Port Ainé and Espot Esquí

I've already been to multiple ski resorts in this corner of the world, in Andorra (alt. link), and also here on the Spanish side: Port del Comte (alt. link), La Molina (alt. link).  But now I had an opportunity to take a day and a half off after my meetings in Barcelona, could I score some more ski resorts? 

I was able! Actually, one day was just about enough to visit two ones close to each other, Port Ainé and Espot Esquí. I had never heard of them before, but both are in the kilometer-of-vertical (or almost) class so not at all insignificant. Massive, I would say. And overall a super nice experience, particularly due to the snow that had fallen on the night before my visit. I got to ski fresh powder! ... Maybe a bit wet but still.

Magnificent slopes, both resorts. Both also had good restaurants and facilities on the slopes, and at least on that early March day, I was able to get up there without chains. And found parking close to the lifts in both cases. Both resorts have a bottom lift and some of the biggest restaurant and other facilities are on the middle mountain. Both go pretty high up, to about two and half kilometers.

Both also have a lot of terrain that you can ski outside the prepared slopes: trees, open space, cliffs... just be careful out there. Just because you are in Spain doesn't mean that the mountains are mellow. Avalanches, hidden obstacles, and, as mentioned, cliffs are a danger. Or visibility. I experienced severe fog in Port Ainé in the morning for instance.

There are wonderful views in both, e.g., the opening picture above and the one below are from Espot:

A view from Port Ainé:

I really loved the skier's right side slopes in Port Ainé, e.g., Barranc de Comalforn (17) or Messegué Utge (18). As well as El Tub de l'Olla (20). Well, those are the black ones... also liked the red ones. Barranc de Comalforn was particularly nice black slope, as it was through the woods, far away from the main resort. Also happened to have powdery fresh snow on the sides quite a bit. Very nice. A picture from those sides:

In Espot Esquí, I really liked Tub de la Pala (black) and La Dos, both steep slopes coming straight down from the top. Sustained, fun, straight. A picture from La Dos:

And in both ski resorts, skiing down from the top to the bottom is a lot of fun, even if the bottom slopes are not typically in the best condition in the afternoon.

Here's the basic information about the resorts:

• Port Ainé, in Rialp. Vertical difference 790 meters, and highest point 2440 meters. The coordinates are N 42.428408 E 1.212051, home page here. Ski are map:

• Espot Esquí, in Espot. Vertical difference 1000 meters, and highest point 2500 meters. The coordinates are N 42.563875 E 1.094009, home page here. Ski area map:

To ski these places I stayed at the Hotel Pessets Restaurant & Spa, which I wrote about separately here (alt. link).

Pictures from Port Ainé:

And pictures from Espot Esquí:

My lift tickets:

This article has also been published here. Read the full Planetskier series at planetskier.net, or all blog articles from Blogspot, TGR. Photos, videos, and text (c) 2026 by Jari Arkko.