Santiago de Compostela – Bilbao
Santiago de Compostela → Bilbao
The Costa Verde Express journey from Santiago de Compostela to Bilbao is a six-day, five-night odyssey through the lush heart of northern Spain, tracing the Atlantic seaboard across four distinct regions: Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria, and the Basque Country. Beginning in one of Europe's great pilgrimage cities and culminating in the architecture-defining streets of Bilbao, the route links medieval cathedrals, prehistoric cave art, rugged clifftop villages, and the dramatic peaks of the Picos de Europa — a concentration of cultural and natural heritage rarely matched on any rail journey in the world.
Aboard the Costa Verde Express — formerly known as the Transcantábrico Clásico — guests travel in elegant Grand Class cabins with private en-suite bathrooms and double beds, dining in the restaurant car on regional specialities accompanied by local wines. The train rests in each town overnight, allowing unhurried coach excursions by day to sites that lie just beyond the rail line: the Cabrales cheese caves in the Picos de Europa, the ethnographic hamlets of Taramundi, and the Altamira Neocave with its breathtaking Palaeolithic reproductions. Multilingual guides accompany the journey throughout.
This is slow travel at its finest: a deliberate, immersive crossing of "Green Spain" that reveals the verdant coast in full, from the granite spires of the Cathedral of Santiago to Frank Gehry's titanium curves of the Guggenheim in Bilbao. Every meal, excursion, and museum entrance is included, leaving guests free to focus entirely on discovery.
- ✦Guided tour of UNESCO-listed Santiago de Compostela Cathedral and Praza do Obradoiro
- ✦Funicular ascent to the car-free mountain village of Bulnes in the Picos de Europa
- ✦Altamira Neocave — a full-scale reproduction of 14,000-year-old Palaeolithic cave paintings
- ✦Medieval Santillana del Mar, widely regarded as Spain's finest preserved village
- ✦Artisanal anchovy cannery visit and boat crossing to Santoña
- ✦All-inclusive Grand Class cabins with private en-suite bathrooms
- ✦Bilbao finale with views of Gehry's titanium-clad Guggenheim Museum
Day-by-Day Itinerary
Day 1 — Santiago de Compostela · Ferrol · Viveiro
Guests are welcomed at the historic Parador de los Reyes Católicos on the Praza do Obradoiro at 10:00, one of the world's oldest hotels and a fitting starting point for a grand rail journey. A guided walking tour of Santiago de Compostela takes in the monumental Cathedral of Santiago, the sweeping baroque facade of the Obradoiro, and the medieval lanes of the old city, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Lunch is served before a luxury coach transfers the group northward to Ferrol, where the Costa Verde Express awaits at the station. After cabin allocation and a welcome reception from the train crew, the train departs along the Galician coast toward Viveiro — a town of medieval walls, Romanesque architecture, and handsome glazed gallery houses. Guests disembark for an evening walk through the old quarter before dinner and their first night aboard.
Day 2 — Viveiro · Ribadeo · Taramundi · Luarca
Breakfast is served as the train rolls along the Galician coast toward Ribadeo, a small estuarine town at the border of Galicia and Asturias whose bay forms part of a designated biosphere reserve. From Ribadeo, a luxury coach heads inland to the Oscos region — one of Asturias's most unspoiled corners — visiting the Os Teixois ethnographic complex, a working example of traditional Asturian water-powered industry, and the village of Taramundi, famed for centuries of knife-making craft. The local knife museum explains how the tradition survives today. Lunch is taken in Taramundi before the coach returns to rejoin the train. The afternoon journey concludes in Luarca, the so-called White Town of the Green Coast, a photogenic fishing port and the birthplace of Nobel Prize-winning biochemist Severo Ochoa. Guests explore the harbour and headland cemetery before dinner and an overnight stay.
Day 3 — Luarca · Gijón · Oviedo · Llanes
An early departure allows a morning coach excursion to Gijón, Asturias's largest city, where guests have free time to stroll the seafront promenade, visit the old fishing quarter of Cimadevilla, and explore the Roman baths of Campo Valdés. After breakfast on board, the afternoon is given over to the Asturian capital Oviedo, whose compact historic centre contains a remarkable concentration of pre-Romanesque monuments recognised by UNESCO. The Gothic Cathedral of San Salvador, housing the revered Shroud of Oviedo, anchors a skyline of medieval towers. Free time allows exploration of the Casco Antiguo at leisure. In the early evening the train departs for Llanes, a coastal town combining monumental heritage with sweeping beaches and dramatic cliff scenery on the edge of the Picos de Europa. Dinner is served on board during the final run east, with an overnight stop in Llanes.
Day 4 — Llanes · Arenas de Cabrales · Bulnes · Cabezón de la Sal
After breakfast, a full morning coach excursion heads into the Picos de Europa, Europe's most dramatic coastal mountain range. The first stop is Arenas de Cabrales and its celebrated Cabrales Cheese Cave-Museum, where guests learn how the region's pungent blue cheese is aged in natural limestone caves — and sample the result. The excursion continues to Poncebos, where a funicular ascends to the tiny mountain village of Bulnes, entirely car-free and accessible only by foot or cable car, perched above a gorge of extraordinary beauty. Lunch is served in Arenas de Cabrales before the group returns to Llanes for a brief afternoon visit to its medieval walls and harbour. The train then travels westward along the Cantabrian coast to Cabezón de la Sal, a charming inland market town whose salt-mining heritage is written into its name. Dinner and overnight on board.
Day 5 — Cabezón de la Sal · Santillana del Mar · Santander
Breakfast precedes a morning coach excursion to two of Cantabria's greatest treasures. Santillana del Mar — famously described by Jean-Paul Sartre as "the most beautiful village in Spain" — is a perfectly preserved medieval settlement of Renaissance mansions and cobblestone alleys radiating from its Collegiate Church of Santa Juliana, a masterpiece of Romanesque art. Nearby, the Altamira Neocave at the National Museum of Altamira presents an extraordinarily faithful full-scale reproduction of the 14,000-year-old Palaeolithic paintings of bison, deer, and horses discovered in the original cave in 1879 — paintings so vivid and precise they were initially dismissed as forgeries. Lunch is served on board as the train travels to Santander, Cantabria's elegant capital on one of the most beautiful bays in Europe. A guided city walk takes in the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption, the Belle Époque Casino building, and the seafront paseo. Dinner is enjoyed at a traditional local restaurant. Overnight in Santander.
Day 6 — Santander · Santoña · Laredo · Bilbao
During breakfast the train advances toward the Basque Country, pausing at Treto for a final morning coach excursion. Guests visit the historic old town of Laredo, one of Cantabria's most storied medieval ports, before taking a short boat crossing across the estuary to Santoña, renowned throughout Spain for the quality of its anchovies. A visit to a traditional anchovy cannery reveals the painstaking process by which the fish are salted, matured, and hand-filleted — an artisanal tradition unchanged for generations. The train then makes its final run into Bilbao, the Basque capital transformed in a generation from industrial port to one of Europe's most visited cities. Lunch is served at a local restaurant, and guests have time to admire the exterior of Frank Gehry's Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, whose shimmering titanium panels redefined contemporary architecture when it opened in 1997. The journey concludes at approximately 16:30 at the beautiful La Concordia station, a jewel of Art Nouveau design.
Destinations & Highlights
Santiago de Compostela
Declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985, Santiago de Compostela has drawn pilgrims from across Europe for over a thousand years. Its Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, built above the reputed tomb of St James the Apostle, anchors one of the most dramatic squares in Europe — the Praza do Obradoiro — flanked by the baroque Parador de los Reyes Católicos, the Rajoy Palace, and the Gothic Colegio de San Jerónimo. The city's medieval lanes shelter Romanesque churches, covered markets, and a vibrant university culture that keeps it alive year-round.
Asturias: Oviedo, Gijón & Luarca
Oviedo, capital of the Principality of Asturias, contains a concentration of pre-Romanesque monuments — the churches of Santa María del Naranco, San Miguel de Lillo, and San Julián de los Prados — that UNESCO recognises as outstanding examples of a style unique to ninth-century Christian Spain. The Gothic Cathedral of San Salvador, home to the Shroud of Oviedo, dominates the Casco Antiguo. Gijón, the region's largest city, combines Roman heritage (the Campo Valdés baths) with a lively seafront promenade. Luarca, the White Town of the Green Coast, is a photogenic harbour of whitewashed houses and fishing boats, birthplace of Nobel laureate Severo Ochoa.
Picos de Europa & Cantabria
The Picos de Europa National Park, one of Spain's oldest and most spectacular, rises to over 2,600 metres within sight of the Atlantic coast. The village of Arenas de Cabrales is the base for exploring the limestone massif and sampling Cabrales cheese, aged in the park's natural caves and arguably Spain's most characterful blue cheese. Santillana del Mar is widely considered the finest preserved medieval village in Spain, its honey-coloured stone mansions and Romanesque collegiate church unchanged in essence since the Middle Ages. The adjacent Altamira Neocave brings Palaeolithic art — bison, hands, abstract signs painted 14,000 years ago — to life in a stunning full-scale reproduction that protects the fragile original cave.
Santander & Bilbao
Santander, built on a peninsula jutting into one of northern Spain's most beautiful natural bays, is a city of wide beaches, Modernista architecture, and refined Cantabrian cuisine. The Belle Époque Casino, the seafront palaces, and the fish market all repay exploration. Bilbao is one of the great urban regeneration stories of the late twentieth century: a former industrial port reinvented through culture and design. The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, designed by Frank Gehry and opened in 1997, remains a landmark of contemporary architecture and houses a permanent collection of modern and contemporary art alongside world-class temporary exhibitions. The medieval Casco Viejo and its famous pintxos bars offer a vivid counterpoint to the sleek waterfront.