A Day Trip to Andorra from Barcelona
Doesn’t Andorra just sound magical? Maybe it’s just because it sounds so similar to Pandora. Either way, when I spend some time in Barcelona and realised how close Andorra is, I decided to do a day trip to Andorra from Barcelona. In this article, I’m gonna try to answer the question: Is Andorra worth visiting? And how you can make the most of your Andorra day trip.
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I quite enjoy going to tiny countries, it’s just fascinating how small a country can be. So far, I’ve been to Liechtenstein and the Vatican. And now I can add Andorra to my “Tiny Country” list. Andorra is the sixth smallest country in Europe, and its main income is winter tourism.
Getting There
To tell you the truth, I was hesitant to do a day trip to Andorra from Barcelona by public transport. Don’t get me wrong you can visit Andorra by bus, it’s a 3-hour journey one way. But as much as I liked doing day trips from Barcelona by public transportation I decided to do a guided tour to Andorra. And I would definitely recommend everyone to do a guided tour to Andorra because with a guided tour you get to do a few stops on the way. So the long journey is broken up a bit and the stops were just as worth visiting as Andorra.
The countryside you drive by looks amazing, a lot of nature, hills, mountains, and trees. I went in mid-October and the trees were so colourful, so much yellow and red sprinkled amongst the green. But I have to admit, I slept a lot on the ride (don’t know why), I was just so tired on that day.
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Stops on the Way
The good thing about doing a guided tour to Andorra is that you get to do stops on the way. And a few stops on the way are always a good idea on a long journey. If you’re going to Andorra by public transport you’re probably not gonna be able to make those stops.
On an organised tour, you’ll probably have some stops on the way to Andorra. The tour I took stopped in the Spanish town Bagá and the French town Ax-les-Thermes. So it was a three-countries-in-one-day tour. How amazing is taking tours in Europe?!
A way to get even more out of your day trip to Andorra from Barcelona is to take a private tour to Andorra. This way you’re gonna make even more stops and be able to make the most of your time since you don’t have to wait for other tour participants.
Bagá in Spain
The first stop on the day trip to Andorra from Barcelona is the small Spanish village Bagá. It’s a nice village with a lovely medieval centre. Unfortunately, you don’t have a lot of time to explore this medieval mountain village. Just enough time for a morning coffee and a stroll through the village centre. To be fair, it’s not a very big village, so you’d probably just get bored with too much time there.
Ax-les-Thermes in France
Ax-les-Thermes is the typical lunch spot on the day trip to Andorra from Barcelona. It’s a beautiful small French town with natural hot springs. If you’ve ever been to the French countryside, you know it doesn’t look good for vegan food. So I recommend bringing your own vegan lunch from Barcelona and finding a nice spot where you can eat your lunch.
A positive side effect of bringing your own lunch is that you have more time to explore the town. There’s a nice viewing platform which you can reach after a short walk through a forest. The town also has a couple of natural hot springs, so you can dip your feet into a nice warm pool. You can also see the spring where the hot water comes out, you can smell the sulphur and it’s almost too hot to touch.
What to do in Andorra La Vella
The final destination of a day trip to Andorra from Barcelona: Andorra. And if you visit Andorra and it’s not a skiing trip, chances are high you’ll end up in Andorra’s capital: Andorra La Vella.
Our tour guide said if you love shopping, spending six hours here would not be enough. If you don’t, one hour is too much. Well, that’s an exaggeration, of course, but there’s really not much you can do in Andorra La Vella. There’s one very cool statue by Salvador Dali, a famous Spanish impressionist artist. If you like it and want to find out more about Dali you can learn more about the artist on an amazing day trip from Barcelona to Cadaques. Behind the statue is a bridge with the capital’s name on it, and there you have your money shot.
How to make the most of your day trip to Andorra from Barcelona?
The stops along the way are as much part of the experience of a day trip to Andorra from Barcelona as. the final destination itself. I’d even go as far as saying without the stops on the way I would have been disappointed in the day trip. But doing a day trip and seeing 3 countries in one day was kinda cool. And I only had two stops on the way on my guided tour to Andorra. So what would have made it even better? More stops on the way and you can get those on a day trip to Andorra from Barcelona private tour.
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Is Andorra Worth Visiting?
Is Andorra worth visiting? It depends on your expectations of the trip.
Are you expecting to visit a European capital city and do a great sightseeing tour? Then you will be disappointed.
Are you expecting to go on a shopping spree? Then you should go, but not with an organised tour since the one-hour free time won’t be enough.
Do you just want to tick off Europe’s sixth smallest country on your “Been There” list? Go for it. You get some nice scenery included in the deal.
So, all in all, I think the whole country looks like one big ski resort, and the capital is like a massive duty-free shop. You need to decide for yourself if you want to see that and if Andorra is worth visiting.
In case you’re still unsure if you should do a day trip to Andorra from Barcelona, you can check out these day trips from Barcelona. Maybe one of those is more up your league.
FAQ about a day trip to Andorra from Barcelona
Is one day enough for Andorra?
One day is more than enough to see Andorra if you don’t want to go skiing or hiking. If you do want to explore the mountains of Andorra either by foot or by ski you’ll need more than one day.
Is Andorra worth a day trip from Barcelona?
It depends on what you’re expecting from a day trip to Andorra from Barcelona. It’s worth it if you want to tick off the sixth-smallest country on your “been there” list.
How many hours is it from Barcelona to Andorra?
It’s about a 3 hour drive from Barcelona to Andorra without any stops.
What to see between Barcelona and Andorra?
There are numerous beautiful Spanish towns between Barcelona and Andorra, Bragá is one of them. You can even make a small detour and stop in France on your way to Andorra.
Is Andorra very expensive?
Shopping in Andorra is not expensive at all, most products are cheaper than in other countries since Andorra has very low taxes.
Great article! Andorra is on my bucket list places to visit next year, thanks for the insights!
Hope you have a great time there 🙂