Encamp Travel Guide

There are lots of brilliant downhills to blast down and test your breaks - or drive up near the lake above the town and cycle along the purpose built lovely and flat track! Brilliant views, and a couple of nice cafes to stop for a drink or lunch at.

The small, medieval church of Saint Michael and Saint John stands among local stone houses of Encamp. The stone edifice, built in the Romanesque style, was enlarged and refurbished at the end of the 16th or beginning of the 17th centuries. Its walls made of natural rocks and single bell hang above the facade in typical Spanish way amazed me.

There are also three other Romanesque stone churches in Encamp:
- church of Saint Mark and Maria located at Encamp cemetery (12th century),
- church of Saint Roma from 1163
- parish church of Saint Eulalia with 23 metre high (80 ft) bell tower, the highest one in Andorra.

I have seen only the last one from the main road but I didn't stop :-(. There is also Museu Nacional de l’Automobil on Avinguda del Princep Episcopal 64 which displays a collection of cars dating from 1898 to 1950 as well as 50 antique motorbikes. I didn't visit it either. Instead I visited one more church close to Encamp, in Canillo (see my Parròquia de Canillo page%L).

There is a very compact part of Encamp full of picturesque, narrow, cobbled streets lined with medieval and younger houses made of natural rocks and stones. It's around church of Saint Michael and Saint John.

There were no cars and no tourist facilities (I mean restaurants, bars, hotels) there in 1994, so it all looked really old and authentic. I hope it looks the same now. Unfortunatelly outside this area the architecture of local houses is not that pretty. Residential architecture of Encamp as well as other towns of Andorra looks very chaotic and ugly at some places.

The only way into Andorra is by road. The major automobile routes into and out of Andorra include the CG1 from Spain and the CG2 from France. If you take the latter, you'll pass through the unforgettable Port d'Envalira, the highest pass in the Pyrenees (2410m/7900ft).

The nearest Spanish airports are in Barcelona and Girona; the nearest French airport is Toulouse-Blagnac. The French railway station closest to Andorra is L'Hospitalet-près-l'Andorre, two hours south of Toulouse by train. From there, daily buses make the two hour trip to Andorra la Vella. The nearest Spanish railway station is about 40km (25km) east of the Andorran border at Puigcerdà. It has daily bus connections to Andorra la Vella via Seu d'Urgell.

Buses from France to Andorra leave from the railway stops of L'Hospitalet, La Tour de Carol and Ax-les-Thermes. Buses from Spain leave from Barcelona, Burgos, Madrid, Tarragona, Tuy, Valladolid and Zaragoza.
Cooperativa Interurbana buses leave from the Plaça Príncep Benlloch stop in Andorra la Vella for several destinations along Andorra's three main highways. Autobus Parroquial de La Massana i d'Ordino operates a few routes from La Massana and Ordino. Taxis are available in the larger villages, but you'll have to phone. During ski season, there are shuttle buses to ski resorts from the nearest villages. Andorrans drive on the right.