September 2023. Oriol and I are flying to Toulouse for a road trip in Occitania and (French) Catalonia. We include the Principality of Andorra, which I can finally tick off the bucket list, and Llívia, Spain‘s exclave in France. Besides Toulouse we visit Mont-Louis, Villefranche-de-Conflent, Perpignan and Carcassonne. 

After visiting Circuit Andorra we drove to the capital of Andorra, Andorra la Vella (‘Andorra the Town‘), to check in at the five-star hotel Eurostars Andorra. Eurostars has several hotels on the Iberian Peninsula, but I – with Danny – once stayed at a Eurostars in Regensburg in Germany. 

Anyway, check-in was friendly. Staff in Andorra must be multilingual. I heard them speak Castillian Spanish, French and English. Andorra’s official language is Catalan, but few – foreign – staff speak Catalan well. Oriol heard a lot of Argentinian Spanish. 

The receptionist explained to us how the gym works (from 8 AM to 22.30 PM, you must book a slot, a remnant of COVID-19) and how the restaurant works. Dinner is from 7.30 to 10.30 PM. 

We booked directly from the hotel website, where the the price was the same as with Booking, but then half board was included. Drinks are not. 

The room

When we went to our room, we noticed the room was sealed to signal it is cleaned. It’s a cute touch. I felt like Howard Carter 101 years ago, de-sealing Tutankhamun’s Tomb. 

The Deluxe room is really nice, even its styling is somewhat dated. The room consists of a sitting room and separate bedroom. 

The sitting room has a sofa and seat, a desk and chair, a tv and a piece of furniture for your luggage. It’s a nice place to lounge. There a quite a few power outlets. There are tea a coffee making facilities. But there is a complimentary bottle of water. The air conditioning is effective.

Obviously there are cupboards and a fridge as well.

The bedroom 

The bedroom features a large bed and a tv. The power outlets are not so practically located. There’s a separate AC for the bedroom. 

The bathroom

The bathroom features a semi-separate toilet, with bidet. The bath tub is nit super large and the water drains (too) slowly. Shampoo, conditioner and shower gel, hand soap and body lotion are by Damana. There are two dental kits and a comb.

It’s a nice, large bathroom. 

All in all, it’s a very pleasant hotel room, which would be nice for a longer stay. Let’s say for a ski week.  

Dinner

Half board means dinner was included. We didn’t need to book a table or time slot. Our table was set and staff just waited for us. On he first night, it seemed like only two rooms had dinner.

Now, in principle I am not a fan of hotel restaurants. They tend to serve ‘generic dishes’ aimed at pleasing everyone. Which makes sense, for sure.

Not at Eurostars. Take a look at the menu. These are quite bold options. There is no burger! A hotel restaurant without burger! 

How does it work? You get to choose a starter, pasta or salad as a starter, fish or meat as a main and a dessert. Drinks are not included, but are very affordable. You’d expect to make a big profit on drinks, but prices are really reasonable. Kudis for that.

On day one I had 

• pear and cheese bouquet garni,
• stuffed trout,
• hot chocolate soup, which is a Dame Blanche (vanilla ice cream, chocolate sauce), but with a white chocolate brownie.

On day two I had

• nero di sepia taglioni,
• Thai diced salmon,
• chocolate truffles.

I must say the food was tasty and original.

The menu offers enough diversity not to eat the same every day, for many days.

The gym

I booked the gym for 8AM and I was alone. The equipment is old (as often in hotel gyms) but works nicely. The gym was really warm though. There’s also a hot tub which I didn’t try.

Breakfast

Breakfast is an elaborate affair. Egg dishes have to be ordered. But as all the rest is self-service, not came to ask. One must be assertive and ask. We didn’t because the buffet offered plenty.

Besides the expected bread options, cold cuts, cheeses, jams, chocolate, cereals, pastries, juices and hard boiled eggs, there were local meat options, tortilla, chocolate mousse, vanilla custard, flan and wine (yes: wine!).

It’s a really nice breakfast offering, which has influences from France, Spain and Catalonia specifically.

Parking

Parking costs 20 euros per day, but it’s worth it. Book your spot in advance and it will be yours during the say. So you can go on excursions without fearing not having a parking space. 

It’s practical to have a car to move around the principality, but parking spaces are scarce.

So?

I would definitely recommend Eurostars Andorra. An affordable five-star hotel. By far the best we had on this trip. We really saw a difference compared to the other, four-star hotels. And because it’s Andorra outside ski season it wasn’t that expensive. 

2023 Occitania – Andorra – Catalonia Road Trip

1. TOULOUSE-BLAGNAC AIRPORT | Arrival, ID check, car rental and unusually strict security at departure.
2. REVIEW | Novotel Toulouse Purpan Aéroport.
3. Circuit Andorra.