What to see in Canfranc Station (Pyrenees, Huesca)

 

Canfranc railway station (Estación de tren de Canfranc - Canfranc-Estación) is a historic building located in the Aragonese Pyrenees (Huesca, Aragón), on the border between Spain and France. It is made up of a complex of buildings that are unique both for their elegant appearance and their history. 

This station played an important role in the first half of the 20th century as a railway station connecting Aragon with France, especially during the Spanish Civil War and World War II. 

The town of Canfranc (and Canfranc-Estación) is located north of Jaca, on the border with France. It is usually visited by car, but can also be visited by train, stopping at the new railway station.

 

Canfranc International Railway Station (historic building) and its surroundings

The main historical building of the railway station was built in 1915-25 and closed in 1945-49, remaining almost abandoned for many years, but being highly popular and remembered for its history and architectural beauty. Around the building you can see the railway tracks, 20th century railway machinery (cranes, etc.), warehouses and goods transfer areas.

The beauty of the site lies not only in the uniqueness of the building in the middle of the mountains, but also in the landscape and nature surrounding the ensemble of buildings and open areas.

Today the main building of the station is restored and transformed into a luxury hotel. The restoration of the area was done between 2017 and 2023. Today the area can be visited, being a well-remembered part of the history of the trains and the recent history of Aragon (see more information here).

The area has a garden-museum (Jardín Ferroviario) in the surrounding area where you can see old train carriages and machinery of the time. There are also walking routes nearby where you can go on nature excursions.

Photos of the historic station (now a hotel):

Gardens, wagons, train tracks and old machinery (Railway Garden / Jardín Ferroviario):

Franco-Aragonese cuisine restaurant car:

Photos of the interior of the hotel:

Walking routes in the surrounding area:

 

Canfranc town, Somport Tunnel and the new railway station

Canfranc (urban centre) is located next to the station. The town is divided into two population nuclei: Canfranc village and Canfranc Station, both very close to each other.

Canfranc is a small town well known, apart from the railway station, for being next to the French border, as well as for the ski resorts in the area and for its nature. It is a small town but very popular with tourists, with hotels, restaurants and shops. 

The new train station, currently open, is located just behind the historic building of the old station. Also, next to the area is the Somport Tunnel. This tunnel connects this area of the Pyrenees with France by road. It is 8.6 km long and the current tunnel was opened in 2003.

New train station:

Signs: Map of Canfranc International Station, Explanada de los Arañones, photos and history of the place.

Photo: Inauguration of the International Station. 18 July 1928.

Other nearby places to visit

Nearby places: Jaca, Villanúa, Sabiñánigo, Huesca.

Ski resorts: The nearest ski stations are Astún and Candanchú.

Hiking in the Pyrenees: Aisa, Estarrún River and Igüer Valley (Huesca)

The Aragonese Pyrenees (in the province of Huesca, Aragon) have hundreds of routes and trails for walking or snowshoeing in winter, for all kinds of walks, excursions, climbing and mountain sports, of all levels of difficulty.

In the area surrounding the city of Jaca, we find the town of Aisa (not to be mistaken with Ainsa, also in the Aragonese Pyrenees), where we can find some of these routes.

The village of Aisa

Aisa is to the north of Jaca, halfway between Jaca and the French border, near Villanúa, Castiello de Jaca and Borau. To get there from Jaca, take the road north out of Jaca (N330 Road), then turn left onto another narrower road. 

The journey from Jaca to Aisa takes approximately 30 minutes by car. It is a small village with a bar and, among its architecture, its church stands out.

Walking routes from Aisa

From Aisa, you can find several places where you can go on nature trails. Many of these routes can be reached by car along various paths. The routes in this area are quite easy, suitable for the whole family at any time of the year.

Signposts, parking area and maps of the zone: 

Ruta del Puerto de Aisa (Aisa mountain pass route), Collado de Rigüelo, Pico Aspe, El Chorrotal, Cerro Peñarruaba, Valle de Igüer, La Cleta parking area, Ibón de Izagra, Collado del Bozo, Río Estarrún, Pozas del Río Estarrún (Estarrún river, Estarrún river pools). SL-HU 105 Route.

Other places to visit in the Aragonese Pyrenees

Near Aisa is the town of Jaca in the south and Canfranc in the north, next to the French border. In the Pyrenees you can enjoy nature activities all year round, both in summer and winter.

In winter, the ski tracks are famous. Formigal and Cerler stand out among them. Panticosa (40km of ski slopes) is a smaller resort, ideal for occasional skiers. Other stations in Aragon are Astún, Candanchú and Valdelinares. 

Visiting Muelle de Riotinto and Paseo de la Ria of Huelva

A must if you visit Huelva (Andalusia / Andalucía) is the Paseo de la Ría and the Muelle de la Compañía de Riotinto. This area of the city, a five-minute walk from the centre and facing the Ordiel River, has beautiful views and a calm and relaxing atmosphere.

 

Muelle of Riotinto

This is a three-height dock, with a metallic structure and wooden floor, which allows us to walk on top of it and takes us into the river, with views towards the sea.

In the past it was an ore loading bay for the Riotinto Company, and has now been restored for recreational use since 2007.

 

Paseo de la Ría of Huelva

Next to the Muelle de la Compañía de Riotinto is this promenade, next to the river (and very close to the sea) where you can walk and eat or drink something in the terraces of the cafés along the promenade. A good place to watch the sunset by the water.

 

Other places to visit in Huelva

- City centre: The city centre is a comfortable size to walk around in an afternoon. A 5-10 minute walk will take you to the Plaza de las Monjas, the Christopher Columbus Statue, the Plaza de la Constitución and the Town Hall, or Casa Colón, and a little further into the city, the Cathedral of La Merced de Huelva in the Plaza de la Merced.

- Beaches: There are several beaches close to Huelva, such as Punta Umbría, Playa del Espigón, Playa de Mazagón or Playa de la Bota.

- City of Seville: Seville is approximately one hour away by road or train.

Santo Estevo Parador Hotel: An old monastery to sleep surrounded by nature in the Ribeira Sacra (Galicia)

The Parador of Santo Estevo (Galicia) has been recognised as one of the most beautiful Paradors in Spain. This former monastery is now a hotel where you can stay and disconnect from the world, in the Ribeira Sacra of Galicia.

This parador was a Benedictine monastery that dates back to the 10th century and was extended in the following centuries. It has a total of three cloisters that can be visited, one Romanesque, one Gothic and one Renaissance.

Both for its beautiful architecture and its state of preservation, as well as for the nature that surrounds it, if you want to visit the interior of Galicia and are looking for a quiet and inspiring place to spend a few days, the Parador de Santo Estevo is an option that you should take into account.

  

Tips for staying at the Parador and visiting the surrounding area

Spain's Paradors are unique buildings that for various reasons have been converted into hotels, allowing these historic sites to be preserved in good condition and giving visitors the opportunity to enter and spend a few days in these impressive buildings. 

Among the diversity of existing Paradors (see https://paradores.es ), the Parador de Santo Estevo (Monasterio de Santo Estevo de Ribas de Sil) is one of the most beautiful and emblematic. The place was recently restored and reopened as a parador, converting the monks' cells into hotel rooms (77 rooms) and converting some of its rooms into the restaurant and other services of the parador, but at the same time preserving its exterior architecture as well as many of its emblematic rooms, cloisters, corridors and staircases.

The parador is located in the canyon of the Sil River, in the province of Ourense, 25 km from Ourense city. It is located in the middle of the mountainous nature, surrounded by forest in a small village of no more than 20 houses. The usual way to get there is by car (there is a car park at the entrance), however the access route is complicated and often the GPS does not recognise the roads well.

The parador has rooms with views of both the interior and the surrounding forest. Guests can visit the inside of the building and see the various rooms and halls where the monks lived (cloisters, kitchens, living rooms, monks' cells -now converted into hotel rooms-, an old oven-bakery in an area near the monastery, etc.). Guided tours of the interior, including dramatised visits, are also scheduled.

The place has a restaurant and cafeteria, and we recommend you try the restaurant's menu with traditional Galician food from the area. It also has a spa/jacuzzi area.

Around the building there are several excursions by foot of different levels of difficulty and length. Among them there is a circular path down from the mountain to the river, which starts and ends at the door of the parador.

If you are goint to stay several days at the parador you can visit the nearby villages, as well as other places and nature within the Ribeira Sacra.

 

Other nearby places to visit in Galicia

- Ourense: A curious place to visit in Ourense are its natural spas (termas, natural hot springs). There are several of them in the city and surroundings.

- Vigo: Among the places to see near Vigo, we recommend visiting the island of La Toja (Illa da Toxa), and take a boat ride in the surroundings (Boat of the mussels).

- Other places to visit are Santiago de Compostela, A Coruña, or the famous Playa de las Catedrales.

Visit to the Geominero Museum in Madrid / Museo Geominero (Madrid)

The Geominero Museum (Museo geominero) in Madrid is a place that, at first glance, from the street, may go unnoticed (or you may not even realise it exists) but once inside it hides an unexpected treasure, both for its contents and for the architecture of the building.

  

Inside the Geominero Museum (Museo geominero)

The Geominero Museum is located next to the Rios Rosas metro station. It is located in the building of the Geological and Mining Institute of Spain - Instituto Geológico y Minero de España (Calle de Rios Rosas, 28), and admission to the museum is free.

The museum's large main hall has a huge glass ceiling, a ground floor full of display cases and three upper floors with perimeter balconies overlooking the ground floor, which are reached by old stairs and are full of shelves and display cases with exhibitions.  

The museum experience is surprising not only for its content (a large exhibition of minerals, fossils, rocks, etc. from Spain and the rest of the world), but also for the ambience of total calm and tranquillity, and for the atmosphere of the building, which evokes a journey into the past. It is not for nothing that the IGME celebrated its 175th anniversary in 2024, and the building was constructed between 1921 and 1940. The collections on display are more than a century old. 

The duration of the visit can range from 1 hour to 3 or 4 hours, depending on the person and their interest in geology and mining. Moreover, the museum is quite close to the Natural Science Museum, another well-known and very extensive museum in Madrid, so you can walk from one to the other and in one day you can visit both.

More information about the museum (opening hours, history, etc.) can be found at https://www.igme.es/museo

Other nearby museums in Madrid 

- Natural Science Museum (Museo de ciencias naturales), located on Paseo de la Casetallana, next to the roundabout at the Fuente de San Juan de la Cruz (Gregorio Marañón metro station, near Nuevos Ministerios).

- Sorolla Museum.

- Madrid museum triangle: Prado Museum, Reina Sofía Museum and Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum.

- Museo de América, in Ciudad Universitaria (near Moncloa metro station).

Skiing in Baqueira Beret (The Pyrenees, Lleida)

 The ski resort of Baqueira Beret is one of the best known in Spain due to the high quality of its snow and the great extension of its ski slopes. It has the advantage that, due to its location, it often has snow in winter, or almost always, and therefore the slopes are open, which is not easy. 

Baqueira is located in the eastern part of The Pyrenees, in the province of Lerida/Lleida (Catalonia), very close to Aragon, Andorra and France. 

Baqueira Beret has more than 160 kilometres of pistes of all levels of difficulty and is especially recommended for medium-high level skiing enthusiasts. In comparison, other major ski resorts in Spain are, for example, Formigal in Huesca (Aragon) with more than 140 km, or Cerler (Aragon) with 80 km, or Sierra Nevada in Granada (Andalusia) with 110 km. 

 

Places to stay, ski passes and other activities

Baqueira can be reached by car without difficulty on the N230 road, which passes close to the border between Aragon and Catalonia. To sleep in, you can book accommodation in hotels, hostels, appartments, etc. There are places both almost at the foot of the slopes and in the nearby villages. Near Baqueira are the towns of Tredós, Arties, Betrén, Vielha (Viella), the latter, highly recommendable to visit as a tourist in a free moment.

The ski passes can be bought at the bottom of the slopes, near the car park, as in any other resort.

In addition, other activities you can do in the mountains, apart from skiing, are excursions on foot or with snowshoes, snowmobile routes, sledging, etc. 

  

Ski piste map

Other ski resorts in the Pyrenees

Other Catalan ski resorts are La Molina, Masella, Boí Taül or Port del Compte.

Other ski resorts you can visit in the Pyrenees are the resorts in Aragon. These include Formigal and Cerler. On the other hand, Panticosa (40km of pistes) is a smaller resort, ideal for beginners or occasional skiers (and which has a connection with Formigal). Other resorts in Aragón are Astún, Candanchú and Valdelinares. On the other hand, in the south of Aragon (Teruel) is Javalambre - Valdelinares.

In the Pyrenees you can also find other ski resorts, for example in France or Andorra. 

In the south of the country, another resort that stands out is Sierra Nevada, in Granada.  Near Madrid, meanwhile, is La Pinilla (15km), which is small but suitable if you live in central Spain and want to ski for a day without travelling far. Others are Valdesquí and Sierra de Bejar.

Visiting Las Catedrales Beach (Galicia) / Playa de Las Catedrales

Playa de las Catedrales is possibly the most famous beach in northern Spain, on the Rias Altas Coast (Atlantic Ocean) due to its beautiful landscape of sea, nature, animals, plants and rocks, which make it ideal for discovering and photographing. 

The beach is located in Galicia, halfway between Ribadeo (to the east) and Viveiro, Cangas, Burela and Foz (to the west), and about 100 km north of the city of Lugo. In this article we will tell you the main things you should know if you want to visit Las Catedrales Beach:

What to see in Las Catedrales Beach and tips to prepare your visit

- Tides and waves: Before planning your visit, you should check the daily tide schedule (it changes every day) as the beach can only be visited when the tide is at its lowest. At high tide the beach disappears completely, while during the 30-60 minute period of time when the tide is at its lowest, you can walk along the entire coastline all the way to the nearby villages.

- Walking route: At low tide, you can walk from Las Catedrales beach to the nearby beaches (almost all of them can be reached very quickly on foot):  To the east is Carricelas Beach, Esteiro Beach, Playa das Covas, Seborro Beach, Dos Castros Beach (Os Castros), Marbadás Beach, Os Castros Viewpoint (Miradoiro da Praia dos Castros) and further on, Os Xuncos Beach, all equally beautiful. Along the way you can pass through various nooks and crannies and natural caves where you can enter and see beautiful scenery.

Depending on the tide, it may not be possible to reach Os Castros, as at many times the water may cover you above your waist, and the waves can be strong, so if the sea is not calm, you cannot go all the way. 

In addition, the sea level rises and falls very quickly, so it may be possible that you can go from Las Catedrales to Os Castros along the seashore, but you cannot return, and in that case, you will have to go back along a path that is further up, behind the cliffs.  In any case, it is well worth a visit. The visit can take between 1 and 3 hours.

- Reservations: To be able to access the beach, you must book your ticket well in advance (usually one or two weeks in advance) as they sell out very quickly. Reservations can be made through the Xunta de Galicia website. At the entrance there are guards who will check that only those who have booked a reservation can access the sand.

- How to get there: You can get there by public transport or by car. If you choose to go by car, there are free parking spaces in open spaces very close to the site, as well as bars where you can have a coffee or something to eat. It is advisable, if you go by car, to arrive and park a while before the time of low tide, in order to be at the site in good time and to avoid the car park getting full.

- Swimming in the sea: You can go to the beach to swim in the sea, although this is not the most common thing to do. Most visitors go for a walk along the coast to discover the landscape and take photos, so bathing is not their priority (nor is sunbathing... in any case, besides, the sand will be wet). However, to get to Os Castros you will have to get wet more than once (and know how to swim) as the waves reach the rocks in several places along the route.

- Other nearby beaches and landscapes: Although Las Catedrales Beach is probably the most famous and photographed beach in Galicia, the truth is that in Galicia, as well as in Asturias, Cantabria and the Basque Country, you can find many other beaches almost as beautiful and with much less people. It is therefore advisable to find out about the beaches and nature trails in the areas you are going to visit, as you will certainly be surprised.