For a long time, the Sóller valley was simply home. You wake to the smell of orange groves, the Tramuntana mountains catching the first light, and the slow rattle of the old wooden tram heading down to the port. It is hard to imagine wanting to be anywhere else.
And for a long while, I did not. There is a particular rhythm to life in Sóller. The Saturday market, the long lunches, the walks up into the hills when the heat eases in the late afternoon. The valley has a way of slowing you down in the best possible sense. I built a little stone cottage there, with a pool that looks straight out across the valley, and I still offer it to guests who want to feel that same calm.
But life’s priorities change. I found I wanted mountains I could live in all year, not just visit in summer. I wanted a base that worked for a more international life, with straightforward residency and a sensible approach to tax, and a community where several languages are spoken without anyone blinking.
That search led me, somewhat unexpectedly, north to a tiny country tucked between France and Spain.
Andorra, to our surprise
Andorra is easy to overlook on a map. It is small, high in the Pyrenees, and quieter than its famous ski season suggests. But spend a week there and it starts to make a strange kind of sense. The mountains are extraordinary and they are there every day, not just on holiday. The towns are safe and walkable. The schools are good, the country is genuinely trilingual, and the pace, while busier than Sóller, still feels human.
It is also, quietly, one of the more sensible places in Europe to base yourself if you run a business or work across borders. None of that was the reason I fell for it, but it certainly made the decision easier to justify.
The part nobody warns you about
Falling in love with a place is the easy bit. Actually moving there is another matter entirely. Residency paperwork, the right kind of permit, finding a home in a market I did not understand, the small administrative landmines that come with relocating to a country whose system you have never had to navigate. It is more than enough to make you wonder whether the valley was not perfectly fine after all.
What made the difference for me was working with people who do this every day. I was guided through the whole process by a team in Andorra who handle relocations and residency for English-speaking arrivals, and having someone explain each step in plain language turned a daunting move into something that simply got done. I am not the sort to hand everything over, but on this I was glad to.
Andorra is home now
The move was a permanent one. Andorra is home now, fully and for good. I still keep the casita in Sóller as a holiday rental, so for the time being guests can enjoy the valley exactly as I once did. In the near future I expect to part with my remaining property and land in Mallorca altogether, so the chance to stay there may not be on offer forever.
If you are reading this from the terrace of the cottage, enjoy every minute of the valley while it is here to enjoy. And if you ever find yourself wondering what is over the next range of mountains, perhaps I will see you in Andorra.
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