Between soaring mountains, across arid deserts, parched plains and valleys of fruit orchards and olive groves, down glittering coastlines and along viaducts towering above plunging ravines – there is no better way to see Spain than by train.
In our Book of the Month for April, Slow Trains Around Spain: A 3,000- Mile Adventure on 52 Rides Tom Chesshyre hits the tracks to take in the UK’s most popular travel destination through carriage windows on a series of clattering rides beyond the popular image of ‘holiday Spain’ (although he stops by in Benidorm and Torremolinos too). Heading wherever the trains take him in a big S-shape around the country, Tom slips into the rhythm of the tracks meeting characters aplenty along the way. From hidden spots in Catalonia, through the plains of Aragon and across the north coast to Santiago de Compostela, his journey takes him onward via Madrid, the wilds of Extremadura, dusty mining towns, the cathedrals and palaces of Valencia and Granada, and finally to Seville, Andalusia’s beguiling (and hot) capital.
Slow Trains Around Spain by Tom Chesshyre is available to buy now for £16.99
Watch Tom Chesshyre introduce his new book Slow Trains Around Spain:
Tom Chesshyre is the author of nine other travel books including Slow Trains to Venice, To Hull and Back, Tales from the Fast Trains, Ticket to Ride and From Source to Sea. He worked as travel writer on The Times for 21 years and contributes to the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday and The Critic magazine, where he writes the monthly rail column “Tickets, Please”.