Climbing Coma Pedrosa: Andorra’s Highest Peak (2,942 m)

I have watched three separate people give up on this mountain, and none of them gave up because they were unfit. They gave up because they had budgeted five hours for a day that wanted nine, and by the time they reached the lake the clouds were already stacking up over the Baiau cirque. Andorra’s roof looks like a big hill when you crane your neck at it from the Arinsal car park. It is not a big hill.

Coma Pedrosa is the highest mountain in Andorra at 2,942 m, and this guide is for reasonably fit walkers who want to climb it in a single day from Arinsal. No ropes, no glacier, no technical climbing in summer — just a long, honest, relentlessly uphill mountain day that a lot of people underestimate.

Last updated: August 2026. Route statistics, refuge opening dates and prices move — check the official Comapedrosa park and refuge sites, and the Andorran weather service, before you set out.

01Coma Pedrosa at a glance

02What Coma Pedrosa is, and where it sits

Coma Pedrosa is the highest point of a country with 65 summits over 2,000 m, which tells you something about Andorra. It sits in the far north-west, at the corner where Andorra, Spain and France converge, above the village of Arinsal in the parish of La Massana. The whole upper valley is protected as the Parc Natural Comunal de les Valls del Comapedrosa — 15.42 km² of glacial cirques, tarns, black pine and scree.

From the valley floor you barely see the summit. That is part of the problem. What you see from Arinsal is the shoulder of the massif; the actual top is tucked behind, and the path has to swing a long way round to reach it. More than one person has looked at a map, judged the summit to be close, and been rudely corrected three hours later.

The mountain is pyramidal, rocky, and honestly not the prettiest thing in the Pyrenees. What makes the day worth doing is not the peak itself but the cirque below it — the pastures of the Pleta, the refuge sitting on its shelf, and the two lakes. If you have only ever done the valley walks around the Pal-Arinsal ski area in winter, the summer version of this valley will genuinely surprise you.

Coma Pedrosa or Comapedrosa?

Both. Catalan usage runs the words together — Comapedrosa — and that is what you will see on the park’s own signage, the refuge, and the nature park’s name. English-language maps and guidebooks tend to split it as Coma Pedrosa. The full formal name of the summit is Pic de Coma Pedrosa, or Alt de Comapedrosa on some Andorran signposts. They are all the same lump of rock. Do not waste time looking for a second mountain.

How high is it, really?

This is the first place sources fall out with each other, and it will not be the last. Andorra Turisme, the communal park’s website and the refuge all say 2,942 m. English Wikipedia says 2,943 m. You will find 2,946 m and even 2,939 m on secondary sites and old survey data. The difference is a few metres of rounding and resurveying and it changes nothing about your day, but I mention it because if you see two different numbers on two signs, neither is a typo. This site uses 2,942 m.

03The standard coma pedrosa hike from Arinsal, stage by stage

One route does 95% of the traffic: up from Arinsal on the GR 11, past the refuge, into the upper cirque, and up the final rubble. Here it is broken into stages, with times that assume a moderately fit walker who stops for photographs but does not dawdle.

Stage 0 — the trailhead and parking

The walk starts at the Prat Sobirans car park, at the very top of the Arinsal road, signed as the Parc Natural Comunal de les Valls del Comapedrosa. There is a park information point near the start, worth two minutes of your time for the current trail and refuge status.

Parking is the first small decision. The park car park at the trailhead is a paid one. The car park down by the Arinsal chairlift is free and adds roughly five minutes of walking. In July and August the upper one fills early, which is one more argument for the pre-dawn start I keep pushing.

You walk the first stretch on tarmac and pass through the Arinsal tunnel — the road tunnel cut through the avalanche defence wall above the village. Immediately after the tunnel, turn right. That is the trailhead proper. If you are still on tarmac after ten minutes past the tunnel, you have missed it.

Stage 1 — forest track to the Comapedrosa pass, roughly 2h to 2h30

The first section is a wide forest track climbing steadily through red pine and fir, with the stream loud below you on the right. It is the dullest part of the day and I will not pretend otherwise. Follow the signs for “Refugi i Alt del Comapedrosa” and the GR 11 red-and-white stripes.

About forty minutes in you reach Aigües Juntes, where the streams coming down from Coma Pedrosa and from Pla de l’Estany meet. This is the junction that matters: right for the refuge and the standard route, left for the Pla de l’Estany variant. Take the right.

Above the junction the path narrows, steepens and starts genuinely working. The refuge’s own breakdown of this approach is useful because it is the only official one anybody publishes: roughly 2.5 km and 450 m of ascent on the forest track, then 1.3 km and 250 m up the steep shaded north flank called the Obaga de Comapedrosa, then a final 400 m and 40 m of climb over the Collet to the hut. Total 3.85 km and 685 m, quoted as 2h to 2h30 and graded moderate.

That middle section is the steepest sustained climbing of the lower half. In August, in full sun, with a day pack, it is where you find out whether your fitness estimate was optimistic.

Stage 2 — Refugi de Comapedrosa and Estany de les Truites, 2h20 to 3h

You crest the Collet de Comapedrosa and the world opens. The cirque appears all at once: a wide glacial bowl, the flat green Pleta below, the ring of ridges above, and the refuge on its shelf. Estany de les Truites — Trout Lake — sits just beyond the hut.

This is the best moment of the day. Not the summit. This.

The refuge is officially at 2,260 m, though Wikipedia and older guides say 2,272 m and one respected page says 2,265 m. Pick whichever you like; the terrace is the same. Refill your bottles here, because it is the last dependable water on the route.

Stage 3 — the upper cirque and Estany Negre, 3h30 to 4h

From the refuge shelf you drop slightly west onto the flats of the Pleta del Comapedrosa, where the old shepherds’ ground gives you fifteen merciful minutes of level walking. Then the vegetation quits and the scree begins.

You pass a small upper tarn — the Estany del Comapedrosa — which several trip reports describe as underwhelming, and I agree. Push on. Higher and to the left, Estany Negre sits at around 2,628 m, a deep glacial lake whose name comes from how dark the water reads from above. Seen from the ridge on the way down it is one of the best things in Andorra.

Somewhere in here you meet a signed fork: “Alt de Comapedrosa” one way, “Estany Negre” the other. Both reach the summit. The first climbs the ridge and includes a short exposed, aerial stretch with easy hands-on scrambling. The second stays under the ridge, crosses the scree above the lake, and has no exposure worth the name. If you are unsure about drops, take the Estany Negre side. Nobody will know and nothing is lost.

Stage 4 — the final rubble to the summit, 4h30 to 6h

Here is the honest bit. The last hour of Coma Pedrosa is not lovely. It is loose ground, boulders and shifting stone, zigzagging steeply, with a path that is obvious in some places and a suggestion in others. The yellow paint marks take over from the GR 11 stripes and you need to actively look for them. Poles come off your hands and onto your pack; you will want both hands free at times.

The summit itself is broad and open, with a marker visible from a surprising distance on a clear day. There is room to sit, room for the twelve other people who will be up there at midday in August, and a full 360-degree panorama.

Down is roughly 60–70% of the up time if your knees are behaving. Many people find the descent over that upper rubble slower and more tiring than they expected, and I would rather you planned for four hours down and were pleasantly surprised.

The numbers, and why the sources disagree

You cannot research this walk without noticing that nobody agrees. Here is the spread, laid out honestly:

• Distance: Andorra Turisme’s official page says 15.4 km. Unexpected Catalonia, who have done it repeatedly, log 13.32 km. AllTrails sits at around 13.7 km. The gap is mostly about where you start and whether you loop via Estany Negre on the way down.
• Ascent: 1,370 m (Hola Andorra), 1,372 m (Andorra Turisme), 1,390 m (Unexpected Catalonia). These are all effectively the same number. Call it 1,400 m and plan your legs accordingly.
• Time: this is the wild one. The official page contradicts itself, listing “3–6 hours” in its data box while the body text of the same page says “around 8 hours to climb and considered very difficult”. Hola Andorra’s classic waypoint table gives 4h30 to the top. Unexpected Catalonia say 6–8 hours for the whole thing. The Wandering Quinn’s first-hand account is 6 hours up, 5h30 down, 11h30 car to car, and she recommends allowing 10–12 hours.

My reading: 4h30 up is achievable for a strong hillwalker moving efficiently. 5h30 to 6h is normal. Anything published under four hours assumes a runner. Budget nine to twelve hours for the day and treat anything faster as a bonus.

04Alternative approaches

Via Pla de l’Estany and the Baiau cirque

At the Aigües Juntes junction you can go left instead, up the Pla de l’Estany valley towards the Estanys Forcats and the Circ de Baiau on the Spanish frontier, then take the summit from the west side via the Portella de Baiau. From that pass the summit is a short final climb of about half an hour.

It is a longer, wilder, quieter day and the ground above Baiau is loose and steep. Done as a loop with the standard route it makes an outstanding circuit, but it is a proper mountain outing rather than a marked tourist path, and I would only send experienced walkers with a map and a settled forecast that way. The GR 11 itself crosses this ground, splitting into a lower GR 11.1 variant and the higher line over the port.

Linking it into a multi-day trek

The Comapedrosa refuge sits on both the GR 11, the great Pyrenean traverse, and Andorra’s own long-distance circuit, which strings the country’s mountain huts together in a multi-day loop. Walking in from a neighbouring hut and taking the summit as a side trip on a rest morning is, for my money, the most civilised way to climb it. You arrive already acclimatised, already high, and without a 1,400 m day hanging over you. If a week of hut-to-hut in the Pyrenees appeals more than a single hard day, start with the full guide to hiking in Andorra, which sets out the network properly.

05Refugi de Comapedrosa: sleeping high changes everything

Yes, you can sleep there, and I think most people should. The Refugi de Comapedrosa is a staffed mountain hut at 2,260 m, a couple of minutes from Estany de les Truites, and it is the single best decision available to anyone worried about the length of the day.

Per the refuge’s own current information: 45 places, a dining room, solar showers, a self-catering kitchen area, and continuous opening from 1 June to 12 October, with reservations possible outside those dates. It runs off-grid — no mains water, no mains electricity — which is worth remembering before you complain about the shower.

Expect roughly €55 for half board, around €70 for full board, and around €22 for the bed alone in the 2026 season, with sheet hire on top if you do not bring a liner. Meals are served at fixed times — lunch in the middle of the day, dinner at 19:30 — and the bar runs through the day. Book ahead. In July and August it is not optional; check the refuge’s own site for current rates and availability.

Old sources, including a page that still ranks well, say the hut sleeps 60. The refuge’s current official figure is 45. Trust the refuge.

Do the maths on the two-day version. Walk up in the afternoon: 3.85 km, 685 m, two and a half hours with a light pack. Eat, sleep, leave at first light with 680 m already banked and cold, still air on the upper cirque. You are back at the hut for a late breakfast and down in the valley by lunchtime, having skipped the entire afternoon storm window. There is also a small unstaffed shelter in the vicinity used as winter refuge — do not plan a trip around it, and check with the park if you intend to rely on it.

If huts are not your thing but you want to be close, Arinsal itself has a modest cluster of hotels and apartments, La Massana is ten minutes down the valley with far more choice, and there are campsites in Andorra within easy reach. Our overview of where to stay in Andorra covers the trade-offs between valleys.

06Difficulty: who should honestly attempt comapedrosa andorra’s high point

Let me be direct, because the ratings out there are all over the place. Andorra Turisme grades it “difficult” and, in the same breath, “very difficult”. One thorough blog calls it “moderate”. Both are defensible and neither is useful on its own.

The truth is that the difficulty is not technical, it is cumulative. There is no move on the normal route that a competent walker cannot make. There is also no point at which you stop going uphill for more than fifteen minutes. Roughly 1,400 m of ascent and descent in a day, most of it on rough ground, at altitudes where the air is noticeably thinner, is a serious ask.

You should be fine if you regularly walk hill days of 1,000 m or more, you are comfortable on loose rock, you can navigate off a paper map, and you are honest about your pace.

You should not attempt the summit if this would be your first proper mountain, if you do not own boots, if you are travelling with children under about fourteen, or if anyone in the group is going to be the reason the party moves at half speed. Groups go at the pace of their slowest member and this mountain punishes slow parties with weather.

The lake is a legitimate destination. Turning round at the refuge or Estany de les Truites is not failure — it is a good day out in its own right, roughly five hours return, and it contains the best scenery on the mountain. I have done exactly that on days when the sky looked wrong, and never regretted it.

You do not need a guide in summer. The route is well travelled and, above the forest, hard to lose in good visibility. In cloud, on the upper section, that changes fast.

07Season: when the coma pedrosa hike is a walk and when it is not

The walking season runs from roughly late June to early October. That is not the same as the snow-free season, and the distinction matters.

Andorra Turisme’s own safety advice for routes above 1,700 m is to stick to the window between late June and late September, extending from May to October only if weather and ground conditions allow. Every experienced source I trust says the same thing in different words.

Snow lingers in the upper cirque and on the north-facing scree far later than visitors expect. In a heavy winter there can be old, hard snow patches on the final section into July. Late-season attempts run the other risk: people have found fresh snow on the summit at the end of October and got away with it, but that is luck, not planning. Outside the summer window this is a mountaineering objective needing crampons, an axe and the skills to use both.

My preference is early September. The ground is dry, the crowds have thinned, the days are still long enough, and the light on the cirque is superb. July and August are hot, busy and thunderstorm-prone — read our notes on what Andorra is like in August before you commit to peak season, — and if a late-season trip appeals, September and early October are the quietest weeks on the mountain. The wider question of the best time to visit Andorra depends on whether the mountains or the shops are the point.

08Weather, the afternoon storm, and what time to start

The Pyrenean summer has a rhythm and you need to work with it. Mornings are typically clear and still. Through the middle of the day, heat drives convection up the valleys, cumulus builds over the ridges, and by early to mid afternoon there is a real chance of thunderstorms — sometimes violent, usually short, always dangerous on an exposed summit ridge at 2,900 m.

So: start early. Not “early for a holiday” — properly early. On a day-hike attempt in July or August I want to be walking by 06:00 and on the summit by 11:00 at the very latest. Set a hard turn-back time before you leave the car and honour it even if the top looks close. It always looks close.

Check meteo.ad, the Andorran weather service, the evening before and again at the trailhead. It gives mountain-specific forecasts including storm risk, and it is far more use than a generic phone app pointed at Andorra la Vella, which is 1,600 m lower and in a different world weather-wise.

One more thing about the descent. Getting caught by weather is bad; getting caught by darkness on that upper rubble is worse. Carry a head torch every single time, even in June. People who set off at ten in the morning routinely finish in the dark.

09Navigation, and where people actually go wrong

There are three places this route catches people out.

The forest. Down low there are several intersecting paths — leisure trails, the educational circuit, forestry tracks — and it is genuinely easy to drift onto the wrong one in the first twenty minutes. Follow the signs for the refuge and check for GR 11 stripes regularly.

The junctions. Aigües Juntes, then the refuge turn, then the split between the ridge line and the Estany Negre line. Each is signed, but signs in the Pyrenees give destinations rather than route grades. Know which branch you want before you get there.

The summit section in cloud. Above the lakes the trail is a line of yellow paint marks over rock. In clear weather it is fine. In mist it is a very different proposition, and this is where people wander off onto steep loose ground. If cloud comes down on you up there, the correct answer is almost always to go back the way you came.

Practicalities: carry a proper paper map of the massif and know how to use it. Download an offline map to your phone before you leave the valley — Google Maps is close to useless here because it does not carry the footpaths. And note that mobile coverage is patchy to nonexistent on most of the route, and Andorra is not in the EU, so EU roaming does not apply and your data will not work unless you have made arrangements. Tell someone your plan and your expected return time.

10What to carry

Nothing exotic, but nothing skipped either.

• Water: 2.5 to 3 litres per person on a hot day. This is the item people get wrong most often. Above the refuge there is no shade and no reliable water, and the refuge is your only dependable refill — top up there in both directions.
• Proper boots with ankle support and a real sole. Trail runners are survivable on the way up and unpleasant on the descent through the rubble.
• Trekking poles. Not optional in my view. They save your knees on 1,400 m of descent and you can stow them for the hands-on section.
• Layers. The forest can be humid and warm while the summit is cold and windy on the same morning. A windproof shell and a warm mid-layer, even in August.
• Sun protection. High-factor sunscreen, hat, sunglasses. At 2,900 m the UV is brutal and there is no tree cover above the refuge. Note that swimming in the park’s lakes is now banned partly to keep sunscreen out of the water, so do not plan on washing it off up there.
• Head torch with fresh batteries.
• Food. More than you think. The refuge sells sandwiches, hot meals and packed lunches if you would rather buy than carry.
• Map, compass, offline maps, a small first-aid kit and the Andorran emergency number, 112.
• Cash. Mountain huts do not always love card payments at altitude.

11The view from the top of the highest mountain in Andorra

On a clear morning the summit gives you the whole eastern Pyrenees. Look north-west and you can pick out Pica d’Estats, the highest mountain in Catalonia, across the Spanish frontier. Turn slowly and you get the Baiau cirque and its lakes below you to the west, the French border ridges to the north, and eastwards the long spine of Andorra with its ski areas and, on the clearest days, the far peaks beyond Grandvalira.

Directly below, the cirque you climbed through is laid out complete — the refuge a speck on its shelf, Estany Negre a dark coin in the rock, the Pleta green and improbably flat, and the thread of Arinsal down in the valley shadow.

Be realistic about cloud. Plenty of people summit into grey soup and see nothing at all. That is another argument for a dawn start: the odds of a clear top at 09:00 are far better than at 14:00.

12If the summit is not for you: the same valley, less pain

The best thing about this valley is that its finest scenery is not at the top. There are three good options short of the summit, and I recommend them without embarrassment.

The refuge and Estany de les Truites

Up to the hut, round the lake, coffee on the terrace, back down. Roughly 3.85 km and 685 m each way, two to two and a half hours up and rather less down. Fit teenagers manage it comfortably. It gives you the cirque, the lake and the whole visual payoff of the mountain for around 45% of the ascent.

The forest circuit and the Ribal waterfall

Lower still, the park runs an interpretive circuit through the pine forest above Arinsal with the Ribal waterfall as its highlight. This is an hour or two, doable in trainers with small children, and a genuinely pleasant morning. If you are travelling as a family, it belongs on the same list as our other ideas for Andorra with kids.

High mountains without the climb

If what you want is altitude and lakes without 1,400 m of ascent, drive north instead. The Tristaina lakes and solar viewpoint above Ordino-Arcalís give you three glacial tarns at nearly 2,300 m from a car park at 2,100 m. It is the laziest high-mountain scenery in the country and I mean that as praise. There are more ideas in our round-up of things to do in Andorra in summer.

13Getting to Arinsal without a car

You do not need to hire a car for this. The L5 bus runs up the valley from Andorra la Vella through La Massana to Arinsal, with fares of a few euros, and the last stop — the Arinsal car park by the chairlift — is about five minutes’ walk from the trailhead. Check the current timetable, because the first departure decides whether a day-hike attempt is even viable.

And that is the catch. Bus timings rarely deliver you to the trailhead at 06:00. If you are carless and set on the summit in a day, either take a taxi up from Arinsal or La Massana for the early start, or do the sensible thing and sleep at the refuge. Our guide to getting around Andorra has the bus network in full, and the Arinsal guide covers what the village is like once you are down.

Coming from further afield: Andorra has no airport and no railway, so it is a coach from Barcelona or Toulouse, then a local bus. Start with how to get to Andorra.

14Rules, costs and the small print

The climb itself is free. There is no permit, no summit fee and no registration. Your costs are parking, transport, and whatever you spend at the refuge.

The park’s management plan, approved in May 2026, tightened several rules that catch visitors out. Swimming is now banned in all lakes within the park, largely to keep sunscreen and pollutants out of high-mountain water; you may cool your feet, but the wild-swimming photos you have seen on Instagram are of a previous era. Bicycles are not permitted anywhere in the park. Dogs must be on a lead. Drone use is regulated. Check the park’s own site before you go, because these things change.

Andorra sits outside the EU, so European health cover does not automatically apply and mountain rescue is not free at the point of use. Travel insurance that explicitly covers hiking above 2,500 m is worth the twenty minutes it takes to arrange. Our general Andorra travel tips cover the border, currency and roaming quirks in more depth.

15Frequently asked questions

Related guides

If Coma Pedrosa is one item on a longer list, start with our pillar guide to hiking in Andorra, which sets out the trail network, the refuges and the easier walks parish by parish. For the valley itself, read the Arinsal guide. For planning a whole summer trip around the mountains, see Andorra in summer and our list of outdoor activities across the country.