Travel Eye on Pas De La Casa (Andorra)

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Overview:

Set high on the border into France, Pas de la Casa really does feel like a frontier town. Loads of French and British descend, looking for tax-free bargains and plenty of cheap booze, and this makes the après-ski extremely lively. It's tacky and rather ugly, but serves a purpose, while the snow record is excellent. Pas de la Casa is an ideal winter package holiday for 16-25 year olds on a tight budget. The skiing itself, which covers the linked areas of Grau Roig and Soldeu, is the largest in the Pyrenees, with 150km of pistes. It caters mostly to easy cruising, while boarders are much in evidence on the slopes.

There are all sorts of accommodation, from apartments to hotels, most of which you can ski to. These serve the various clientele, the young in the former, families in the latter. On-piste restaurants are better in Grau Roig, but most are no more than snack bars. The resort eateries are generally Spanish in cuisine and are largely cheap and cheerful.

This is a serious skier's resort for all standards, extremely popular with French weekenders who triple the village's population on a Friday night. A little more upmarket and expensive than other Andorran resorts.

There is a great mix of hotels and apartments, with all but a few within an easy 300-yd radius of the principal chair-lifts and more often than not right among the shops etc.

Pas de la Casa is easy to knock if you are looking for bags of Alpine charm. But, if you want to have effortless skiing and lots of nightlife, it makes a cheap and understandably popular destination. It is, however, a long transfer from Barcelona or Toulouse.

Locality:

Pas De La Casa in the extreme east of the principality of Andorra, just across the border from France (18 mls NE of Andorra la Vella, 112 mls S of Toulouse airport, 167 mls N of Barcelona airport). It is perched high on a mountain pass, hugging the foot of slopes on 3 sides.

Entertainment/Facilities/Attractions/Things to do:

Skiing and boarding in Pas caters for everyone from the absolute beginner to advanced competition experts, with nursery slopes just above the resort, about 23 red runs and 13 black runs. Alternative snow fun on offer includes snow-mobiling and tobogganing.

There is plenty to do when you need time out from the slopes, with a gym, indoor and outdoor pool, movies, ten-pin bowling, snow-shoeing and walking just some of the options. Nearby there is a spa offering thermal baths, or take excursions to try out the facilities in nearby resorts.

With more than 60 restaurants cooking up a storm in and around the resort, no-one working up an appetite on the slopes need go hungry. Local cuisine is largely Spanish (with paella as a favourite) but there are plenty of French influences on the local menus.

Rated as the most 'upscale' gourmet dining establishment in 'Pas' is the Restaurant Marisqueria Campistrano; for views of the competition action and competitive boarding courses dine on high (2,200m up) at the Costa Rodona, which has a self-service cafeteria on the ground floor. There are many other restaurants on the slopes offering panoramic views and delicious meals, with dozens more cafes and restaurants in town offering everything from quick snacks to gourmet delights.

'Pas' stands out as one of the clubbing and bar havens of Europe, keeping the young crowd hopping and bopping through the night with throbbing music and cheap drinks. Local party temples include KSB, Billboard, Crack, Kyu and Underground, to name just a few.

Local bars extend 'happy hour' to extremes and some have even been known to reward good customers with free drinks. Another thrill is to enjoy floodlit nighttime skiing on the Font Negre piste.

There is a very high concentration of demanding, affluent French visitors has helped create a broad spectrum of quality tax-free goods, undoubtedly the best choice outside the capital, although marginally more expensive.