Spanish rail holidays and train travel to Spain

Travelling by train to Spain and rail holidays within Spain are a great way to see the country and can make an efficient use of your time. Train travel through Spain on high speed services enables you to cover long distances in short times – often quicker than taking flights (when check-in times and travel to and from airports have been taken into account).  

A rail holiday to Spain is one of the best ways to see the changes in scenery and terrain. Expressions Holidays can tailor-make your rail holiday to Spain, selecting the most convenient and comfortable options for your rail holiday. We offer a range of hotels such as luxury five star and both modern and traditional boutique hotels.

How you travel to Spain by train
A rail holiday to Spain usually starts with a journey by Eurostar from London St Pancras to either Paris Gare du Nord. You may wish to start with a night or more in Paris, or with a simple change of station in Paris you can connect straight onwards to Spain. Comfortable Elipsos sleeper trains depart from Paris in the evening and run to Madrid and Barcelona (stopping in other cities on the way), featuring compartments with two beds and private showers. There are also daytime options which work well if you break your journey in southern France. On arrival in Spain, regular trains connect from Madrid and Barcelona on to other cities. If you wish to explore with a hire car, we can arrange this too. For more information regarding rail services to and within Italy, view our train guide. 
Suggested rail holidays 
We have assembled some suggestions for rail holidays to Spain. These include journey by train to Andalucia, Catalonia and the Basque Country and major cities including Barcelona. We can tailor-make rail holidays using any of our Spanish hotels. You can travel one or both ways by train – the other direction, you can fly or sometimes travel by ferry. A combination of Spain with France is very popular. It is also possible to travel through Spain by train then by ferry across to Morocco and continue your rail journey into Morocco. 
Train schedules 
A rail holiday to Spain will start with a journey by Eurostar from London St Pancras, Ashford or Ebbsfleet to Paris. Trains start early in the day (around 7 am) and there are regular departures until about 8pm. Connection can then be made to another destination in France to break the journey, or most commonly to take one of the evening sleeper trains straight from Paris to Spain. Here are some sample timings to give an idea of how your rail journey could work. They are by no means the only rail journeys we can arrange, but simply a selection of commonly used train routes.
LONDON TO BARCELONA BY TRAIN
London 1501 / Paris Nord 1817
Paris Austerlitz 2023 / Barcelona 0805 (next day)
LONDON TO MADRID BY TRAIN
London 1401 / Paris Nord 1717
Paris Austerlitz 1853 / Madrid 0900 (next day)
LONDON TO SAN SEBASTIAN BY TRAIN via St Jean de Luz
London 0917 / Paris Nord 1247
Paris Montparnasse 1429 / St Jean de Luz 1958
Overnight in St Jean de Luz
St Jean de Luz 1412 / Irun 1430
Irun 1542 / San Sebastian 1559
EXAMPLES OF ONWARD CONNECTIONS
Barcelona to Seville by train – 5 hours 30 minutes
Barcelona to Madrid by train– 2 hours 30 minutes
Barcelona to Bilbao by train– 6 hours
Madrid to Cordoba by train– 1 hour 50 minutes
Madrid to Granada by train – 4 hours 30 minutes