Principality of Andorra is a small country located between Spain and France in the Pyrenees mountains. It has neither no airport nor railway and only accessible by road via Spain and France. It is 3 hours drive from Barcelona, Spain and 1hr and 30 mins drive from spa town of France, Ax-les-Thermes. Andorra is not part of Schengen area, but Schengen Visa must be secured for nationalities who are not visa exempted. Catalan is the official language of Andorra and official currency is euro.
Andorra is famous for ski and each year millions of visitors are returning to Andorra. It has excellent snow conditions due to its location right in the middle of the Pyrenees mountains. Ski resorts located at high altitudes and offers plenty of facilities.
Aside from ski, Andorra is famous for duty free shopping. Every year around 8 million Spaniards and French visit Andorra for shopping. Andorra is known for its tax-free shopping but in reality, most sales made within the country’s borders attract a 4.5% VAT or value-added tax and there are no taxes on imports.
Andorra la Vella is the capital of Andorra, where you will find a huge array of shops selling mainly perfume, alcohol, cigarettes, tobacco, electrical goods, jewelry and others all at low duty-free prices. When shopping, ensure that you are getting a bargain price. However, beware that you will not exceed the duty-free limits or else you will end up paying taxes at the border.
From the official website of Andorran Customs (www.duana.ad) here are the limits;
Agricultural Products
• Coffee-1000 g of coffee or 400 g of extracts, 200 teas or 80 g of extracts
• Alcoholic drinks (*) 1.5 ltrs of liqueurs of more than 22 degrees or 3 ltrs of spirits or appetizers of less than 22 degrees or sparkling wine. 5 ltrs of table wine
• Tobacco (*) 300 cigarettes or 150 cigars (less than 3 g per piece) or 75 cigars (more than 3 g per piece) or 400 g of tobacco for pipe.
• Other agricultural products-Up to a value of 300 euros (**) without exceeding: 2.5 kg of milk powder, 3 kg of condensed milk, 6 kg of fresh milk, 1 kg of butter, 4 kg of cheese, 5 kg of sugar and sweets, 5 kg of meat.
Industrial Products
• Perfumes-75 g of perfumes + 375 ml of colonies
• Other industrial products-Up to a value of € 900.00 (**)
Amounts and maximum amounts per person.
(*) For those products, people under the age of 17 do not enjoy any franchise.
(**) For persons under the age of 15, EC member states can reduce the franchise to a maximum of half of the anticipated amounts.
The good thing about Andorra la Vella is they offer free wifi service throughout the city.
Principality of Andorra was my 70th country visited around the world!
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