The trains in Spain tend to zip along at a nifty pace. The country has the second-longest high-speed railway network in the world, after China, with trains clipping along at up to 140mph on tracks fanning out from Madrid across plains and plateaus. But not all train rides are about getting to your destination as quickly as possible. Head south to Andalusia and an altogether more majestic journey awaits.
Forty years ago the Al Andalus train began trundling through Spain’s southernmost and arguably most atmospheric region, bringing belle époque romance at the sedate average speed of 50mph.
In a former life these carriages were used by British royalty. Through Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits, the Duke of Windsor arranged to use several of these carriages so that he could travel in suitable splendour with Wallis Simpson between Calais and Antibes following his abdication in 1936.
Subsequently acquired by the Spanish train company Renfe — with one carriage salvaged from display in a Spanish park — in 1985 Al Andalus became the company’s first luxury train, exploring different routes through Andalusia from Madrid.
Sarah Gordon with the Al Andalus train
Today Al Andalus runs between Granada and Seville, calling at Cordoba, Cadiz, Jerez, Ronda and the medieval towns of Baeza and Ubeda. The train is Spain’s longest, unfurling along the tracks for nearly 1,500ft, its locomotive doing a sterling job of hauling 14 carriages in a livery of claret and gold. And from the train’s heyday between the two world wars, its feeling of art deco glamour continues to the present. There have been modern updates of course: all rooms come with an en suite and the dining and bar carriages have been sensitively spruced up.
The Moors ruled Andalusia for nearly eight centuries, longer than any other region of Spain, and their grand palaces, whitewashed hill towns and converted mosques still pepper the region. They sit alongside the remnants of ancient Rome, Phoenician exploration and lavish cities built with spoils from the new world.
Andalusia is the birthplace of so many of Spain’s richest traditions, from the soulful thrum of flamenco to the custom of serving up tapas dishes with every drink. It is home to cool gazpacho soup and sherry and is captured in the plays of Federico García Lorca and the art of Pablo Picasso.
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The Al Andalus takes it all in, stitching together opulent cities and villages of sugar-cube houses, mountain peaks and rolling hills studded with olive trees. Along the way there are stops for flamenco performances, dancing Andalusian horses and olive oil and sherry tastings.
With a booking from Granada, I actually began my journey in Malaga — just as the landscapes were turning gold in the dazzling late autumn sunshine — which has better flight connections than its Moorish counterpart.
Alhambra palace is perched on a hilltop in Granada
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Malaga is now a thriving artistic hub, thanks to the addition of the Picasso museum and outposts of Paris’s Centre Pompidou and Madrid’s Carmen Thyssen museum. So I took the opportunity to explore and joined the fashionable set for an overnight stay in the Only You hotel, with its rooftop terrace with sea views, buzzing bar and elegantly understated rooms.
The city was a useful meeting point for our international group and Al Andalus offered the option of a city tour and lunch before our 90-minute transfer by coach — with branded livery — to the train in Granada.
We were an eclectic bunch: Britons, Germans, Spaniards, Brazilians, Mexicans and Americans. It spoke volumes that everyone I chatted with had already visited at least one of the sites on our itinerary. The Al Andalus is not a cheap trip but they wanted the thrill of travelling across Andalusia by vintage train.
The colourful Jewish Quarter in Cordoba
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So there was a frisson of excitement as we arrived at Granada train station. Emerging from the crowd of commuters, we arrived on the platform to see the burgundy beauty strung along on the track, behind it the snowy peaks of the Sierra Nevada Mountains and the blush of the Alhambra palace perched on a hilltop.
On board, as cava flowed, guests took in their boutique hotel on wheels — all oak panelling, brass details and royal-red furnishings. There are two matching restaurant wagons — named Alhambra and Gibralfaro — which are joined to create one large dining area. Next door is a bar with lacquered wood panels and plush red furnishings and there is a welcome lounge in blue damask. There are seven sleeping cars housing the train’s 32 rooms.
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The smaller rooms, Grand Class, come with armchairs that are unfolded into two single beds at night, while the larger Deluxe Suites have sofas that unfold into a double bed. Both offer old-fashioned comfort; they’re small but the addition of wardrobes and luggage compartments means you can squirrel away cases, and the en suites have showers and come with amenities kits.
With relatively short distances covered by the train each day — just two hours usually — we had the maximum time to explore each destination, such as at Granada, where we spent the whole day touring the Alhambra and the city, followed by a four-course meal while we were on the move. On other days we’d combine two destinations, enjoying a morning exploration before a gourmet lunch on board as we rattled along to our next destination.
Ronda’s precipitous El Tajo gorge
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There was just one night when the train started moving, gently, while we slept. It departed at about 4am, rumbling from Cordoba — where we had just taken in the many-arched Mezquita cathedral and had dinner — to the charming whitewashed town of Ronda, with its bullring and bridge spanning a precipitous gorge.
At each station we were greeted by the Al Andalus coach, which would whisk us to sites, with all excursions included in the price of our ticket. And in many destinations we had time to have a look around at our own pace, with the freedom to stroll back to the station and our waiting train.
In Jerez we were taken to the historic Spanish-British González Byass sherry wine cellar for a tasting. Our coach also shuttled us from our tour of Ubeda, which is Unesco-listed, to an olive oil co-operative in Baeza, only 15 minutes away, where we sampled the region’s greatest export. The journey from Jerez to the tangled streets of Cadiz — widely considered to be the longest continually inhabited city in western Europe — was also by coach and took just half an hour.
Sarah Gordon in one of the train’s glamorous dining cars
On each day one of our key meals would be at a local restaurant, chosen for its views or charming traditional decor. But the real foodie highlight was on board the train. The cheerful waiting staff did endless laps of the dining cars, serving varied Spanish wines (and sweet wines and sherries to finish) while intricate meals were conjured up in the onboard kitchen.
From fresh scallops, kingklip in Pedro Ximénez sauce and black pudding with almonds and pears to beans and Iberian ham, the dishes celebrated Andalusia’s rich culinary traditions and were served with impressive finesse by the staff — accustomed to keeping their balance on a moving train.
The highlight of the trip on the Al Andalus is billed as the Alhambra, the last stronghold of the Moors before the Catholic monarchs Isabella and Ferdinand reconquered Granada in 1492. For one couple on board, Maria Elena and Raul Fuentes from Miami, it was their third visit to the palace — but there was no question of them skipping the morning tour of intricate carvings, mosaic tiles and sun-splashed marble patios followed by a lunch overlooking the city.
The striking interior of the Alhambra palace
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“We always discover something different with each visit,” they told me. “Especially when you have a tour guide — they bring it all to life.”
But from my journey, what really stayed with me was the camaraderie on board. The jokes with the waiting staff. My chats with the chief engineer about how he coaxes this rolling piece of history into life each day. The multilingual front-of-house staff who work to make each trip memorable.
The routes that the Al Andalus follows may have changed over the years but it remains one of the most romantic ways to explore the most romantic of regions.
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Sarah Gordon was a guest of Renfe, which has seven nights’ all-inclusive in a Grand Class room aboard Al Andalus from £4,984pp (eltrenalandalus.com), and Only You Hotel Malaga, which has room-only doubles from £230 (onlyyouhotels.com). Fly to Malaga or Seville
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