Mountain huts in Andorra, which are staffed and which aren't

Sleeping in a hut is the best way to see the Andorran mountains with nobody else around, at dusk and at dawn. The country has a good network, but the huts aren’t all alike, and the difference between a staffed hut and a free one changes everything about what goes in your rucksack.

Around thirty, and only four staffed

Andorra Turisme mentions up to 30 mountain huts on one page and 29 on another, so I’ll settle for “around thirty”. All are reached only on foot, most in remote spots, though a few are less than an hour’s walk from the road. And all of them are open all year.

Only four are staffed. They are Comapedrosa in La Massana, Borda de Sorteny in Ordino, l’Illa at the head of the Madriu, and Juclar in Canillo. The tourist board says these four have showers, mattresses, bedding and basic meals. They’re the huts the Coronallacs trek links in five stages.

The staffed huts, one by one

L’Illa stands at 2,488 m on the shore of the country’s second-largest lake, and according to the Madriu’s official site it’s open all year with about 60 places, ten of them in the free section. Bookings go through refugidelilla.ad. If you’re only spending one night in an Andorran hut, this is the one I’d look at first, and I explain how to get there in Estany de l’Illa.

Juclar, at 2,310 m, has 50 places and is staffed between 1 June and 30 September, as the Comú de Canillo puts it, and you reach it from the Incles valley below the Juclar lakes. Comapedrosa, at 2,265 m, sits beside the Estany de les Truites and offers beds and meals in summer. Borda de Sorteny, at 1,965 m, is inside the Sorteny nature park, near its botanical garden.

What are the unstaffed huts like?

They’re stone shelters without a warden, free and basic. The ones in the Madriu valley have a fireplace, table, benches and sometimes a log porch, and a few have water close by. Fontverd, at 1,880 m, takes about 14 people; Claror, at 2,280 m, about 20; Perafita and Riu dels Orris 10 each. In Canillo, the council lists Cabana Sorda with 20 places, Cóms de Jan and Vall del Riu with 10, and La Portella and Ribaescorxada with 6.

There’s no booking and no dinner. Bring a sleeping bag, food, something to cook on and the expectation that it might be full. For me they’re ideal for the second night of a trek, not the first. Treat them kindly, too, since they rely on walkers leaving them tidy, with logs replaced and rubbish carried out, for the next people who arrive tired and cold.

Before you set off

Andorra Turisme’s advice is to save routes over 1,700 m for high summer, roughly the last days of June to the last days of September, pushing into May or October only if the weather plays along. Almost every hut I mention here sits above that line. Every route sheet repeats the same advice, carry enough food and water, and there’s nothing to buy at an unstaffed hut.

Health cards from the UK or the EU count for nothing up there, so for nights in the mountains I’d carry insurance that covers rescue. Emergencies are on 112, and fire and rescue on 118.

The hut passport

It’s a free booklet you can pick up at any tourist office. If you walk the GRP, GR7 or GR11, you stamp the box for each hut with the marker left inside, and at the end you take it to the National Tourist Office in Andorra la Vella. They ask a few questions to check your route and, if all’s well, hand over a diploma and a small gift. The most complete challenge is the GRP round Andorra.

Although the huts are open all year, Andorra Turisme advises doing these routes in spring or summer and, in winter, checking conditions and access before setting out. In the Madriu, camping needs permission from the parish council and is banned outright on the Sant Julià side, so a hut is often your only way to sleep high. That alone is a good reason to plan your nights around them from the start. If what you want is a cheap bed down in the valley, compare with the hostels in Andorra.