train holiday from London to Spain

whitesatin

We are contemplating having a week or more somewhere in Spain, this June. It occurred to us that we have never visited mainland Spain. We are a couple, retired, and looking for somewhere reasonably quiet, a bit of sightseeing, good food, relaxing in the sunshine.

We're looking at various websites like Seat61 but would welcome any recommendations or advice. I favour a coastal area as it will probably be very hot in June but don't know one "resort" from another. I have limited knowledge of Spanish (O Level 1968, lol), but would prefer a true Spanish experience to "English breakfast available here".

agrinnall

It will be hot on the Med coast in June (too hot for me), so perhaps you should consider the Atlantic coast areas, from San Sebastian to Vigo. It should be cooler and I would expect most places to be primarily visited by Spanish tourists.

zagfles

Yes the North coast might be a good idea - not as hot and less touristy.

Why are you looking at going by train - it's hardly worth it for a week as it'd take a day or two each way and would likely be much more expensive than flying.

whitesatin

agrinnall wrote: »

It will be hot on the Med coast in June (too hot for me), so perhaps you should consider the Atlantic coast areas, from San Sebastian to Vigo. It should be cooler and I would expect most places to be primarily visited by Spanish tourists.

Someone I spoke to today mentioned San Sebastian so we will look into that, thanks.

whitesatin

zagfles wrote: »

Yes the North coast might be a good idea - not as hot and less touristy.

Why are you looking at going by train - it's hardly worth it for a week as it'd take a day or two each way and would likely be much more expensive than flying.

Will definitely look into that area, thanks. Neither of us like flying but like trains and time isn't that much of an issue in retirement as we can suit ourselves (within our budget of course).

missbiggles1

whitesatin wrote: »

Will definitely look into that area, thanks. Neither of us like flying but like trains and time isn't that much of an issue in retirement as we can suit ourselves (within our budget of course).

I've been to Spain by train several times and can heartily recommend it.

However, if you're travelling to the north cost you could also look at taking one of the UK/Spain ferries to Santander or Bilbao, either as a foot passenger or taking your car.

lea2012

As already suggested you could take the ferry to bilbao or santander or if going by train you can head to the north coast in the Costa brava or Barcelona areas. Avoid the big tourist areas like Llorett de Mar and you'll be fine.

If you have time why not head to Barcelona for
A few days then either head north towards Roses or south towards sitges.

richardw

I like San Sebasti!n-Bilbao-Santander, but the weather is not as Sunny as the Med coast, have had a very wet time in San Sebasti!n in July.

Early June can be slightly cooler than late June around Barcelona and the fast trains do go to this part of Spain. The best sight seeing in mainland Spain can be done off season.

slinga

You can go further south than Vigo.
We went to A Guarda 2 years ago and it was great.
Flew to Porto and hired a car.
Porto was great as well.
Drove up to Santiago di Compestella as well where the sea food was marvellous and the Cathedral impressive.

I'm older than you so don't see a problem.

Barcelona is great too we've been twice but Madrid is probably too hot in June but lots to see there.

We hope to go to Llanes on the north coast this year.

jimd-f

i would look at the costa brava/costa maresme area, places like tossa de mar or malgrat may be suitable. you can get fast trains all the way down to spain.
you could also look at getting a coach to this part of spain with companies like ferris and siesta doing reasonably priced holidays to the area

Neil49

San Sebastian is the city of culture this year so there is quite a lot going on but hotels may be getting booked up by now. We are flying to Bilbao but Biarritz is a good option if it suits you better with a connection by rail.