Andorra sells itself in winter, but the walking season is arguably better. Roughly ninety per cent of the country is mountain, the network of marked paths is dense, and distances are short enough that you can be at 2,500 metres within an hour of leaving the capital.
The lake circuits
The Pessons bowl, reached from Grau Roig in the Grandvalira sector, strings together a dozen glacial lakes in a granite amphitheatre. It is the classic Andorran day walk — around four hours in a loop, on good paths, with the option of taking a chairlift for the first climb in summer.
Estanys de Tristaina, above Ordino-Arcalís, is shorter and even easier: three lakes in a two-hour loop, with a lift running in high summer that removes most of the ascent. Estany de Juclar, from the Vall d'Incles, is longer and quieter, and the largest lake in the country.
Coma Pedrosa
Coma Pedrosa, 2,942 metres, is the highest point in Andorra. From Arinsal it is a long day — around seven hours return and 1,400 metres of ascent — with a refuge partway up where many people break the climb. It is a walk rather than a climb, but the upper section is loose rock and needs care in poor visibility.
The GRP
The Gran Recorregut del País is a circular route around the whole country, about 120 kilometres, usually walked in six or seven days using the free unstaffed refuges. It crosses every parish and stays high for most of its length. It is the most complete way to see Andorra and needs proper mountain experience, particularly with navigation, since some sections are marked sparsely.
Season and refuges
The window runs from late June to early October. Before that, snow lingers on the passes and the lakes stay frozen; after, the refuges get cold and the weather turns fast. Andorra maintains more than twenty free unstaffed refuges — open, unbookable, with bunks and a stove but no food, no warden and no guarantee of a space. There are also two staffed refuges where you can eat and book a bed, at Comapedrosa and Illa.
Afternoon storms are common in July and August. Start early, and be off the ridges by the middle of the afternoon.
Wildlife
The high pastures hold isard, the Pyrenean chamois, which is common enough that you have a fair chance of seeing one on any long day above 2,000 metres. Marmots whistle from the boulder fields all summer. Griffon and bearded vultures ride the thermals along the ridges, and the bearded vulture in particular — with its distinctive diamond-shaped tail — is one of the species the Pyrenean parks have worked hardest to bring back.