The most beautiful places in Andorra for photos

When people ask me for the most beautiful thing in Andorra, I never answer with a building. I answer with water. The country has dozens of glacial lakes, U-shaped valleys and high meadows, and nearly all of it starts where the road ends. This page ranks the landscapes I’d point a camera at, scored for looks alone. History and ticket prices are covered in my ranking of places to visit in Andorra.

Lakes, the picture that sums up the country

At the top I put the Tristaina lakes in Ordino. There are three of them, the Primer, the Mig and the Més Amunt, all above 2,300 m, reached on foot from the Coma d’Arcalís. To me they’re the fullest picture of Andorra’s high country, with water, rock and summits in a single frame.

Close behind is the Pessons cirque at Grau Roig, a set of glacial lakes that reveal themselves one after another as you climb. And in Canillo, at the head of the Incles valley, lie the Juclar lakes. The first is the biggest in the country, at 21 hectares. All the major lakes, with their routes, are in lakes in Andorra.

If you’d rather not walk, head for Engolasters. It covers 7 hectares, it’s the only one of the big lakes below 2,000 m and the tourist board calls it the most accessible in the principality. Swimming is off limits because it feeds the FEDA power station, and a trail around it tells the story of electricity in Andorra since 1930.

Valleys that feel like another country

The Incles valley is a textbook glacial U. In high summer the road is shut to traffic and visitors ride an electric train up to the head of the valley, so you get your photo without a car park in the way. The Obac path, 2.6 km long, is the gentlest way to explore it.

In Ordino, the Sorteny valley nature park covers more than 1,000 hectares, with over 700 species of flowers and plants and a botanical garden. I’d go in summer, when the flowers show exactly why it’s protected. Then there’s the Madriu, not the most dramatic in a photo but the one with the most to say, with barns, dry-stone walls, meadows and not a single road across 4,247 hectares.

Which is the most beautiful part of Andorra?

My single choice is the Ordino valley. UNESCO made it a Biosphere Reserve in 2020, and the tourist board says it’s the parish that has best kept its forests and meadows, home to capercaillie, chamois and golden eagles. It has the Tristaina lakes, Sorteny and villages such as La Cortinada and Llorts, all within easy reach. The whole parish is covered in Ordino.

The runner-up is upper Canillo, with Incles, Juclar and the views from Roc del Quer. It loses out only because more ski infrastructure is in sight.

Viewpoints for when you’d rather not sweat

At Roc del Quer in Canillo, twelve of the walkway’s twenty glass metres jut out over a drop of more than 500 m. It looks across the Montaup valley, the Valira d’Orient and Grandvalira, and costs €6. All the others, including the free roadside ones, are in the best viewpoints in Andorra. The tourist board lists around twenty, and those by the road carry relief panels, Braille and QR codes.

The highest is the Tristaina solar viewpoint, a 25 m platform on the Peyreguils peak at 2,701 m, with a slanted mast that acts as a sundial. Every 7 August at 7:37, the sun appears for three minutes through a hole in the Arcalís peak. It’s the rarest photo you can take in Andorra.

What about at night?

Comapedrosa in La Massana is a Starlight Reserve and Destination. There are two stargazing points, Roca de la Sabina at almost 1,900 m above Arinsal, and Coll de la Botella above Pal. I’d save it for a clear summer night, when you can stay out without freezing.

When to go for the shot

For the lakes, late June to late September, which is when the tourist board advises the high routes. For snow, December to February, the months of heaviest snowfall. Stone villages like Pal look good all year, and I’ve ranked them in the prettiest villages in Andorra.