Canfranc, Spain

Canfranc Estación

Price per night from$175.00

Price information

If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (including tax) available in the next 60 days.

Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (EUR163.64), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.

Canfranc Estación Photos

Style

Rail of a time

Setting

Trainspotter’s Pyrennean paradise

Explore

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Choo choo! Trainspotters rejoice, we’ve got just the ticket in the form of Canfranc Estación, A Royal Hideaway Hotel. Locomotives chug in regularly to this station-hotel hybrid, which had its ribbons cut by a king in 1928. It won’t take disembarking travellers long to be awed by the snow-capped Pyrennean backdrop that is the Aragón Valley, north of Zaragoza and south of the French border – and inside, things keep on getting better, with art deco details, polished parquet floors, and lots of brass and velvet for Golden Age-level grandeur.

Smith Extra

Get this when you book through us:

A welcome gift and one free entry to the spa per couple; GoldSmiths will also receive free parking

Facilities

Photos Canfranc Estación facilities

Need to know

Rooms

104, including 10 suites.

Check–Out

Noon, but flexible, subject to availability and a fee (from €50). Earliest check-in, 3pm.

Prices

Double rooms from £154.15 (€180), including tax at 10 per cent.

More details

Rates don’t usually include breakfast (€25 a person for the buffet).

Also

The hotel’s communal areas are fully accessible for guests with mobility issues and there are some specially adapted rooms.

At the hotel

Free WiFi throughout, gym and library. In rooms: tea- and coffee-making kit and Rituals bath products.

Our favourite rooms

North or south, French or Spanish are the questions, but all will be greeted with cabin-style (here, this is a good thing) rooms with framed black and white portraiture of the treasured terminus, art deco accents and sage green headboards.

Poolside

Adults can swim in the pool between 11am and 2pm, and again from 4pm until 9pm. Child-friendly hours start at noon and again at 4pm.

Spa

The spa has a heated peak-facing pool, thermal suite and four treatment rooms for massages performed using volcanic stones from Tuca Blanca mountain, water from the Aragón River and diamonds.

Packing tips

Ferroequinologists (if you know what that means, you know who you are), bring your binoculars and go crazy.

Children

All ages are welcome at Canfranc Estación and cots can be added to all rooms, but there are no extra facilities for kids.

Food and Drink

Photos Canfranc Estación food and drink

Top Table

One of the railway cars, obviously.

Dress Code

Deco decadence (or just hungry hiker).

Hotel restaurant

All things Aragónese are celebrated at Canfranc Estación’s restaurant, which, yes, does have more trainspotter-pleasing accoutrement, including railway cars for seating and the station logo used as branding for the bread. The smart restaurant serves tasting menus amid the crisp white tablecloths and the snowy backdrop. The hotel also has a dripping-in-deco café.

Hotel bar

Drinks are served with just a hint of an Agatha Christie-worthy mystery in the air (without the crimes) at the café.

Last orders

Breakfast is available from 7.30am to 10.30am. Lunch hours are 1.30pm to 3.30pm and dinner is from 8pm to 10pm. The café is open from noon to midnight.

Location

Photos Canfranc Estación location
Address
Canfranc Estación
Av. De Fernando el Católico, 2
Huesca
22880
Spain

Canfranc Estación is close to the French border in the heart of the Pyrenees in north-eastern Spain’s Aragón Valley.

Planes

The airport in Zaragoza is nearest – the drive north should take an hour and 45 minutes. Ryanair has direct inbound flights to London Stansted, but you’ll have to stop over on the way out. From Biarritz over the border, the drive will take around two-and-a-half hours.

Trains

Since there’s a station right outside, it’d be rude to not arrive by rail – trains chug in to Estación de Canfranc from cities across Spain, including Madrid and Barcelona (journey time to and from both is around six hours).

Automobiles

Locomotive is the mode of transport of choice, but hire cars are allowed, too.

Worth getting out of bed for

Canfranc Estación is surrounded by the peaks of the Pyrenees in Spain’s Aragón Valley, so if you’re here to hike, you won’t be disappointed. The valleys of Hecho, Garcipollera and Ansó are excellent starting points. Spain’s first ski resort Candanchú is open from December to early April; more pristine piste awaits on the Astún slopes. A stop on the Camino de Santiago, the city of Jaca has a pentagonal fortress that was built in the 16th century, as well as an 11th-century cathedral with some serious frescoes, and a several-centuries-old clock tower. The city of Huesca is equally historic, with a Gothic cathedral, a Romanesque monastery, a mediaeval old town and the tombs of two kings. Also within Aragón are the San Juan de la Peña monastery and, the star of Canfranc, the Estación itself, officially inaugurated in 1928 by King Alfonso XIII and providing refuge, a casino and a customs office along the ride.

Local restaurants

For fine-dining and elaborate tasting menus in Huesca, make Vidocq your first port of call. The next stop is Canteré, for jámon carpaccio, marinated salmon and razor clams with saffron. Or for something a little more rustic in Canfranc, stop in your tracks at Laduanilla or La Brasa Asador for carnivorous local cuisine. 

Reviews

Photos Canfranc Estación reviews

Anonymous review

By Mr & Mrs Smith

Every hotel featured is visited personally by members of our team, given the Smith seal of approval, and then anonymously reviewed. As soon as our reviewers have returned from this historic hotel in Spain and unpacked their binoculars and timetables, a full account of their trainspotting break will be with you. In the meantime, to whet your wanderlust, here's a quick peek inside Canfranc Estación, A Royal Hideaway Hotel in Canfranc…

It doesn’t have to be at midnight, but hop on a train to Canfranc in north-eastern Spain and you (especially trainspotters) will be in for a transport treat. Canfranc Estación is no longer just a railway station, now that it’s a glamorous hotel. There’s still an operative locomotive hub just outside, which means you’ll get to spy trains chugging in, as well as the backdrop of the mountains of the Aragón Valley. The grand reception hall faces France to the north and Spain to the south, with nods to both countries throughout. Original features from the locomotive locale, which was inaugurated by King Alfonso XIII in 1928, include the customs hall, a giant clock so you never miss your departure and arched windows. In the Gallic lounge at the northern end, there are coral sofas, cyan armchairs and domed deco lamps above the fireplace. The 240-metre building has 150 gates and almost 350 windows. Even the gym has parquet floors. We’re all aboard.

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Price per night from $175.00