Hotel Llop Gris

The hotel was a mixed bag. Reception was efficient but not friendly - good for the French & Spanish guests perhaps but not for the limited no of English people staying there. Room was functional but small, with one very small window overlooking roof tops so very dark, few sockets, no where to sit apart from the bed, only 2 English channels on the tv, BBC world news and CNN news. Bathroom was clean and plenty of fresh towels. Separate toilet also clean and good supply of loo rolls. Breakfast was one of the worst we have encountered on our 30+ skiing holidays. Cereals (all 3 of them very sweet - husband is diabetic). Small selection of sweet pastries. “Hot” options such as “bacon” rock hard fried eggs and bits of prepared omelette in lukewarm warm containers. No freshly made omelettes, poached eggs etc (or none that we were aware of) Ran out of orange juice more than one morning at 8:30 (breakfast allegedly runs till 10:30). Staff more interested in making tables over to evening tables at 8:30am than helping hotel guests. Coffee machine was just awful. After 3 days of trying, we didn’t bother for the rest of our holiday. Evening meal was very good most nights. Choice of 3 starters, 3 mains and 3 deserts (one of which was always ice cream). Tried to ask if we could have something other than the 3 mains one night when we didn’t fancy the main courses but no one could understand enough English to assist us. We had previously seen other guests having beefsteak & chips. On the evening, the restaurant was open until 10:30pm but again on arriving at 8:30pm many of the tables were already made up for breakfast so nowhere to sit! The bar was a lovely place. The barman from Argentina was the most friendly member of staff we met all week. Proximity to the slopes was great. Out of the boot room, put the skis on and a quick 2 minute glide to the gondola. El Tarter as a resort is very quiet. Not even a supermarket to be found. We actually enjoyed our week here - the skiing is very good, plenty of slopes from the top of the gondola over towards Soldeu and Grau Roig. It’s a shame the hotel isn’t more interested in the British clientele that Crystal bring here. We chose this place cos their website says the Dad built the hotel and the daughters run it, so we thought it was a better bet than some faceless chain. But we felt second class in comparison to the French and Spanish guests. We might well come back to Andorra but unfortunately won’t come to this hotel.

The location of the hotel is perfect for ski in ski out, the staff are friendly and helpful, but there was an additional charge for the pool, when it was included in the booking. We were half board and the food was below average with limited choice of 3 options and very small portion sizes. The breakfast bar was always low on items and you would always need to ask for them and the coffee machines had a longer queue than the morning gondola ride up the mountain. And since when have baked beans been served cold ?? Left in a bowl on the side and not even on a hot plate.

When we first arrived El Tarter we were all initially disappointed as the resort looked a bit like a building site and our room rather basic. However, the hotel grew on us. - Ski lift location: 9/10 (great location but icy step to climb up/down before flight of 20 none icy steps) - Breakfast 10/10. - Dinner 8/10 (great that it is waiter service, not obvious water is chargeable at 3 euros per bottle. Would have liked a cheese option for dessert) - bar area 8/10 (only 1 staff so service is slow when busy and not all drinks in menu available. Need more seating for when it’s busy. - room 8/10 basic but served purpose. Robe & slippers nice. - Spa 7/10 (looks beautiful but was included in price when we booked. Since been revamped & is now chargeable with kids allowed in 12-18h so you need to go outside these hours if you want peace and quiet). Crystal Ski tried initially not to refund us but paid us only £100 which doesn’t cover the cost. Sauna & steam room not hot enough for us as max was 70 degrees. Too small a pool to have kids jumping in when you have paid to relax. - clientele: primarily Spanish, English, French. Unfortunately there were 2 Spanish couples with 4 screechy young kids that drove everyone insane in the bar area 1 night for over an hour. At dinner some tables (us included) left & came back later to eat in peace. Credit to the hotel, after many complaints they withdrew their dinner access & they only had breakfast access. We never saw them in the bar again! Conclusion: We would return to this hotel but would prefer if it was adult only as some kids were allowed to run around the restaurant playing hide & seek.