Seville to Madrid

The Al Andalus luxury train's seven-day journey from Seville to Madrid is one of Spain's most celebrated rail experiences — a rolling palace that carries guests from the sun-soaked plazas of Andalusia through the ancient heartland of Extremadura and across the windswept plains of Castilla-La Mancha before arriving at the Spanish capital. Travelling in carriages originally built in France in 1929–1930 for the British Royal Family, passengers experience a seamless blend of Belle Époque grandeur and 21st-century comfort.

The route is deliberately curated to trace the great civilisations that shaped the Iberian Peninsula. Within seven days, guests spend two nights among the sherry bodegas and horses of Jerez, walk the Phoenician and Roman streets of Cádiz, encounter the Islamic Caliphate legacy of Córdoba, explore two UNESCO World Heritage cities in Extremadura (Mérida and Cáceres), discover the three-culture splendour of Toledo and stroll the royal gardens of Aranjuez — a journey through more than 2,000 years of history without ever unpacking a suitcase.

Because the Al Andalus sleeps in station yards overnight, every daylight hour is devoted to exploration. All excursions, entrance fees, on-board meals with wine, entertainment, and multilingual guide services are included, making this a genuinely all-encompassing experience from the welcome toast in Seville to the farewell gala lunch in Madrid.

Seville — Gateway to Andalusia

Seville is the capital of Andalusia and Spain's fourth-largest city, situated on the banks of the Guadalquivir River. Its historic centre — the largest in Spain — encompasses the great Gothic Cathedral (burial place of Christopher Columbus), the Alcázar palace complex, and the labyrinthine Barrio de Santa Cruz. Seville was the commercial hub of Spain's colonial empire and its architectural wealth reflects those centuries of prosperity. The city is also the undisputed home of flamenco.

Córdoba — Heart of the Caliphate

Córdoba was at its peak the largest city in Western Europe, the capital of the Umayyad Caliphate of Al-Andalus, and a centre of learning that preserved classical knowledge while the rest of Europe was in the Dark Ages. Its Mezquita-Cathedral — a UNESCO World Heritage Site — is one of the most extraordinary buildings in the world: a vast prayer hall of 856 columns built under successive Caliphs between the 8th and 10th centuries, into which a Renaissance cathedral was inserted in the 16th century. The surrounding Judería preserves medieval streets, Roman columns, and the 14th-century synagogue.

Cádiz & Jerez — Ancient Coast and Sherry Country

Cádiz, on a narrow peninsula jutting into the Atlantic, is arguably the oldest continuously inhabited city in Western Europe, founded by the Phoenicians around 1100 BC. Its old town is a compact maze of baroque churches, golden-domed cathedral, market halls, and sea-wall promenades with views across the Bay of Cádiz. Jerez de la Frontera, inland from the coast, is the home of sherry wine and of the legendary Andalusian horse. The Royal Andalusian School of Equestrian Art here is the world's foremost institution for the classical Spanish riding tradition.

Cáceres & Mérida — Extremadura's UNESCO Pair

Cáceres' walled old city is a near-perfect survival of medieval and Renaissance urban architecture, awarded UNESCO status in 1986. Noble towers, Moorish gates, and Renaissance palaces built by families enriched by conquest of the Americas crowd within its ancient walls. Mérida was founded by Augustus in 25 BC as Emerita Augusta, capital of the Roman province of Lusitania, and its archaeological ensemble — also UNESCO-listed — is the most extensive in Spain: a Roman theatre that seats 3,000 and is still used today, an amphitheatre, circus, aqueducts, bridges, and the National Museum of Roman Art.

Toledo — City of Three Cultures

Toledo was successively the Visigothic capital, a prosperous city under Moorish rule, and then the imperial capital of Castile. For several centuries in the Middle Ages it was home to the three great Abrahamic faiths living in relative coexistence — a legacy that survives in its extraordinary religious architecture: the massive Gothic Cathedral, ancient mosques converted and preserved, and Sephardic synagogues of Mudéjar craftsmanship. The city's medieval street plan is virtually unchanged, and its panoramic site on a granite outcrop encircled by the Tagus River makes it one of the most dramatically beautiful cities in Europe.