Andorra , image_flag = Flag of Andorra.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Andorra.svg , symbol_type = Coat of arms , national_motto = la, Virtus Unita Fortior, label=none (Latin)"United virtue is stro ...

is a landlocked country in Europe, which lies between France and Spain, whose transport infrastructure is primarily road provision.

Railways

Andorra has no railways, and never had, although the line connecting

Latour-de-Carol Latour-de-Carol (; ca, La Tor de Querol) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France. Geography Localization Latour-de-Carol is located in the canton of Les Pyrénées catalanes and in the arrondissement of Prades ...

and

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...

, which in turn connects to France's

TGV The TGV (french: Train à Grande Vitesse, "high-speed train"; previously french: TurboTrain à Grande Vitesse, label=none) is France's intercity high-speed rail service, operated by SNCF. SNCF worked on a high-speed rail network from 1966 to 19 ...

s at Toulouse, runs within of the Andorran border. One station in France is connected by bus to

Andorra la Vella Andorra la Vella french: Andorre-la-Vieille is the capital (political), capital of the Andorra, Principality of Andorra. It is located high in the east Pyrenees, between France and Spain. It is also the name of the parishes of Andorra, parish ...

—

L'Hospitalet-près-l'Andorre L'Hospitalet-près-l'Andorre (, literally ''L'Hospitalet near the Andorra''; oc, L'Espitalet) is a commune in the Ariège department of southwestern France. L'Hospitalet-près-l'Andorre literally translates to "The Hospital Near Andorra". T ...

(served by the

SNCF The Société nationale des chemins de fer français (; abbreviated as SNCF ; French for "National society of French railroads") is France's national state-owned railway company. Founded in 1938, it operates the country's national rail traffi ...

). A bus service used to run to Latour-de-Carol, served by both SNCF's line to Toulouse and Spain's ( Renfe's) line to

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

. A new public transport system, " Metro Aeri", was proposed by the government in 2004, but has not been built. It would have been an elevated cable metro system that would glide above the city's river.

Roads

Andorra has a network of roads, with a total length of , of which are paved, leaving of unpaved road. The main road to the north (

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

) goes through the Envalira pass, which is high but nevertheless open all year round as it has a tunnel as well. The two main roads out of

are the CG-1 to the Spanish border, and the CG-2 to the French border via the Envalira Tunnel near

Pas de la Casa El Pas de la Casa (; french: Le Pas de la Case) is a ski resort (part of the Grandvalira resort), town, and mountain pass in the Encamp parish of Andorra, lying on the border with France. Overview Its name literally translates as "the pass of the ...

.Agència de Mobilitat, Govern d'Andorra
In winter, the main roads in Andorra are usually quickly cleared of snow and remain accessible, but the main road out of Andorra on the French side ( RN-20 on the French side and CG-2 on the Andorran side) is less frequently cleared and is sometimes closed by avalanches.L'Hospitalet. La RN 20 coupée à cause d'une avalanche, ''La Depeche'', 17 December 2008
Ladepeche.fr
Other main roads out of Andorra la Vella are the CG-3 and CG-4 to Arcalis and

Pal Phase Alternating Line (PAL) is a colour encoding system for analogue television. It was one of three major analogue colour television standards, the others being NTSC and SECAM. In most countries it was broadcast at 625 lines, 50 fields (25 ...

, respectively. Bus services cover all metropolitan areas and many rural communities, with services on most major routes running half-hourly or more frequently during peak travel times. There are frequent long-distance bus services from Andorra to

and

Barcelona Airport Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

, and also to

and

Toulouse Airport Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...

, in each case taking approximately 3 hours. Bus routes also serve

Girona Airport Girona (officially and in Catalan , Spanish: ''Gerona'' ) is a city in northern Catalonia, Spain, at the confluence of the Ter, Onyar, Galligants, and Güell rivers. The city had an official population of 103,369 in 2020. Girona is the capital ...

and Portugal via

Lleida Lleida (, ; Spanish: Lérida ) is a city in the west of Catalonia, Spain. It is the capital city of the province of Lleida. Geographically, it is located in the Catalan Central Depression. It is also the capital city of the Segrià comarca, as ...

. Bus services are mostly run by private companies, but some local ones are operated by the government. The private bus companies are Autocars Nadal, Camino Bus, Cooperativa Interurbana Andorrana, Eurolines, Hispano Andorrana, and Novatel.

Airways

There are no airports for fixed-wing aircraft within Andorra's borders but there are, however, heliports in

La Massana La Massana (; originally ''La Maçana'') is one of the seven parishes of Andorra, parishes of the Principality of Andorra. It is located in the northwest of the country. La Massana is also the name of the main town of the parish. The name Massana ...

(Camí Heliport),

Arinsal Arinsal () is a village in Andorra, set at an altitude of between 1550 and 2560 metres, close to the border with Spain at Tor, Pallars. In the summer Arinsal is home to walkers and bikers, as well as those who just want to relax in the mountain s ...

and

Escaldes-Engordany Escaldes-Engordany () is one of the 7 parishes of Andorra. The Escaldes-Engordany parish was founded on 14 June 1978 and has the second largest population after Andorra la Vella. The parish is composed of the areas of les Escaldes, Engordany, Els V ...

with commercial helicopter services.
Nearby airports located in Spain and France provide access to international flights for the Principality. There is an airport located in the neighbouring Catalan comarca of

Alt Urgell Alt Urgell () is a ''comarca'' (county) in Catalonia, Spain, a modern representation of part of the historic County of Urgell (''ca'' 789 - 1413), seat of the Counts of Urgell and the historic region of Urgellet Urgellet () is a historical te ...

, 12 km south of the Andorran-Spanish border, named

Andorra–La Seu d'Urgell Airport Andorra–La Seu d'Urgell Airport ( ca, Aeroport Andorra–La Seu d'Urgell, es, Aeropuerto Andorra–La Seu d'Urgell; ) is a public airport owned by the government of Catalonia and hosts general aviation and commercial flights. It is located in t ...

. Starting July 2015 it has operated commercial flights to

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

and

Palma de Mallorca Palma (; ; also known as ''Palma de Mallorca'', officially between 1983–88, 2006–08, and 2012–16) is the capital and largest city of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of the Balearic Islands in Spain. It is situate ...

, and as of September 2022 flight are operated to Madrid by

Iberia Regional The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...

. The nearest other airports are at

Perpignan Perpignan (, , ; ca, Perpinyà ; es, Perpiñán ; it, Perpignano ) is the prefecture of the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France, in the heart of the plain of Roussillon, at the foot of the Pyrenees a few kilometres from the ...

, France (156 km from Andorra) and

, Spain (160 km from Andorra). The largest nearby airports are at

, France (165 km from Andorra) and

, Spain (215 km from Andorra). There are hourly bus services from both the Barcelona and Toulouse airports to Andorra.

References

External links

Andorra Public Transport
(in multiple languages)
Transport ministry of Andorra
{{Andorra-stub no:Transport i Andorra

Railways

Roads

Airways

See also

References

External links