The site of Andorra la Vella has been settled since prior to the Christian era —notably by the Andosin tribe from the late Neolithic. The state is one of the Marca Hispanica created and protected by Charlemagne in the eighth century as a buffer from the Moorish settlers in the Iberian Peninsula.

Andorra la Vella long remained relatively isolated from the outside world. Its modernization began in the 1930s with the construction of carriage roads, and its population increased after World War II as a result of the growth of the tourist industry.