Back on track! Spain’s Canfranc was once Europe’s second busiest railway station – now it’s a first class hotel

Once called the Titanic of the Mountains, it was a grand, opulent building that was the second busiest railway station in Europe (Leipzig was the largest).

Canfranc International Station, more than 1,000 meters above sea level, opened in 1928 – a bizarrely ambitious project that connected the French and Spanish Pyrenees with an eight-kilometre border tunnel.

But even its famous size – it is ten times larger than St. Pancras, has 365 windows and a 790-foot platform – could not save it from the ravages of a wildfire, the Spanish Civil War, the Second World War and the French question of death and Since Spanish meters differed, all goods and passengers from change trains at the station.

In 1970 it was finally closed after a freight train derailed. But Canfranc International, with its tales of smuggled Nazi gold, kept its own even then empty.

Now, after a multi-million pound capital injection from the EU, the Government of Aragon and the Barcelo Hotel Group, it has been reborn as the Canfranc Estacion, a 104-room, five-star Royal Hideaway Hotel, wellness spa and convention center. It took almost five years to restore the glorious Beaux Arts architecture and bring it up to 21st century standards.

The five-star Royal Hideaway has 104 rooms, a wellness spa and a convention center. The photo above shows the building after the renovation

I am the first British journalist to check in, and while some of the duplex suites are not yet available – and the dining car, which roughly resembles that of the Orient Express, is still stuck in Zaragoza, 95 miles away, due to heavy snowfall – it’s hugely impressive.

In the lobby, once the high customs hall, there is a lot of activity, high on the wall the coat of arms of France, on the wall above the reception the Spanish coat of arms.

The general public was invited to visit and many came out of the snow.

The rooms, spa, pool, bar, restaurants and Library cocktail bar are all hidden behind mirrored doors on each side of the lobby.

“Welcome, welcome,” said Juan, the assistant counter manager, in the same green-and-cream uniform (with a whistle on the sleeve) that workers at the original Canfranc International station wore in the 1930s.

The lobby is packed with tourists, some still in ski gear, from the nearby Candanchu ski resort, just three miles away and a headland from the French border.

“I hope you don’t care about all these people,” said Juan.

Last but not least, a fellow guest walking across the street in a bathrobe for a spa treatment looks quite surprised.

Jo notices that the lobby is packed with spectators from the nearby ski resort of Candanchu (above), which is just three miles away, some still in ski gear.

Jo notices a hum in the lobby once in the high customs hall

The rooms, spa, pool, bar, restaurants (above) and library cocktail bar are all hidden behind mirrored doors on each side of the lobby

The friendly Juan tells how some of the staff played in the old station as children and that it “is like part of a living museum for them”.

Then he shows us the marble staircase that leads down and under the lobby to the courtyard.

It is said to protect wealthy travelers from Hoi Polloi.

Our junior suite – also dressed in the station’s traditional cream and sage green colours, with oak parquet floors – costs €335 B&B, for which we have unobstructed views of the snow-capped mountains.

It took nearly five years to restore the station’s magnificent Beaux-Arts architecture and adapt it as a 21st-century hotel

Jo enjoys impeccable service and great cocktails at the house restaurant (above)

The station was once called “The Titanic of the Mountains”, reveals Jo

The photo above shows the hotel’s chic swimming pool

For train enthusiasts, the hotel has a variety of railway memorabilia

Jo says if you are holidaying in the Pyrenees it would be a tragedy to miss out on this extraordinary piece of history.

A historic photo of the station hangs on one wall, framed by an original window.

Canfranc is located in a narrow valley surrounded by mountains.

The town itself (population 500) is small even though it is on the route of the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route.

The restaurant we choose for dinner (there will be three after all) is excellent, with impeccable service and great cocktails – all at a price equivalent to what you’d expect in a British pub.

A new railway station for passenger trains to Zaragoza was built outside the hotel. And for train enthusiasts there is a variety of railway memorabilia.

There is just one hiccup (and perhaps a bit of irony) for us Brits.

For a former train station that once connected two countries, getting to the Canfranc Estacion is not easy.

It is two hours by train from Zaragoza Airport or four to six hours from Barcelona.

However, if you are holidaying in the Pyrenees it would be a tragedy to miss out on this special piece of history.