Ski touring in Andorra, resort by resort

Ski touring, or skimo, has taken off in Andorra’s resorts, and that has brought rules with it. You can’t just stick skins on and plod up the side of a piste any more. There’s a dedicated pass, set hours and marked circuits at every resort. Once you know how it works, though, Andorra is one of the easiest places in the Pyrenees to start, with waymarked climbs, rescue cover and a mountain restaurant at the top.

Start with the Mountain Pass

Since a government regulation published in Andorra’s official gazette on 2 December 2020, anyone ski touring or snowshoeing inside the resorts needs a Mountain Pass. It’s not a suggestion. The resorts warn that anyone without one can be fined by their control teams, and they spell out that visitors follow the same rules as residents.

For 2026-27 the season pass costs from €182 and the day pass from €20. It’s valid at Grandvalira, Pal Arinsal and Ordino Arcalís, opens the 39 marked circuits across the three resorts and gives you one ride up and one down a day on 13 designated lifts, such as the Funicamp, the Canillo, El Tarter and Soldeu gondolas or the Tristaina gondola. It includes rescue and transfer to the medical centre in the designated areas between 9am and 5pm. Outside those hours the emergency number is 112, and as the GHIC is no use in Andorra, your own insurance needs to cover mountain sports. It doesn’t give you the downhill pistes, which is a separate ticket I cover in the Andorra ski pass guide.

There’s one handy exception. Before the season officially opens you can skin up without a Mountain Pass, provided you follow the rules, because the piste bashers are already out working.

Hours, the rule people break most

The general pattern goes like this. From 7am to 9am you can go up before the resort opens, except on days of controlled avalanche release. From 9am to 5pm, only on the marked uphill routes and authorised pistes. After closing, only where a resort marks evening routes. And from 10pm to 7am you mustn’t go up or down any ski area, on or off piste.

The warning I’d take most seriously is about the dark. Piste bashers, and the winch cables they use on steep slopes, are the biggest danger to anyone climbing at night. If you go out after hours, stick to the marked route and wear a head torch.

Grandvalira, the biggest network

Grandvalira has 53 kilometres of circuits. In Soldeu, El Tarter and Canillo there are three routes open from 9am to 5pm and, after hours, a climb from El Tarter or Soldeu to Cap de Llosada between 5pm and 10pm. On the Pas de la Casa, Grau Roig and Peretol side, daytime hours run from 7am to 5.30pm, with a beginners’ circuit at Peretol, intermediate ones such as Pessons, Montmalús or Llac de Cubil, and an advanced route round the Circ d’Envalira. In the evening, from 5.30pm to 8pm, two advanced routes stay open. Ski touring lessons with its school start at €189, and Grandvalira Mountain Guides runs guided trips inside and outside the resort. The rest of the resort is covered in my Grandvalira guide.

Ordino Arcalís and Pal Arinsal

Ordino Arcalís has five marked circuits, 11 kilometres in all, graded by colour like the pistes. The green La Coma route starts at 2,220 metres and is where I’d begin. Les Portelles, L’Hortell and La Font are blue, and Peyreguils is red. After hours, from 5.30pm to 8pm, you climb L’Hortell and ski down the red l’Estadi run.

Pal Arinsal splits its routes between its two sectors, skinning up circuits and skiing down pistes from 9am to 5pm, with evening hours from 5pm to 10pm and a floodlit circuit from Planell to Pla de la Cot. Its Adventure Center offers a half-day introduction for €189 and a mountain session outside the resort for €263, priced per instructor for groups of one to six.

Beyond the resorts

Andorra’s tourist board lists ski touring routes all over the country, and Naturland has three waymarked circuits at La Rabassa, green to the Roca de Pimes hut, blue to the old bunkers and red up Pic Negre, above 2,600 metres. Out there you’re beyond piste rescue and avalanche control, so check the meteo.ad bulletin and Andorra ski resort weather first. For more technical descents in fresh snow, the next step is freeride in Andorra.

One last rule worth knowing. Snowshoers can’t walk on the pistes or the ski touring routes, and anyone climbing a designated piste keeps to the right-hand side in single file. If your group mixes both, each goes on their own trail, as I explain in snowshoeing in Andorra.