Ski and Snowboard News, Deals, and Events

Andorra's luxurious  Sport Hotel Hermitage in the village of Soldeu, part of the Grandvalira pass, is offering a free session in the hotel's stunning multi-storey Sport Wellness Mountain & Spa for guests visiting in December before Christmas.  The offer is limited to one spa session per person per day, but is for every day of their stay.

Rates for a double bed and breakfast are from 240 Euros, and half board from 320 Euros.  The recently opened Sport Hotel Hermitage is the only five-star hotel at an Andorran ski area and marks the epitome of the principalities move upmarket.

Grandvalira has three quarters of the Andorran market and employs around 1,400 workers.  Skier numbers are around two million, placing it in the world top 20 on that measure.  It takes more British skiers each season than the whole of Switzerland and most of Italy.

Between them, Soldeu and neighbouring Pas de la Casa/Grau Roig and Soldeu El Tarter - which together make up Grandvalira - offer one of Europe's largest ski areas.  They also operate eight six-seater chairs, the most of this type of modern, high capacity lift of any ski region in the world.

For many years the two resorts wouldn't issue a joint lift ticket, apparantly due to some ancient feud.  So although there's no marked boundary and, since 2000, the two areas have parallell six-seater chairs running alongside one another, you needed to buy two tickets to ski both areas in one day (or use two days out of your Ski Andorra Pass).

Today the combined area of 2,000 hectares can now boast 892 snowcannons and 450 instructors, including 180 English-speaking, attracting 1.8 million visitors (in skier days) .