Resort height: 1475m
The mountains
Arinsal has recently joined forces with another small area, Arcalis, to form the “resort” of Vallnord. It's more of a marketing tool than a reality however, as they're quite separate and you need to drive, or take a bus, to get between them. Besides, you'd be nuts to go there for anything more than Arinsal's nursery slopes: there are far too many other sensational places for intermediate and advanced skiers and snowboarders to visit before they come here (many of which are detailed in my other resort reviews).
Anyway, back to those beginner's pistes. They're quickly reached from the village by gondola, and sit alongside an easy blue (for early intermediate skiers), which you can progress to once you've mastered your turns. It can get crowded up here, but no-one is travelling very fast, and the atmosphere is chatty and good natured. What's more, the ski school in Arinsal is very good, and employs lots of English-speaking instructors to work with holidaymaking Brits, who come here in large numbers.
Getting there
You can reach Arinsal from either Barcelona or Toulouse airports, but it's a 3-4 hour transfer from both, depending on the traffic.
Rating: 
7/10
Après-ski
The après scene in Arinsal is young, enthusiastic, and given extra energy by the Catalans, who drive up from Barcelona at the weekends. Arinsal is home to several rocking bars, such as the Rocky Mountain, El Cau, El Derbi, the Surf bar and Quo Vadis. There's a wide variety of restaurant options in the village too: try the tapas at La Tasca, or jump in a taxi to the more gastronomic El Rusc, in the village of Massana.
Rating: 
4/10
Non-skiers
There's plenty of shopping and spa-ing to be done in Andorra, both in the principality's resorts, and in the main town of Andorra La Vella. The bars and restaurants are good value as well, but this isn't a place to bring non-skiers for a taste of the mountains and winter. For one thing, the mountain scenery isn't a patch on what you'll find in the Alps, and the snowcover away from the pistes can be erratic too. This makes activities such as snow-mobiling and dog-sledding (both of which are on offer in Arinsal) rather problematic.
Rating: 
9/10
Cost of living
Andorra's bargain-basement crown has been snatched away by Bulgaria in recent years, but skiing holidays here can be still be cheap - especially in Arinsal. Andorra's duty-free prices add to the attraction: so too the fact that you can buy a good restaurant meal here for considerably less than in the Alps.
Rating: 
5/10
Attractiveness of the resort
Arinsal is a friendly place, (much friendlier, in fact, than most ski resorts in the Alps) but it's no beauty. The mountains themselves are more like overblown hills, and are covered in pine trees: some well-travelled visitors have remarked that they look more like the slopes of Mammoth Mountain in California than anything you'll see elsewhere in Europe.
