{"id":141913,"date":"2023-02-02T15:31:13","date_gmt":"2023-02-02T14:31:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.voyages-d-affaires.com\/?p=141913"},"modified":"2023-08-25T10:03:40","modified_gmt":"2023-08-25T08:03:40","slug":"canfranc-gare-revit-hotel-spain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.voyages-d-affaires.com\/en\/canfranc-gare-revit-hotel-spain","title":{"rendered":"Spain: a station hotel with a unique history in Canfranc"},"content":{"rendered":"

A station hotel like no other, far removed from the InterCity Hotels that punctuate the route taken by business travellers in Germany and Europe. Expected to open in March, the Royal Hideaway Canfranc Estaci\u00f3n, part of the Barcelo<\/a>is aimed more at railway history buffs. A hotel housed in a station unique in Europe <\/strong>with its 240-metre fa\u00e7ade, 570 windows and a style similar to that of the Gare d'Orsay in Paris; an \"international\" station, but one that hasn't seen many passengers in the last fifty years or so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nestled in the north of Spain, in the Aragonese Pyrenees, Canfranc station had been inaugurated with great pomp in 1928 by King Alfonso XIII and Gaston Doumergue<\/strong>the President of the French Republic . With the completion of the Somport tunnel, the station represented a major new crossing point between the two countries, in the heart of the mountains. This was the start of the line between Pau, Canfranc and Saragossa, a link with a chaotic history, interrupted by the Spanish Civil War, when the Somport tunnel was walled up at Franco's request, then by the Second World War before being resumed in the 1950s. Unfortunately, the collapse of the Estanguet bridge on the French side in March 1970 was to mark the end of the tunnel. stopping this cross-border rail link<\/strong>which is not very profitable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Since 2016, trains have been running again on the French side between Oloron and Bedous, where the old station is now home to a family-run hotel, Transhumance & cie. However, its continuation to Spain is still on hold, even though the Aragon and Nouvelle-Aquitaine regions have expressed their support and Canfranc has had a new passenger station since 2021. So, perhaps one day travellers will be able to arrive by train from Pau to Canfranc<\/strong>. In the meantime, to discover this new five-star hotel proposed by the Spanish group Barcelo, they will have to take the line on the Spanish side, from Huesca or Zaragoza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n