Nestling amongst the eastern Pyrenean mountains and tucked neatly between Spain and France, the Principality of Andorra is a small but independent country covering an area of of 468 sq kms. With a rugged landscape rising up to the Coma Pedrosa peak, a high point of 2946 metres, and cut through by valleys, the main one carrying the waters of the river Valira across the border into Spain, Andorra boasts an impressive topographical profile and the kind of breathtaking scenic vistas that attract as many people to the country as its outstanding reputation for winter sport. History and culture also play a major role in the promotion of a thriving tourist industry, where the traditional festivals that are still honoured in every rural village draw in as many visitors as the prospect of spending a week immersed in the art, shopping and entertainment potential of the capital city of Andorra la Vella.

Where most of Andorra exists at high altitude, snow carpets the terrain from October through to April providing some of the finest - and often best value-for-money - skiing and snowboarding in Europe. Once the temperatures begin to rise and the snow disappears from the lower slopes of the Pyrenees, the holiday apartments in Andorra that are permanently occupied by ski addicts throughout the winter months prove to be just as popular during the summer with those keen to take advantage of the hiking, mountaineering, canoeing and other less chilly outdoor activities that add further weight to this country's unfailing ability to offer action and adventure at any time of the year.

Despite its geographical location, Andorra has evolved since as far back as its time of independence - allegedly around 803 AD when the region was captured by Charlemagne, one of the most powerful rulers in the history of western Europe - without any significant involvement with its close neighbours, its eventual social and economical prosperity making it one of the most highly sought after destinations in the world to live. A population of roughly 65,000 includes a fair proportion of the French and Spanish immigrants who have chosen to settle there for the financial advantages that can be gained from living in such a prosperous country - regarded as a tax haven and duty-free paradise, Andorra is teeming with rich and famous residents as well as those whose reasons for renting a villa or apartment in Andorra are more to do with shopping than skiing!

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