH van support there is a bit more climbing than in July, August and September, as these weeks are before the opening of the gondola at Soldeu – so we start very high, and make alterations to our route choices to reflect the extra effort, and we always climb at a very gentle pace! Some routes will also be slightly shorter than in September, as certain linking lifts which we use to add additional descending in high season weeks will not be open. Certain big-mountain routes involve longer climbs which are avoided in higher priced weeks, but usually no areas or major descents are inaccesable. For example, “Jordi’s Way” & “Ridgeliner” are accessed via a huge van uplift followed by around an extra 300m of climbing which would accessed via a gondola in high-season weeks. But with our new format you will still descend far more metres than you will climb (usually 3x more down)! |
|
– Daily/ Max Uplift Support Price includes: – Great family-run Hotel |
Sept 2023 June 2024 8th – available August 2024 Sept 2024 |
BLACK FRIDAY OFFER – 7 night holiday, upto 6 days riding BOOK 2024 at 2023 Prices AND FREE LIFT PASSES worth upto £100! |
BLACK FRIDAY OFFER – 4 night break, 3 days riding BOOK 2024 at 2023 Prices AND FREE LIFT PASSES worth upto £100! |
£175 – week |
June DAILY and September MAX Uplifted Weeks These are traditionally slightly quieter weeks, athough September now sells out every season! There will be a mixture of vehicle uplifts for high start/ low finish rides, plus use of ski lifts wherever possible. JUNE DATES are DAILY UPLIFTED – these rides will feature some form of uplift every day, but there may be certain routes that have less uplift than in later weeks. For details see the description of the low-season weeks above. SEPTEMBER WEEKS now run in MAX UPLIFT format, just like High Season Weeks! The gondola at Soldeu will now open every day in September, which means that these weeks will run almost like high season weeks, with heavy use of ski lifts and/or vehicle uplifts every single day for high start/ low finish rides and minimal climbing! They are tradtionally slighty quieter weeks, so we are keeping the price down, but the uplift will increase! During September 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! |
|
– MAX Uplifted Price includes: – Great family-run Hotel |
July 2024 6th – FULL August 2023 |
BLACK FRIDAY OFFER – 7 night holiday, upto 6 days riding BOOK 2024 at 2023 Prices AND FREE LIFT PASSES worth upto £100! |
BLACK FRIDAY OFFER – 4 night break, 3 days riding BOOK 2024 at 2023 Prices AND FREE LIFT PASSES worth upto £100! |
July August |
High Season, MAX 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 the very best trails! NEW EXTRA DESCENTS! Many riding days now include a bonus uplift during the day, so you get even more bang for your buck! |
"I travelled around the world for my trip..and it was absolutely worth it. Treat yourself - Do it!!"
Cam Empson
Read more reviews8th Jun 2023 Offers
Hit Huge Dusty Trails AND make a HUGE SAVING! We know how tough times have been recently – and as a small company we are in the same situation – 2023 is a tough year for us all ... Read More
25th Apr 2023 News
Want to combine a Barcelona City Break with you MTB Holiday? Want to arrive a day or two early, or leave slightly later than our usual Saturday changeover and visit the city? Great news – now ... Read More
6th Apr 2023 Offers
THE BEST SPECIAL OFFER EVER SEEN ON AN MTB HOLIDAY? HELL YEAH! EVERY BOOKING can save HUNDREDS, or even THOUSANDS OF POUNDS on our famous, uplifted guided holidays in stunning Andorra this summer. No ... Read More
4th Apr 2022 Bikes News Offers Sponsors
Last week we met with Commencal at their Andorra HQ for the first time since Covid prevented us operating during 2020-21. It was great to sit down with Max and his colleagues and finally get back on ... Read More
Friday flashback to summer 2012 when Dirt Magazine came and had an awesome time riding with us in Andorra - here's @jamesmcknighty lighting it up on his COMMENCAL test bike at Pal Arinsal bike park (but was called #vallnordbikepark back then)!
See the review in full on our website - and remember we have big deals on all of our summer '24 trips right now too!
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2 CommentsComment on Facebook
It will always be Valnoord 🤘😎
When did the name change ? Always vallnord
🖤It's here - our Black Friday deal starts today!For a limited time you can SAVE BIG on a double deal for both our Uplifted, Guided packages and our unguided Bike Park trips in Andorra next summer! 👇👇👇
🩷Uplifted Enduro Guided Trips - FREE LIFT PASSES WORTH £100*+ on both 7 night and 4 night trips (*value depends on trip dates)
🩷PLUS Book before 24/12 and PAY LAST SEASON'S PRICES!
💚Vallnord Bike Park Trips - SAVE £100 on 7 nights/ £50 on 4 nights
💚PLUS Book before 24/12 and pay last season's prices!
These offers are subject to availability, and are only applicable to entirely new bookings made from 24/11/23 to 24/12/23. Spaces are limited, and bookings are on a first-come, first-served basis.
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Singletrack Safari - Uplifted Mountain Bike Holidays in Andorra
www.singletracksafari.com
Guided, uplifted Enduro mountain bike holidays & unguided, stress-free Pal Arinsal Bike Park trips. Ride legendary trails in stunning Andorra!0 CommentsComment on Facebook
