Experience the best of Andorra la Vella

Andorra la Vella is the highest capital city in Europe, laid out along the Valira river between steep Pyrenean slopes. Catalan is the national language, and the state is ruled jointly by two co-princes: the President of France and the Bishop of Urgell. The small old quarter holds the Casa de la Vall, a sixteenth-century stone house where the national parliament has met, and the Romanesque church of Sant Esteve.

The modern town runs without a break into Escaldes-Engordany, where hot springs feed a large glass-fronted spa. Shops line the main avenues, drawing day-trippers from France and Spain. Trails climb to mountain lakes, ski areas lie a short drive from the capital, and the Madriu-Perafita-Claror valley is a protected glacial landscape on the World Heritage list.

Cooking is Catalan at heart: escudella, a stew of meat, vegetables and pasta, trinxat of cabbage and potato with bacon, grilled lamb and cured sausages, all the more welcome when snow covers the slopes from December to March.