With its excellent ski schools and range of slopes, Andorra’s Grandvalira area has a great reputation as a familyfriendly destination but as I discovered last spring, it’s also a good bet for groups of friends.
My pal and I wanted an easy-going holiday and booked a week in Soldeu through Topflight Holidays. Along with Pas de la Casa, Canillo, Encamp, El Tartar, El Peretol and Grau Roig, it forms Grandvalira’s 210km of ski terrain.
The resort is small, with an understated street of bars, hotels and restaurants. We soon realised that we only had to move a few metres from our hotel to have some of the best fun of the season.
hotel Piolets room. Pic: nextahotels.com
We happily spent the week crossing the road between the four-star Hotel Piolets and the Harp Bar, where we met up with other skiers for après each evening.
You hear about Irish pubs in the Alps but this one is the real deal – Irish-owned, run by Irish staff and with Tayto crisps behind the bar. Best of all, the manager and some of the staff are highly talented singers and musicians who perform every evening.
There were also blistering sets from a pro Irish singer and local ski instructors who’ve formed their own band. The atmosphere was convivial, safe and lots of fun – a home from home on the slopes of Andorra.
Soldeu ski resort, part of the Grandvalira ski area in Andorra. Pic: Supplied
This is the beauty of staying in a compact ski village, you get to know people quickly. There’s a small community of British and Irish skiers who love Soldeu so much that they spend much of the winter season there.
The Harp bar is one of the places they regularly gather in.
On a couple of occasions, we dropped in to Fat Albert’s, a 300-year-old barn behind the main street that’s known for live music but it was as if we had magnets on our ski jackets pulling us back to The Harp. We spent the week mingling with a group of Newcastle fire-fighters among others and experienced nothing but fun, friendliness and genuinely good music.
Soldeu slopes. Pic: Soldeu.com
Getting to Soldeu from Barcelona Airport involved a three-hour transfer but cleverly, Topflight had organised an inexpensive lunch stop where we got to chat with our reps, Caroline and Fionnuala, who ensured everything ran smoothly for us from beginning to end.
We were welcomed at Hotel Piolets with complimentary cava and shown to bedrooms with views of the slopes. The hotel had everything we needed – very good quality breakfast and dinner buffets, a swimming pool, live music in the bar and a great terrace for sunny afternoons.
Even if you’re not staying at the hotel, I’d recommend that you visit the terrace for après.
Hotel Piolets. Pic: nextahotels.com
On the other hand, be careful about stopping for drinks on the large terrace of a five-star hotel situated at the bottom of the main slope back to town. For a moment, we wondered if we were in Zermatt or Courchevel as we were charged €15 for each Aperol Spritz.
In general, I thought that prices had crept up a bit in Soldeu since the last time I skied there but the cost of eating out and drinks is still very affordable.
What about the skiing, I hear you ask? While slopes are generally intermediate-friendly, we enjoyed powder off the side of the slopes, the steep black run back down to the village – there’s also an easy blue slope option if conditions are icy – the imposing scenery of Grau Roig and skiing up at Pas de la Casa.
Grau Roig ski resort in Andorra at Grandvalira sector Pyreenees. Pic: Shutterstock
Pas has a cluster of restaurants on the slopes, where we stopped for reasonably-priced lunch each day. It’s also the highest point of the ski region and features some of my favourite ski runs in Andorra. For non-skiers in your group, it’s easy to hop on a bus to visit Andorra la Vella, the capital, for relaxation at the Caldea spa (€34.50 per adult), duty-free shopping on pleasant pedestrianised streets and delicious tapas.
That’s if you can tear yourself away from Grandvalira’s slopes and the easy familiarity of Soldeu’s Harp Bar.
TRAVEL FACTS
Go to topflight.ie for Soldeu package holiday prices and specific details about family holidays, including nursery facilities.