Arinsal, Andorra

Dave Gilbert from UNITED KINGDOM writes:

Got back yesterday. Snow's just about gone. It was +15 to +20 degrees C up the mountain each day. That said, I STILL enjoyed this break much more than ski holidays in Austria or the Three Valleys. Why? Here, for the price of a beer in happy hour at either other place, you get a round (2 Guiness, 1 Estrella, three vodka shots and a packet of crisps €12). You can sit down with the missus without worrying if you'll get change out of €50. The party really is a party where the 19 year olds don't seem to stare at you and you forget you're 50. In France and Austria £400 per person per week gets you a place where the choice of meal is Hobson's choice and sure, you can have a clean room, if you do it yourself. The towels have to last all week and you have to have wet boots each morning because you're invited to leave them in a damp basement cupboard (maybe I've always been unlucky). Here, in Arinsal, for the princly sum of €5 a day you get a large, dry locker, up the mountain, 20 meters from the lift (if they can do it, why can't everyone?). There's a new fast lift this year. No queueing in someone else's smoke or armpit here. Oh, the hotel, £325 got the Missus, the boy and me 4 nights in the Diana Park......bed made every day, towels changed every day, quiet, TV, minibar, swirly bath, dressing gown and slippers.......excellent baby sitter, choice of about six or eight things each meal......they could not do enough for you. You do not feel like you are paying to be a trespasser on their mountain. I know it's my second review, but even with poor snow, this place takes away your stress rather than making you feel stupid for being there.

2006-04-01