I’ve lost count of how many friends have told me stories about their experiences staying in repurposed rail stations that have been tastefully transformed into hotels or self-catering Europe vacation rentals in the last 12 months.
I was immediately perplexed since, regardless of how creatively the railway station had been transformed, my ideal hotel most definitely did not include sleeping next to rusted railroad tracks or in offices formerly occupied by train conductors.
However, I couldn’t resist going further because I love beautiful hotels and train travel. After all, jaunts on opulent sleeper trains can be pretty expensive, so spending the night in an old train station, especially one replete with artefacts from its past, seemed like the possible next step.
Situated near the French border, this hotel in the Pyrenees is a meticulously conserved display of art deco splendour, including expansive gold leaf and snow-capped mountains as a backdrop.
In 1928, former French President Gaston Doumergue cut the silk ribbon at the gate to Canfranc Estación, marking the station’s opening as a train station. The Musée d’Orsay in Paris is one of the structures that inspired the railway’s architecture, which was constructed to link Spain and France.
The spa, with its sculpture-like chandeliers and teal-coloured ceramic tiles, and the Canfranc Express, a Michelin-starred restaurant housed within a disused railway carriage, are the hotel’s most striking features. Make sure to sample the aromatic Aragonese cheese board before you depart.
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