Luxury train service for the camino

[mspath]

This El Correo Gallego article published 01/05/21 announces a new service of Spanish luxury trains to provide journeys with overnight on board accommodation for tourists begining later this summer and continuing next year.

 

[Former member 91017]

This El Correo Gallego article published 01/05/21 announces a new service of Spanish luxury trains to provide journeys with overnight on board accommodation for tourists begining later this summer and continuing next year.

Thank you! Link please?

 

[SabsP]

This El Correo Gallego article published 01/05/21 announces a new service of Spanish luxury trains to provide journeys with overnight on board accommodation for tourists begining later this summer and continuing next year.

Pricey, but there seems to be a market for everyone's needs and wallets...

 

[mspath]

Thank you! Link please?

The link is printed in blue in the post

 

[henrythedog]

I’m not sure if there’s an obscenity filter built into the forum software*, but I came close to triggering it if there is. I started reading the article thinking ‘finally I can get Mrs Henrythedog on Camino’, until I got to the cost.

I’m privileged, I’ve got enough money and there’s nothing within reason that I want to do that I cannot; but €11,000 for two in a twin cabin for 6 days; even with ‘the finest wines known to humanity’ ** thrown in by the bucketful is rather pricey.


*when I retired my IT director said I held the record for tripping the internal email obscenity filter most frequently. Also he said I was the only person ever to trigger a ‘Level 2’; which previously he didn’t know existed.

** Withnail and I. Uncle Monty’s house is just over the hill from me.

 

[Canada Wanders]

“Finest wines” by the bucket full... love it.
Please sir...may I have some more (tiny squeaky voice).

 

[Albertagirl]

“Finest wines” by the bucket full... love it.
Please sir...may I have some more (tiny squeaky voice).

There are similar trains running between Calgary and Vancouver, but I just can't get into that form of travel, whatever the cost. I would always be looking out the window and wishing that I were walking along that trail. The closest that I want to come are high-speed trains in Spain, to get me to the start of my camino. I may take one from Madrid to Valencia this fall. It depends on the schedule, whether it would be more convenient to take a train from Madrid, rather than flying to Valencia (a six hour stopover in Amsterdam, after an overnight flight from Calgary). I hope that, if I wait until I am ready to make bookings, there will be better options.

 

[Kathor1]

rather pricey

You are obviously not very familiar with the world of luxury train travel . Travelling the Transiberian railway tracks in the aptly named Tzar's Gold/Zarengold train is in a similar price range, and so are various other luxury train trips elsewhere on the globe. But I agree, there comes a limit where one simply doesn't want to pay the price even if one could. Whether it's a bed on a train or a bed for the night on the Camino de Frances. Individual mileages may vary, as the saying goes.

 

[henrythedog]

You are obviously not very familiar with the world of luxury train travel . Travelling the Transiberian railway tracks in the aptly named Tzar's Gold/Zarengold train is in a similar price range, and so are various other luxury train trips elsewhere on the globe. But I agree, there comes a limit where one simply doesn't want to pay the price even if one could. Whether it's a bed on a train or a bed for the night on the Camino de Frances. Individual mileages may vary, as the saying goes.

It's a long story, but I'll keep it brief. The last planned outing for my Dinner Jacket (Tuxedo, y'all) was to have been the Orient Express in 2019, it was then to be consigned to a charity shop in Venice as my days of dressing to conform to the pretentions or insecurities of others are behind me. The reliable staff of SNCF helpfully declared a strike on the very day that the OE would have passed through Paris and the venture was cancelled. I'll confess to being relieved.

You're right, I'm unfamiliar with luxury train travel - being resident in the UK, that's normal.

If you were to use the west-coast 'main line' service from the North West of England to London, the passengers have been known to break into spontaneous applause if the train actually arrives at the destination, regardless of the arrival time. I was once stranded on the service for eight hours by flooding both in front and behind. The water supply failed and the only available liquid was an inordinate supply of Red Stripe strong beer. My carriage was comprised of myself and a 50/50 mix of Glaswegian football supporters and what must have been an entire convents-worth of nuns. After several hours and with the only refreshment available being consumed liberally (the weegies thought they were in heaven, the nuns in hell), the train was finally able to move off - but only back to the start point; so we never got to London.

I have used the RENFE Trenhotel in the past and that surpassed my expectations, which is my definition of a good experience.

 

[Kiwi-family]

Ah The TransSiberian.....yes I did that with eight kids and an octogenarian father-in-law. We didn’t know about gold carriages - our trip was cheap as chips, bought the tickets at the station the day before (for 1/20th of the cost we had been quoted by a travel agent at home!)....and came with smuggled sausages hanging in plain view in our windows - and brand new blankets on our bunks for three or four days (until they were snatched away from us and sold at one of the stops through said window!)

 

[DoughnutANZ]

It's a long story, but I'll keep it brief. The last planned outing for my Dinner Jacket (Tuxedo, y'all) was to have been the Orient Express in 2019, it was then to be consigned to a charity shop in Venice as my days of dressing to conform to the pretentions or insecurities of others are behind me. The reliable staff of SNCF helpfully declared a strike on the very day that the OE would have passed through Paris and the venture was cancelled. I'll confess to being relieved.

You're right, I'm unfamiliar with luxury train travel - being resident in the UK, that's normal.

If you were to use the west-coast 'main line' service from the North West of England to London, the passengers have been known to break into spontaneous applause if the train actually arrives at the destination, regardless of the arrival time. I was once stranded on the service for eight hours by flooding both in front and behind. The water supply failed and the only available liquid was an inordinate supply of Red Stripe strong beer. My carriage was comprised of myself and a 50/50 mix of Glaswegian football supporters and what must have been an entire convents-worth of nuns. After several hours and with the only refreshment available being consumed liberally (the weegies thought they were in heaven, the nuns in hell), the train was finally able to move off - but only back to the start point; so we never got to London.

I have used the RENFE Trenhotel in the past and that surpassed my expectations, which is my definition of a good experience.

I used to work for Sea Container Services when they owned the Orient Express and managed to get a very cut price deal for a trip with my wife. It was very nice!

 

[Kathor1]

Ah The TransSiberian.....yes I did that with eight kids and an octogenarian father-in-law. We didn’t know about gold carriages - our trip was cheap as chips, bought the tickets at the station the day before (for 1/20th of the cost we had been quoted by a travel agent at home!)

Lovely. If I could recruit 9 family members to come with me, I'd hop on a Moscow-Vladivostok train tomorrow .

Here's a link to one of the trips on the Zarengold train with flight from Madrid, a bit of hotel accommodation at both ends and some excursions: Moscow-Beijing in the cheapest cabin class, sharing with 2-3 people, is 5.200 € per person, and in the Platinum cabin class it's 15.600 € per person.

The website, btw, caters for Spanish customers, and the season was summer 2020. They also have dates and prices for luxury train trips in Spain in 2021 such as on the El Transcantábrico (Santiago <-> San Sebastian and Santiago <-> Bilbao), the Al Andalus (Seville <-> Porto) and the La Robla Express (Bilbao <-> Leon).

 

[lt56ny]

True spirit of the Camino!

 

[Gadflyparexcellence]

This El Correo Gallego article published 01/05/21 announces a new service of Spanish luxury trains to provide journeys with overnight on board accommodation for tourists begining later this summer and continuing next year.

My wife and I had been booked on Costa Verde Express, one of these trains, for the San Sebastian to Santiago leg for 2020. But the service was cancelled for the entire 2020 season and more recently for 2021 as well. I presume they would be open for 2022 bookings when they're able to finalize the dates.

Although I have walked the Camino three times, my wife hasn't walked any due to her knee problems. We chose this as an alternative for her to get a feel of the Camino. Personally I also wanted to get a feel of the Northern Route as the Costa Verde Express runs parallel to it.

 

[MaineSally]

There are similar trains running between Calgary and Vancouver, but I just can't get into that form of travel, whatever the cost. I would always be looking out the window and wishing that I were walking along that trail. The closest that I want to come are high-speed trains in Spain, to get me to the start of my camino. I may take one from Madrid to Valencia this fall. It depends on the schedule, whether it would be more convenient to take a train from Madrid, rather than flying to Valencia (a six hour stopover in Amsterdam, after an overnight flight from Calgary). I hope that, if I wait until I am ready to make bookings, there will be better options.

I, too, would want to be walking along side the rails to soak it all in. Hoping your trip solidifies for the Fall. Buen Camino!

 

[IngridF]

I almost took the "luxury" train from Madrid to Lisbon in 2019...to my astonishment it was booked solid. I wish now I could gave had the experience despite the pricetag. Who knows when I can travel again.

 

[oursonpolaire]

Being a trainophiliac, I have taken not only the Trenhotel from Santiago to Madrid (I don't know if it runs anymore) as well as from Madrid to Hendaye, but the Trans-Siberian when it was still partway a steam train (1974). The Trenhotel was a great experience, and I had my own shower and a lovely little cabin, arriving in the morning. It was cost-justifiable when one counted the price for night's room.

However, I have seen the prospectus for the Transcantabrico luxury train when it was running (about five years ago IIRC and costing €1700-€5550) and figured that I would be better off taking the FEVE east from Ribadeo to Bilbao, where RENFE to Barcelona preferente would take me to my flight from Barcelona), with four stops along the way at Luarca, Cudillero, Oviedo, and Santander, with very nice accommodation and meals.

Bring a thermos and a flask and a sandwich for the FEVE, which has no bar car and attendants, and you'll be far better off.

 

[Albertagirl]

I have travelled by train most of the way across Canada, from Montreal to Vancouver. My favourite trip was with my mother, from Edmonton to Vancouver. We booked double bunks, me on the top bunk and her on the bottom, so we each had a double seat in the daytime, facing one another. We spent a week enjoying Vancouver from our base in a pleasant hotel on Stanley Park. As we were heading for the train station to return to Edmonton, mother was regretting our departure by train. She had enjoyed the trip through the mountains by train, but she would rather stay a day or two longer and fly back. I expressed my regret that I could not afford such a change in plans, as we had return train tickets. When we got to the train station, the train was not going anywhere. There had been an accident on the track the day before. Fortunately, the one injury was a broken wrist on a passenger. We were welcome to stay another night, bunked down in the train at the station and fed in the dining car. Via Rail had arranged for a plane to fly us back the next day.

 

[Marbe2]

I am sure before airplane service, Tren hotels were the way to go.

During my days as a student I-used the Eurail pass and occasionally got a couchette. II was definitely cheaper and well before the rise of European discount airlines. And, I still take the TGV..from Paris to Geneva, because it is fast, more convenient and, when booked 3 months in advance, it can be a real a bargain fare!

As long as I can walk, spending a vacation, touring on a train, is not on my bucket list...

 

[Felipe]

Right now, I would pay whatever price is asked just for an usual walk in the Camino...

 

[jsalt]

I was reading Agatha Christie’s “Murder on the Orient Express”, while I was ON the Orient Express.

Unfortunately it was not luxury travel in the mid-seventies, as I was lying stretched out, on the dirty floor, with my backpack, under the long seat on one side of a compartment for 6 people.

The train was packed, and it was a loooooooooong journey, and it was the only way I could sleep (and I always go to sleep with a good book).

I was marveling at how her train schedules in the book were spot on with the actual times . . . . and hoping the murder wasn’t going to happen in MY compartment . . . . . .

 

[Marbe2]

I was reading Agatha Christie’s “Murder on the Orient Express”, while I was ON the Orient Express.

Unfortunately it was not luxury travel in the mid-seventies, as I was lying stretched out, on the dirty floor, with my backpack, under the long seat on one side of a compartment for 6 people.

The train was packed, and it was a loooooooooong journey, and it was the only way I could sleep (and I always go to sleep with a good book).

I was marveling at how her train schedules in the book were spot on with the actual times . . . . and hoping the murder wasn’t going to happen in MY compartment . . . . . .

I remember, being in the second class compartment with students...none of whom I knew on an overnight from Koln to Munchen. I squeezed in...onto the floor...no worries about Bed bugs then... what one does when young

 

[jsalt]

I remember, being in the second class compartment with students...none of whom I knew on an overnight from Koln to Munchen. I squeezed in...onto the floor...no worries about Bed bugs then... what one does when young

And there were borders to cross in Europe in the seventies . . . in the middle of the night, at one of them, a guard came around and kicked me awake, demanding my passport . . . no problem when you are young!

 

[Arn]

This El Correo Gallego article published 01/05/21 announces a new service of Spanish luxury trains to provide journeys with overnight on board accommodation for tourists begining later this summer and continuing next year.

I come from a long line of railroad people. My uncle managed the largest switching yard (outside Chicago) for the Chicago, Milwaukee, St Paul and Pacific; my dad was a Fireman/Oiler on a diesel for the Sanitary District of Chicago; my South African father-in-law was responsible for all South African Railways to include his personal car on the Blue Train. A truly magnificent train.
Thus, I love traveling by train and have done so all over the world. I look forward to sampling the Spanish Luxury trains. Now, if they just went from Madrid to SJPIP, I'd be in heaven. Well, actually France.

 

[mspath]

Unfortunately there is no more an overnight train with couchettes/sleepers from Paris/Austerlitz to Bayonne. I always thought of these night trains as my camino version of the Orient Express. The romance is gone and now only daytime TGVs go from Paris/Montparnasse to Bayonne.

 

[Albertagirl]

Part of the last section, Modulo III, of the online course on the camino which I finished this past Sunday, was a literary edition of an unpublished narrative of Edith Wharton's journey to Santiago in 1925. She, a male friend, her maid, Elise, and someone named Coony ( who might have been the male friend's personal servant) travelled in comfort by overnight train from Paris to Bayonne, while the chauffeur, Franklin, drove her car down from Paris. Franklin met them in Bayonne, at the railway station restaurant, where they were having their morning coffee. Those were the days.

 

[oursonpolaire]

Unfortunately there is no more an overnight train with couchettes/sleepers from Paris/Austerlitz to Bayonne. I always thought of these night trains as my camino version of the Orient Express. The romance is gone and now only daytime TGVs go from Paris/Montparnasse to Bayonne.

That was a great run; I remember arriving in Bayonne in time for a quick omelette aux champignons and a café pressé before the local which took the better part of a day to get to Toulouse (from where my flight to Montréal was departing). If any reader is taking the Toulouse train, note that there is no restaurant car nor even a coffee bar, so take supplies.

 

[Marcus-UK]

This El Correo Gallego article published 01/05/21 announces a new service of Spanish luxury trains to provide journeys with overnight on board accommodation for tourists begining later this summer and continuing next year.

The train in the north is on the narrow gauge lines which mean the space for a bed is very limited. This means that one passenger has to climb over the other to get in/out of bed! Not conducive to a relaxing vacation!

BTW I have booked for 2022 on the Al Andalus train which meanders around Andalucia from Seville. This train is on the Spanish broad gauge line which gives a bit more space for beds! I have booked a cabin with two single beds! The trip is to celebrate my wife's 60th Birthday.

 

[pjacobi]

Compared to the US Amtrack, almost all European trains are a "luxury" by comparison. Even the Amtrack Acela has a long way to go before it can be compared to TGV.


-Paul

 

[CWBuff]

You are obviously not very familiar with the world of luxury train travel . Travelling the Transiberian railway tracks in the aptly named Tzar's Gold/Zarengold train is in a similar price range, and so are various other luxury train trips elsewhere on the globe. But I agree, there comes a limit where one simply doesn't want to pay the price even if one could. Whether it's a bed on a train or a bed for the night on the Camino de Frances. Individual mileages may vary, as the saying goes.

Ah The TransSiberian.....yes I did that with eight kids and an octogenarian father-in-law. We didn’t know about gold carriages - our trip was cheap as chips, bought the tickets at the station the day before (for 1/20th of the cost we had been quoted by a travel agent at home!)....and came with smuggled sausages hanging in plain view in our windows - and brand new blankets on our bunks for three or four days (until they were snatched away from us and sold at one of the stops through said window!)

To be reasonably fair - the Zarengold trips are about 11 days on the average (there are variations that can make it 16; yes the price will go up accordingly )
I guess it is one of the situations where being able to understand and speak the language helps me. While I will not outright poo-poo Zarengold since they do provide excellent service from anything I've ever heard and read - I can easily create my own itinerary and with that "do it on the cheap" with getting the tickets for what they call "2nd class" in a 4-person sleeper. Since I know for sure I cannot get 2 more to come with it would mean that DW & I will have to share the compartment with 2 more people for however many nights from point A to point B (I would like to get off and spend some time at various places). You know what? That is IMHO one of the beauties of traveling by train through Russia - meet people while at it. I my youth I've done plenty of overnights Odessa-Kiev & couple of Odessa-Moscow and it is all a part of it! Plus... the cost winds up being close to 1/4 of what Zarengold charges....
TransSib (as Russians like to call it) is very much on my bucket list

Needless to say - I am not paying €11,000.00 no way nohow!!!!

 

[Tia Valeria]

We seem to have see the Trans Cantabrico every year as we travelled on the FEVE to or from our Caminos.
In Ribadeo (2011) the train door was open and Terry managed to get a photo inside. In 2015 in Arriondas we took photos again showing just how long the train is!

Ribadeo 2011
Arriondas 2015

 

[IngridF]

And there were borders to cross in Europe in the seventies . . . in the middle of the night, at one of them, a guard came around and kicked me awake, demanding my passport . . . no problem when you are young!

I remember those times!

 

[Sean Lad]

Love trains but only to get to camino where I can live and walk

 

[Former member 49149]

It's a long story, but I'll keep it brief. The last planned outing for my Dinner Jacket (Tuxedo, y'all) was to have been the Orient Express in 2019, it was then to be consigned to a charity shop in Venice as my days of dressing to conform to the pretentions or insecurities of others are behind me. The reliable staff of SNCF helpfully declared a strike on the very day that the OE would have passed through Paris and the venture was cancelled. I'll confess to being relieved.

You're right, I'm unfamiliar with luxury train travel - being resident in the UK, that's normal.

If you were to use the west-coast 'main line' service from the North West of England to London, the passengers have been known to break into spontaneous applause if the train actually arrives at the destination, regardless of the arrival time. I was once stranded on the service for eight hours by flooding both in front and behind. The water supply failed and the only available liquid was an inordinate supply of Red Stripe strong beer. My carriage was comprised of myself and a 50/50 mix of Glaswegian football supporters and what must have been an entire convents-worth of nuns. After several hours and with the only refreshment available being consumed liberally (the weegies thought they were in heaven, the nuns in hell), the train was finally able to move off - but only back to the start point; so we never got to London.

I have used the RENFE Trenhotel in the past and that surpassed my expectations, which is my definition of a good experience.

An interesting change of avatar...
Henry the dog, please let your master know that this writer is almost a 'weegie' but not quite. 8 miles north east puts me in a totally different class altogether. I loved your description of the train journey that returned to starting point. Have you any idea how many nuns make up a convent's worth nowadays? Really must have made for entertainment in the days before Covid and fear of my neighbour...You have the makings of a best selling book, there..
Now, back to the thread proper, sorry for the side car trip!

 

[OTH86]

Unfortunately there is no more an overnight train with couchettes/sleepers from Paris/Austerlitz to Bayonne. I always thought of these night trains as my camino version of the Orient Express. The romance is gone and now only daytime TGVs go from Paris/Montparnasse to Bayonne.

Still - better than an American train... except maybe for the one I took when I was 8 years old, alone, from Spokane to Bismarck.

 

[Kathor1]

The idea behind these plans is to detect criminals, terrorists, or anyone else at risk before they reach the EU. The review could start as early as 2021. However, systematic monitoring should not cause problems for regular travelers. "It will be a simple procedure, just an online check, that people can do before traveling to the EU."

Which plans? The luxury trains?

Welcome to the forum, @dalebon. I see that this is your first post.