5 things to do in Andorra

On the Day of the Constitution of the Principality of Andorra (this is the main national holiday in the country), we decided to tell you that, once in this popular tourist dwarf European state should be done first.

Ride in the ski resort of Grandvalira

The birth of the biggest ski resorts in the Pyrenees was just ten years ago, in the autumn of 2003 Soldeu, El Tarter, Pas de la Casa, Grau Roig, Canillo and Encamp united in Grandvalira. New winter paradise has become an ideal place for rest and for advanced skiers and beginners to fledgling. The total length of 108 runs, including 18 green, 36 red, 31 blue and 23 black, has 210 miles, and 67 employees at the resort lifts capable of carrying up to 100,000 visitors per hour. The resort can find entertainment for all tastes: sled dog race or snow bikes, paragliding or tyubbing, sightseeing tours by helicopter or series skiing, walking on snow or rockets captured rally. Grandvalira work on children’s corners for kids from 3 to 6 years, a snow park and a ski school, there were over four hundred instructors. Even after the end of the ski season, the popularity of Grandvalira not fizzles: here is located 50 bars, 40 nightclubs and discos, several high-Spa-centers, 4,800 shops for every budget and exotic tourist favorite – ice hotel Uglu Grandvalire and created a couple of ice bars.

Visit Historic Le Bon

If you are in Andorra summer, do not be discouraged. End of ski season – a great reason to look into the interesting history of this tiny principality, visiting the historical complex Le Bon. A small hamlet in Encamp at an altitude of 1.6 km, numbering 1300 inhabitants, is open for visits in the summer. Narrow streets of this picturesque corner strewn with old buildings in the history of each of which there are many fascinating facts. The medieval church of St. Roman Caesarea, built in the 12th century, replete with cultural heritage left from the ducal family of Foix. Frescoes, depicting the Apocalypse, who appeared in the dreams of St. John, and gothic icons with image of St. Peter, created in the 16th century, decorated with 16th-century portico and the old stone altar, contemporary church. On the other attractions of the ensemble – a medieval tower Moors – very little is known. Although what functions performed almost ruined structure, can only guess, because of the wonderful panorama that opens from the top, the tower was used to call the guard. On stone hill Le Bon preserved old city water – water tower and network hacked into the rock of irrigation canals. Admission to all the historical places of the village free.

Participate in tours of the village of La Cortinada

The small hamlet of La Cortinada invisible against the background of its popular neighbors – ski resorts of Ordino-Arcalis and Pal-Arinsal – if moved from the distant past. In the 16-17 centuries, when the river was deep North Valeera flow or fall silent for a moment buzz saws on the old sawmill and constantly heard the noise of millstones Cal Pal Mill. Since 1996, all of the local attractions are also profitable village, but already by tourists: Production Center turned into an open air museum. Guest La Cortina, traveling the unspoilt natural beauty of a person, here, too, there is a lesson to taste. In medieval house that once belonged to a noble family Rossel, located exhibition Nature Centre, entitled “2014 meters”. In an interactive exhibition, equipped with the latest technology, shows the history and natural features of the Pyrenees, have turned lost in the mountains of Andorra in paradise. Tour of the nature center resembles a fascinating trip: around the birds chirp, distributed by the soothing sounds of nature and hear the wondrous flavors. Visiting an interactive museum, open from 10.00 to 13.00 and from 15.00 to 17.00 Tuesday to Saturday, absolutely free of charge.

Scuba dive in a mountain lake Zhuklar

In the depths of the marvelous valley Inklez curled between white-capped peaks of the Pyrenees, is a highland lake Zhuklar – the deepest and largest reservoir of Andorra. This place looks like a fairy-tale world: a mirror surface of the water, as if tossed unknown giant, is surrounded by fluffy carpet of wild daffodils. Road travelers who have decided to look into the crystal clear depths of the lake, which rises more than two kilometers above sea level, leads along the mountain river Zhuklar. By swarms lively trout jumping out into the air, through the intersection Travenk, along narrow trails that wander between the Pyrenees Mountains, the route leads out to a hunchbacked stone bridge, which became the center of the landscape. Here, in the equipped tourist centers around the lake, open all year round, there is always a lot of guests: pond is a great place for diving. Explore the underwater world that hides unique Pyrenean newts living only in crystal clear water, it is possible at any time of day and in different seasons: here are practiced even under ice dive. And if you move farther to the south-east, you can reach the mountain home, and then to the second lake – a little smaller, but no less picturesque. When the weather is not conducive to long pedestrian walks, trips to the lake Zhuklar carried out by helicopters.

Go through the largest medieval bridge in Andorra la Vella

If time is limited inspection of Andorra, dedicate it to walk through the capital city of Andorra la Vella. The city, founded in the beautiful valley between high mountains even in the ninth century, is a country in a nutshell: here you can explore the ancient heritage of Andorra, learn new things in unusual museums and empty luxury duty-free shops. Walking through the city’s historic sites will necessarily lead to the oldest in the country church of Santa Coloma, the largest medieval bridge on the outskirts of La Margineda and Antique Barry, the old quarter, based on the site of the first settlements of the capital, full of antiquity. Here are located Valleys House – a private residence august family, transformed into parliament, city archives under the name Seth marvelous Panis (literally “seven locks on the chest”) and the country’s only court Sala de la Dzhustisia. Shopping centers of the capital are considered Meritsel Avenue and Avenue Charlemagne, and the cultural life of Andorra la Vella, is focused on the Plaza la Poble: here dominated Academy of Music and Theatre. Trampled feet while hiking in the museums of architectural miniatures, Orthodox icons, cars and comic books, forget about the problems of fatigue and murmur in the warm waters of the thermal baths “Kaldea”, the largest thermal complex in western Europe.