Only country with two entirely separate postal administrations.

Andorra is the only country with two entirely separate postal administrations.

It has been jointly ruled since 1288—by the Bishop of Urgell and, originally, the Count of Foix.

Even today, Andorra has two heads of state: the President of France and the Bishop of Urgell. French and Spanish stamps were first used in Andorra around 1877. France ran a courier service across the Pyrenees from 1887 to 1931.

The Spanish post office in Andorra la Vella opened on 1 January 1928, and issued its own stamps a few months later. A French post office opened in the same city on 16 June 1931, also with its own stamps.

These stamps—inscribed in Spanish or French, and now valued in euros since 1 January 2002—are still issued today, but only for mail going outside Andorra. Mail within Andorra itself is delivered free and needs no stamps.

Andorra isn’t a member of the Universal Postal Union, so it relies on Spain and France for international mail. The two systems even use different postal codes: ⁠ AD500 ⁠ for Spanish mail and ⁠ AD700 ⁠ for French mail. Because each country issues its own designs, stamp collectors treat “Spanish Andorra” and “French Andorra” as two separate areas to collect.