Andorra: 1 scheme to know about before you drive in.
Les Escaldes has one driving restriction on our books: the Ordinació del 29-3-2019 de modificació i refosa de l'Ordinació… (limited traffic zone). What is a limited traffic zone?
Sources last read on 2026-09-17, from the authorities' own pages. The next scheduled check is 2027-09-17.
Vivand is the pedestrianised stretch of the avinguda Carlemany in Les Escaldes, between the carrer de la Unió/carrer del Valira and the avinguda de les Escoles/carrer del Picó, together with the cross-streets that give access to it — and the Comú d'Escaldes-Engordany closes it to wheeled vehicles as a matter of principle.
Article 2 states the general rule as a prohibition of access for any type of wheeled vehicle, with the exceptions that follow available only to vehicles of fewer than seven seats. 'Wheeled vehicle' is defined as widely as in the neighbouring parish: everything guided or not by a human being, powered or not, on one, two or four wheels, and skates and skateboards by name.
Single-seat wheeled vehicles specifically adapted for people with reduced mobility are outside the definition entirely and may enter at any time. Six categories may enter, and every one of them is a status plus paperwork rather than a payment.
Two need a standing authorisation: occupants — owners or tenants — of garage spaces inside the zone, who have free access around the clock but may not stop, and who must register their plates with the Comú; and works or service vehicles, where the job cannot be done from the cross-streets, on prior authorisation.
Two need an exceptional authorisation applied for at least twenty-four hours in advance: residents of the pedestrian zone, and traders or self-employed professionals with an authorised activity inside it.
Two more work off a circumstance: clients of hotels inside the zone, but only where the hotel held a licence for a luggage loading bay on the public way before the zone was created, with a fifteen-minute maximum; and vehicles going to an on-duty pharmacy during its guard hours, also fifteen minutes. Pre-booked taxis get in only in an emergency, after telling the Servei de Circulació, and also for fifteen minutes.
In every case the ordinance says stopping should preferably happen in the cross-streets or the public car parks rather than inside the reserved area. Deliveries are refused outright: goods may not be brought in for loading or unloading, and must be handled from the public car parks or from the bays laid out for the purpose in the cross-streets.
Anyone admitted must use only the signed streets, take the shortest route, keep to 10 km/h and give way to pedestrians at all times. Enforcement is by number-plate recognition cameras feeding a control centre at the Comú's Servei de Circulació, and the ordinance says plainly that drivers of unauthorised vehicles are penalised either directly by traffic officers or on the strength of the recorded images.
The Comú's own service vehicles and all emergency services sit outside the whole regime of hours, circulation and parking.