Andorra is famous for shopping and ski lifts, which makes the Madriu-Perafita-Claror valley a surprise. A glacial valley that runs up into the mountains from the edge of the capital's built-up area, it is a landscape of granite peaks, lakes, pastures and stone shepherd huts, almost untouched by roads. UNESCO listed it in 2004 as a cultural landscape because it shows, in one place, how people have lived in the high Pyrenees for thousands of years, with pastoral farming, iron forges and mountain paths shaping the land together.
The valley is closed to motor vehicles, so this is a place for the walker, not the rider. You park at the entrance near Les Escaldes and Engolasters and go in on foot, passing through woods of pine and fir and up into meadows where cattle and horses graze in summer. The old iron forges used charcoal from the forests, and some stone huts and terraces survive from the centuries when communities moved their flocks up each summer. The high lakes, which are cold and clear, lie beneath peaks of nearly three thousand metres.
The riding in Andorra is, nevertheless, famous. The main road from the French border climbs to the Port d'Envalira, at about 2,400 metres the highest paved pass in the Pyrenees, then drops in long bends to Encamp and Andorra la Vella, and the road toward Spain follows the Valira river down. Surfaces are generally good, though patched, and weather can change very fast, with snow possible even in early summer and fog clouding the pass. The best months are June to September, and winter riding is for the experienced. Traffic is thick in the capital and at the borders, where customs checks may cause delays.
Fuel in Andorra is cheaper than in France or Spain, because of low taxes, so many riders fill up here, and Encamp, Escaldes and Andorra la Vella all have plenty of stations. The Mont-Louis citadel, across the border in France and also on the UNESCO list as one of Vauban's fortresses, is a worthwhile detour. Eat a hearty plate of trinxat, a dish of potato, cabbage and bacon, and wear warm clothing even in July, because the weather up high can turn cold at once.