Exploring Spain and France with Great Rail Journeys
24/07/2025 · By Rob Payne
Discover the scenic delights of northern Spain and southern France with Great Rail Journeys, enjoying coastal views, rich culture and charming rail trips.
Read moreSave up to £300pp on Europe 2026 holidays, when you book by 31st October 2025.
Based in the attractive coastal town of Roses, explore the rugged Costa Brava and experience the region's cultural and gastronomic highlights. Cruise around the picturesque Cap de Creus peninsula to the fishing village of Cadaqués, savouring local flavours with lunch at a vineyard.
Explore Barcelona, which showcases the fantastic architecture of Antoni Gaudí, including viewing the exterior of La Sagrada Família. Visit the ancient town of Besalú and uncover the surreal world of artist Salvador Dalí on a visit to his museum in Figueres. Finally, journey aboard the Little Red Train into France's Pyrenean foothills.
Unforgettable experiences
What’s included on the tour?
Itinerary
We meet at London St Pancras International and board the Eurostar to Paris in Plus class with a light meal at our seats. In the French capital, we take our seats in First Class for a journey through the heart of France to the Spanish town of Figueres. Here, we transfer by coach to our hotel which overlooks Canyelles Petites beach in the town of Roses.
Located in the north-eastern area of the Costa Brava, a wild and rocky stretch of the Spanish coastline, we are not far from the centre of Roses, allowing you to enjoy the best of both worlds - the peace and quiet of our secluded location and the town's attractions when you choose. On arrival this evening, we sit down to a three-course dinner.
Additional information
Hotel
More information about the different trains used on this tour.
The high-speed Eurostar trains link St Pancras International in London with Paris and Lille in France as well as Brussels in Belgium.
Introduced in 1981, France's TGV (Train à Grande Vitesse) was the original European high-speed train. Linking Paris with Lyon, the new service revolutionised train travel and meant that travelling by air over medium and short distances was no longer seen as the best option, even for business travel.
Enhance your holiday
Spending a night in London before your tour can make such a difference to the first day of your holiday - you can arrive in the capital in good time, relaxed and ready to join your Tour Manager the next morning. You may even want to take in a show on the West End or dine in one of London's famous restaurants. Perhaps on your return to London, you would like to break your journey with an overnight stay before continuing home.
We can book a wide range of hotels in central London or, for our holidays beginning with a flight, at Heathrow, Gatwick, or Manchester Airport for the night before or after your holiday. If you require a quote for single occupancy at any of the hotels, please contact us on 01904 734 805.
Buying tickets for UK train services can be a tricky business - there are so many fares to choose from, each with different rules and restrictions. As you are connecting with an international departure, we strongly recommend that you book a fully flexible ticket to ensure that should the departure times for your holiday change, your rail ticket can allow for these changes.
We can book fully-flexible UK rail tickets from your local station to join your holiday whether this be a European holiday from St Pancras or a UK holiday. The prices are competitive and tickets are not restricted to a particular train or time of day, and in most cases offer you a free choice of routes.
For an up to date quote from your local station, please ask one of our Tour Advisors.
Enjoy hassle-free travel with our return door-to-door luggage transfer service from only £199 per bag.
The service includes one 20kg bag per person which will be collected from your home before you depart and will be ready and waiting for you at your first destination hotel. Your bag will also be delivered back to your home address on your return.
If your tour involves an overnight stay enroute, you'll need to travel with an overnight bag as your luggage will be delivered direct to your first destination hotel. The luggage service is not available where you are flying to or from your destination and you will need to take your own luggage with you on the flight.
Reviews
4.4 / 5 · 152 reviews
Stuart
Submitted 4/Oct
Excellent tours and tour manager. ROSES Platja hotel was very good, particularly the buffet dinners with plenty of choice. Good location too. By contrast CANYELLES Platja hotel was poorer mealwise with the restricted a-la -carte dinners and full breakfast service not available at times until 30 minutes after the opening time.
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Peter Lunt
Submitted 30/Sep
Hotel place and staff very good.
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C Dean
Submitted 26/Sep
A very enjoyable and varied holiday; excellent Eurostar and TGV train journeys and all carefully looked after by Lorraine our tour manager.
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Steve Hipperson
Submitted 25/Sep
Roses is a lovely resort, nice and quite although busy, the promenade and beach to the west is Travelling to Roses is very straight forward although a long day.very lively although to the east there is not a lot to do, the beach at Canyelles is very nice too,
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John Nix
Submitted 25/Sep
This was our third consecutive annual holiday with Great Rail Journeys and we are already planning the next one. The Tour Manager (Lorraine) was excellent as were all the organised excursions, the variety of which were brilliant. The day trip coaches where reliable and arrived on the dot so there was never any waiting around. The drivers, without exception, were brilliant! I highly recommend this holiday for its variety and excellent Hotel Canyelles Platja.
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John Kaye
Submitted 25/Sep
It was a great holiday, beautiful hotel, excellent food and service. The balance of trips with free time worked well all managed to perfection by Lorraine the tour manager
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