Bringing alcohol home from Andorra, bottle by bottle

With tobacco, a British traveller is held back by the UK limit. With alcohol it’s the other way round. The allowance for leaving Andorra is the smaller one, and it’s what decides how many bottles make it into your suitcase. Here’s how it works, what it means in bottles and a couple of rules to know while you’re there.

Leaving Andorra, three separate quotas

Andorra’s customs service and Spain’s tax agency give the same core figures for each adult. You can take 1.5 litres of anything stronger than 22%, or instead 3 litres of drinks under 22%, fortified or sparkling wine. You can’t have both in full, but you can mix them in proportion. On top of that come 5 litres of still wine. Spain’s tax agency also allows 16 litres of beer for anyone entering Spain from Andorra.

Andorran customs doesn’t list beer at all. If you’re driving out over the Envalira pass into France, I wouldn’t count on that beer allowance without checking first.

Arriving in Great Britain

GOV.UK lets travellers arriving from outside the UK bring 42 litres of beer and 18 of still wine, and then a choice between 4 litres above 22% or 9 litres at 22% or less. Every one of those figures is higher than the Andorran exit limits, so if you’ve cleared the border into Spain or France legally, you’ll be within the UK allowance too. The EU side is what you plan around.

What that means in bottles

I’ve done the sums with standard sizes. The 1.5 litres of spirits is two 70 cl bottles with 10 cl to spare. If you go for weaker drinks instead, 3 litres is four 75 cl bottles. The 5 litres of wine gives you six 75 cl bottles, and the 16 litres of beer is 48 cans of 33 cl. A 75 cl bottle of gin uses half the spirits allowance, which still leaves room for 1.5 litres of vermouth or cava.

Nobody under 17 gets an alcohol allowance, even travelling with parents, and allowances are personal, so they can’t be pooled. The full list of quotas sits in Andorra duty free allowance, and tobacco has a page of its own, how many cigarettes you can bring home from Andorra.

Is alcohol actually cheaper there?

I’d rather be straight with you. No official source compares drink prices between Andorra and Britain. What I can give you is the tax picture. Andorra’s general indirect tax, the IGI, is 4.5%, and the government’s own rules keep alcoholic drinks out of the reduced rate for food. UK VAT is 20%. But both countries add alcohol duties on top, which I haven’t been able to compare with a reliable source, so I won’t quote you a saving.

My advice is to check the price of the exact bottle you want at home, then decide with that number in front of you.

Rules while you’re in Andorra

Two rules surprise British groups. According to the FCDO’s advice for Andorra, you can’t legally drink in the street, so the après-ski can on a bench is off. And drink-driving can cost you up to €600 and your licence for two months, and the police can immobilise the car. If you’re driving home with your bottles, make sure the driver hasn’t touched them. The rest is in is Andorra safe.

If you want a bottle that’s worth the allowance, Andorra Turisme makes a point of its high-altitude wines, with grapes like sauvignon blanc, riesling, pinot noir and albariño. For me that’s a far better use of five litres than a brand you can buy in any British supermarket.