Bilbao – Santiago de Compostela

The Costa Verde Express traces a magnificent arc along Spain's Atlantic seaboard, linking the Basque cultural capital of Bilbao with the holy city of Santiago de Compostela in six days of unhurried, immersive travel. Rolling through four of Spain's greenest, most storied regions — the Basque Country, Cantabria, Asturias, and Galicia — this boutique luxury train carries just 48 passengers in 24 Gran Clase suites, creating an intimacy rarely found on rail journeys of such scope.

What makes this route extraordinary is the combination of dramatic coastal scenery, centuries-old medieval towns, world-class museums, and a gastronomic culture that rivals any in Europe. The train's vintage Pullman carriages, some dating to 1923 and lovingly restored, provide an elegant backdrop for meals prepared by an on-board chef, evenings of live music in the bar car, and days filled with guided excursions to the Guggenheim Bilbao, the Altamira neo-cave, the Picos de Europa and the Cabrales area, and the pilgrimage streets of Santiago de Compostela.

Unlike a rushed coach tour or a point-to-point flight, the Costa Verde Express becomes a destination in itself. At night the train rests at station platforms so passengers sleep undisturbed, waking each morning to a new landscape and a fresh set of discoveries along one of Europe's most rewarding and least-touristed coastlines.

Bilbao

Bilbao is the largest city in the Basque Country and one of the most dynamic urban success stories in modern Europe. Once a grimy industrial port, it was transformed in the 1990s by a wave of bold architecture and cultural investment, most famously the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao (1997), Frank Gehry's shimmering titanium landmark on the Nervión riverbank. The museum's permanent collection and temporary exhibitions rank among Spain's most visited cultural attractions. Beyond the Guggenheim, Bilbao rewards exploration: the Gothic quarter of Casco Viejo hides pintxos bars, the iron-arched Mercado de la Ribera, and the Catedral de Santiago; the elegant 19th-century Ensanche district showcases Beaux-Arts architecture; and the regenerated waterfront tells the story of a city that reinvented itself through culture.

Santander and Santillana del Mar

Cantabria's capital, Santander, sits on one of the finest natural harbours on the Bay of Biscay. Its Magdalena Peninsula — home to a royal summer palace — juts into the bay, and the long white crescent of El Sardinero beach defines the city's fashionable northern edge. Inland, Santillana del Mar is an almost perfectly preserved medieval ensemble, its cobbled lanes flanked by Renaissance stone palaces and the 12th-century Collegiate Church of Santa Juliana. Nearby, the Altamira caves represent one of humanity's earliest artistic achievements: Palaeolithic bison and horses painted some 14,000 years ago on limestone ceilings with a sophistication that stunned the 19th-century world; the adjacent neo-cave provides a faithful full-size replica for visitors.

The Picos de Europa and Asturian Interior

The Picos de Europa National Park rises abruptly from the Cantabrian coast to peaks exceeding 2,600 metres, creating a landscape of limestone gorges, glacial lakes, and alpine meadows. The park is famous for its Cabrales cheese, a legally protected blue cheese cured in natural mountain caves, and for its mountain villages around Arenas de Cabrales. Asturias as a whole is a region of extraordinary Pre-Romanesque heritage: its 9th-century Santa María del Naranco and San Miguel de Lillo churches, built for the court of King Ramiro I on a hillside above Oviedo, predate the Romanesque movement and are recognised by UNESCO as outstanding monuments of early medieval European architecture.

Oviedo and Gijón

Oviedo, Asturias's capital, is a refined university city of Gothic spires, baroque facades, and lively cider houses. Its compact historic centre rewards wandering: the Gothic Cathedral of San Salvador houses the Cámara Santa, a pre-Romanesque chapel containing some of Spain's finest Romanesque religious art. Gijón, an hour's drive away and Asturias's largest city, combines a Roman heritage (the excavated 1st-century baths of Campo Valdés), a vibrant fishing quarter in Cimadevilla, and a contemporary waterfront that anchors Asturias's maritime cultural life. Both cities are central to Asturian cider culture — the region produces the vast majority of Spain's natural cider, fermented from local apple varieties and poured with theatrical flair.

Galicia and Santiago de Compostela

Galicia, Spain's north-western corner, is a landscape of granite headlands, deep rias, and ancient pilgrimage roads. Santiago de Compostela stands at the culmination of the Camino de Santiago — the network of medieval pilgrim routes that converge on the tomb of the Apostle James in the city's magnificent Baroque cathedral. The Praza do Obradoiro, framed by the cathedral's twin bell towers, the Pazo de Raxoi, and the Hostal dos Reis Católicos (a 16th-century royal pilgrim hostel, now a parador), is one of the grandest public squares in Europe. The Old City is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, its granite lanes and covered arcades alive year-round with pilgrims, students, and visitors drawn by one of Christendom's most enduring spiritual destinations.