Mountain-Ringed Andorra In The Heart Of The Pyrenees ~ From The Best Of International Living

One night during our first visit to Andorra, we returned to the hotel late after dinner. The bar was still open, so we decided we’d have a nightcap. As the cognac level climbed up my glass, I realized the barman would continue to pour until I told him to stop. A small thing, but it seemed to symbolize the country’s hospitable attitude. A few months of research later, we returned, bought a house in the mountains, and stayed eight years. Apart from the accommodating barman, why did we choose to settle in Andorra? Maybe I should begin by explaining where this place is to be found. The tiny, independent Principality of Andorra (it has a seat at the U.N.) consists of 188 square miles of mountains, valleys, forests, and lakes, all shoehorned into the Pyrenees between France and Spain. The entire country is ringed with mountains.

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In the south, the road from Spain leads into a canyon formed at the principality’s frontier by the massifs of La Rabassa on one side and those of Fontaneda and Canolich on the other. Ahead, and stretching in a half-circle across the horizon, there are dozens of majestic peaks, snow-capped for most of the year.With sonorous titles like Pic del Pla de L’Estany, Pic de la Serrera. and Pic de la Coma de Varilles, they form the western, northern, and eastern boundaries.

Total absence of serious taxes

High on most foreigners’ list of reasons for living in Andorra is the total absence of serious taxes. No income, no capital gains, no inheritance taxes. Not even a sales or value-added tax. The last time Andorrans put their hands in their pockets was around the end of the 14th century when they paid dues to their feudal lords. They’re not anxious to repeat the experience.

There’s more good news.Andorra’s cost of living is lower than in North America and much less than in virtually all of Western Europe. Because the government depends almost entirely on tourism for its revenue, it needs to keep the visitors happy. The principality’s businesses pay only a small duty on imports.

ith suppliers also invoicing them free of taxes payable in their domestic market, Andorra’s retailers hang out the discount signs and sell at marked-down prices.

Ten-million visitors, most of them day-shoppers from Spain and France, pile into the country every year, buying everything from sugar, butter, olive oil, and cheese…to cameras, electronic gadgetry, sports equipment, and boutique clothing. Scotch is $8 per liter (about 2 pints) and gin costs less than $6. Cigarettes and tobacco are cheap. Perfumes and colognes cost 30% less than in airport shops where prices are laughably described as “duty-free.”

With Andorra’s government making just about enough from the import duty to fund its budget, this is a win-win situation for everyone. Although the principality has it made these days, things weren’t always so good.For centuries, its people barely managed to get by.

Some were subsistence farmers, scratching a precarious living from the soil. Others, more entrepreneurial, became contrabandistes, a time-honored profession in Andorra. Using mountain trails to by-pass customs posts, Andorrans smuggled French-made goods into Spain and on the return leg, loaded up with Spanish merchandise for sale in France.

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In the right place at the right time

The in the 1950s, international tourism boomed. Finding themselves in the right place at the right time at last, Andorrans set about the business of parting tourists from their money. They opened hotels, restaurants, and stores. When winter sports became popular, they invested in ski lifts and built resorts. And when the visitors decided they’d like a holiday or permanent residence in the country, Andorran developers built houses and apartments for them. Today, Andorra’s 14,000 citizens are a mere 22% of the population. The other 50,000 full-time residents include 29,000 Spaniards, 6,000 French, 4,000 Portuguese, and sizeable communities of British, Dutch, Germans, Scandinavians, and others. The International Club has over 30 different nationalities among its membership.

A financial guru told me that he cautions his clients against changing their country of residence just to avoid tax. “Those who do,” he says, “usually throw in the towel after a couple of years. People have to understand what they’re getting into. If they don’t like the country, then they’re not going to be happy, even if there’s a big saving.” Truth is, Andorra has so much to offer that few people regret moving there, even though avoiding taxes may have been their original motive. For starters, it’s one of only a handful of countries in the world where the price of living in fiscal paradise doesn’t include either tropical sunburn or a permanent case of sand-in-the-shoes. If you’re the type that has to be dragged to a beach, you’ll appreciate the point.

Downhill skiing in the Pyrenees

Andorra’s mountains are not just scenic backdrops, either. In winter, the country’s seven resorts provide some of the best downhill skiing in the Pyrenees with drops of 3,000 feet and runs of a couple of miles or more. The almost five-month season attracts over a million visitors but with high-speed chair lifts, I rarely have to queue for more than a few minutes, even at the busiest times.

If skiing isn’t your thing, there are plenty of other options. The country’s seven comuns (parishes) all seem to compete with each other in building bigger and better facilities. Canillo has its Palau de Gel (Ice Palace) where, for a few dollars, you can ice-skate, play squash, work out in the gym, or perspire in a sauna. Other parishes offer Olympic-size pools, indoor tennis courts, and climbing walls.

From spring through fall, there’s even more to do. Tennis, horseback riding, mountain-biking, and hunting are popular. There’s an 18-hole golf course just across the border in Spain. The rod-and-reel crowd has an almost limitless choice of places to fish. The principality is famous for its trout and a respectable catch is almost guaranteed from its lakes and rivers, some of them stocked from Andorra’s own hatcheries.

Walking country

Most of all, this is walking country. The highest peak (Coma Pedrosa) is 9,708 feet. Energetic hikers have few problems getting there or to the many others over 9,000 feet, such as Pic de la Serrera or Font Blanca. It takes me four or five hours to reach the top.

Along the way, there are streams and waterfalls, forests and meadows carpeted in blue gentian, narcissus and wild red rhododendron. At around 7,000 feet, pristine lakes nestle in basins scraped from the rock by ancient glaciers and at the summits and I watch golden eagles flying elegant figures-of-eight in an improbably blue sky.

On days like this, you wonder whether it gets any better.

One reason we chose to settle in Andorra was its many differences from Canada. As well as freedom from taxes, we wanted a complete change in lifestyles. We weren’t disappointed. Living in Andorra is like living in northeast Spain, with whose people it shares a common culture. This means, amongst other things, there’s always a festival.

Party time

Sometimes, it’s the residents of just a single street throwing a party—a festa del barri.

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