FEVE - North of Spain Metre Gauge

[calopez]

I'm considering a trip to Spain this year to do as much of the (former) FEVE routes in the north of Spain as possible within a reasonable amount of time, maybe 10 days to two weeks.

Has anyone any recent information or suggestions on a good way to do this, please?

I'm aware of the FEVE Rail ticket at around €88 for a month, which seems like the best option. Presumably one can just turn up at a major FEVE station (say, Bilbao) and buy it on the spot?

All advice gratefully received!

 

[dutchflyer]

Hi, I did this trip a few years ago.
First of all you must know that east of Bilbao its not FEVE/RENFE anymore, but Euskotren.
FEVE also is kind of integrated in RENFE and many reports say its gone downhill since.
NO need to buy a monthly, as with normal single fares its less as half. Or-if you go there in style also by train, InterRail is now also valid there, but even then the cost per day will be less buying locally.
The very best scenic line is Bilbao-Leon. I started with that, took an overnight to Ferrol via Coruna (dep. Leon at an uncivilised 2.00 am or so), booked places to stay before in Bilbao, Ferrol and Oviedo.
Went eastward from Ferrol-due to schedules you need to overnite halfway, thats IMHO better in nearby Gijon as Oviedo. You canNOT buy through singles, not even via Santander on the day, even with travel same day. Staffed ticket offices are only in the very major end-stops.
Note that its not really ''trains'' but more like a slightly better tram, with WC, but without any catering and also the rails are not the best so often its more like a funfair swinging attraction.
In the region Asturias around Oviedo/Gijon is more extensive local system, intertwined with REnfe/cercanias-if you want to explore that, stay 2 nights there. There are also short local lines from Santander and also west from Bilbao. VUELing is the local/spanish low cost airline in case you''re unaware of that.
I had a carta dorada=senior railcard for ES and the total travel cost was less as 50 eur with that.

 

[calopez]

Thanks for your helpful answer. As yours is the only one, so far, it looks like not many people have been this way lately

I, too, have heard that the RENFE takeover hasn't been good for FEVE, and one thing that worries me a bit is getting stuck somewhere if there's a train cancellation. No doubt there would be alternative bus services, but that's not really the point!

Useful to know about the carta dorada, as I'm over 60, so could get one. That might well make the FEVE Rail pass not worthwhile. I also have FIP facilities, which despite FEVE now being part of RENFE, aren't valid on FEVE, as far as I'm aware. However, I will be using them to get to Spain!

I appreciate the trains are a bit basic, but how easy is it to (say) eat a picnic on board? (It's a long ride from Leon to Bilbao!)

Lastly, about buying tickets - presumably there are machines at stations without ticket offices? Do they take cards/notes/coins?

Thanks again for your help.

 

[stuu]

I did Santander to Bilbao just before Easter. The train was a modern two-car DMU, which despite being metre gauge is not noticeably smaller than UK rolling stock, I wouldn't describe them as basic at all. The seats were very comfortable with plenty of legroom - more than enough space for having a picnic on board. Lots of the other passengers were eating and drinking so it's certainly not frowned upon. And the train was air conditioned, which might not be quite so important in Northern Spain but it does still get quite hot in the Summer

The ticket machine in Santander took coins, notes and cards. I wasn't particularly looking but I did notice machines at some more remote stations, so I would guess that most have them. The ticket for that journey only cost €7.80 - you can check the single fares on the Renfe website. I would guess that you might struggle to spend €88 in 10 days if you were buying single tickets, so it's probably worth working out what journeys you might be doing to see if it is worthwhile. Of course it saves faffing about with ticket machines every day.

 

[James H]

FEVE is great fun - highly recommended.

Did Bilbao to Ferrol in 1993, Hendaye to Ferrol in 2000 and Bilbao to Leon in 2004.

 

[rg177]

FEVE I've found to be nice but had a right palava travelling from Santander to Oviedo last year.

We made it as far as Llanes before unannounced engineering works halted us. Was told of a bus onwards but only a taxi arrived which took about six of us out of 30 people on the train.

That got us to another station where a train, untimetabled, took us on for another hour where again we halted and driver said bus to Pola de Siero.

On arriving there I had to have a stand off with locals as they forced their way onto the bus before I could get off. Another train from there took forever to appear as nobody had a clue which train the driver had to take.

Arrived Oviedo about 70 minutes late. Tired but mildly entertained!

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Did Leon - Bilbao (the one through train) - circa 2004 , very cheap - around 7 Euro single.

Excellent journey - but a bit long and the last section was in the dark. Some spectacular engineering and the site of an old alignment complete with viaduct pat exposed under a lake. The inland Spanish coal mining (or ex by now ?) , was fascinating , with very Spanish style miners cottages.

The 2 car unit was akin to a Welsh 175 maybe - and we managed 2 light picnic meals enroute.

 

[calopez]

Thanks all for the further info. When I have an itinerary, I will have to work out whether avoidance of faff is worth the extra euros!

Seems that Leon - Bilbao is a must. At the moment, I am thinking of doing it in that direction, but stopping overnight in Balmaseda if possible, which would allow doubling-back to cover the part of the line that was in darkness. From Balmaseda, of course, there is a frequent service into Bilbao.

Unfortunately, I've missed the bit into the centre of Leon, which was closed for conversion into a tramway that never got built

 

[calopez]

I've finally got round to doing something about this, and, indeed, am setting off the week after next! If it all works (famous last words?), I should get to cover most of the network, and mostly in daylight.

One question - does anyone know of a source for the lengths of the ex-FEVE lines? I have a 1957 Spanish timetable which gives some of them, but I'm aware there have been some realignments in the meantime and, of course, the line out to Ferrol simply didn't exist then!

 

[calopez]

Found the answer! Ferrol to Gijon is 319km - see https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anexoquema_de_la_l%C3%ADnea_Ferrol-Gij%C3%B3n. I think the link does work - the smiley should be a colon!https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anexo:Esquema_de_la_línea_Ferrol-Gijón

 

[Wychwood93]

Found the answer! Ferrol to Gijon is 319km - see https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anexoquema_de_la_l%C3%ADnea_Ferrol-Gij%C3%B3n. I think the link does work - the smiley should be a colon!

The link still worked! - thanks.