The Carriages
The carriages.
Aboard
A restored 1920s train, intentionally small.
The Costa Verde Express is a working luxury train in Renfe's Trenes TurÃsticos de Lujo (Luxury Tourist Trains) fleet, not a stationary museum. It moves daily along the Cantabrian coast â by intention slowly, and with frequent stops ashore. The carriages have been restored from the original El Transcantábrico Clásico rolling stock, with the cabinetry, marquetry, and brass returned to their 1920s drawings.
Capacity is small. Forty-six guests when fully sold across twenty-four Gran Clase Suites, with a crew that quickly learns your names. The opposite of a cruise ship; the opposite of a high-speed train.
The Suites
Twenty-four Gran Clase Suites.
Six square metres of restored 1920s cabinetry, a day-mode sofa that converts to a 1.35 Ã 1.80 m double bed at night, and a private bathroom with hydro-massage shower. Each suite is identical in dimension and finish; the experience differs only by which side of the train wakes you in the morning.
Suite Type
Gran Clase Suite
24 suites · 46 guests
6 m² (64.5 ft²) including bathroom · day-mode sofa converts to a 1.35 à 1.80 m double bed at night
Every cabin aboard the Costa Verde Express is a Gran Clase Suite. Marquetry restored to the original 1920s drawings, brass refinished, glass etched to archive patterns. Each suite is a small room rather than a sleeping compartment, with a writing desk, wardrobe, climate control, individually controlled lighting, minibar, safe, and a private bathroom with hydro-massage shower.
By day, the suite is configured as a sitting room with a sofa; at night the staff converts it to a 1.35 Ã 1.80 m double bed. The train stays at a station each night, so sleep is not disturbed by movement. WiFi is available in the lounge cars and in the berth carriages, and the daily Spanish digital press is delivered to each cabin.
At the Table
Dinner on the rails, lunch ashore.
Breakfast is a generous buffet served in the lounge cars, often as the train moves between the night's stop and the morning's first excursion. Lunches and dinners alternate between the restaurant car and selected regional restaurants â a cider house in Asturias, the Parador at Santiago, a coastal kitchen in Luarca.
Regional wines and beverages are included throughout the journey, as are coffee and after-dinner liqueurs. Menus are built around the produce of Cantabria, Asturias, and Galicia: seafood from the Bay of Biscay, beef and cheeses from inland farms, the artisan Cabrales of the Picos de Europa.
The Lounges
Four lounge cars, each its own room.
Four lounge cars in total: one is the principal bar with a small dance floor where music runs late on most evenings; a second houses a quieter second bar; the remaining two are reading lounges with the library and the chess sets â on most evenings the quietest rooms on the train. Sometimes flamenco arrives when a local musician is invited aboard for a stop in Galicia. WiFi is available throughout the lounge cars.