Interrailing on a uniquely stunning route through the Pyrenees mountains.

This is a mountain train route that crosses the Catalan Pyrenees Regional Natural Park, forming a vital connection between the High Catalan Plateaux and the rest of the region. The train has its own snow plough and is sometimes the only connection when the twisting mountain roads are closed in winter.

I’ve travelled some beautiful train lines but I’ve never seen anything like this one. Completed in 1927 with nineteen tunnels, two viaducts and some stomach droppingly impressive gradients, France’s Little Yellow Train offers astounding views.

Whether you’re staring at distant snow-capped mountains or peering across at precipitously perched villages, it’s clear this is an environment that took some conquering and the engineering is still impressive today.

Le Petit Train Jaune also has impressive sustainability credentials. Like most European railways, it runs on electricity but in this case, the electricity comes from a third rail that runs alongside the track and is powered by local hydroelectric stations.

How long is the Yellow Train line? 63 km or 39 miles. A one-way trip along the whole line takes three hours (this really is slow travel but you won’t be bored)

Location: Eastern Pyrenees near the France/Spain border (Northern Catalonia)

Language: French with only a little English. Some of the villages have Catalonian place name signs beside the French ones.

Number of stations: 22 (Villefranche-de-Conflent to Latour-de-Carol)

About the stations: Some are request stops but the ticket staff are very helpful

How to buy tickets:  Online (we used the SNCF app) or at ticket offices. You can also travel on the Yellow Train using an Interrail Pass

Types of train: One modern commuter train and one more traditional tourist one that has an open carriage in good weather. Travel in two directions for the best chance of riding in both.

Activities: Exploring villages, thermal hot pools, mountain walks, enjoying mountain views from the train, skiing in winter. There are luggage racks, ski racks and bike carriers on board.

Walking terrain: Some of the train stations on this mountain route are very remote. Be prepared to walk for around an hour to reach some villages and attractions. There’s often a choice between mountain tracks and roads. We didn’t encounter much road traffic on our walks but we were there out of season (early April). Don’t expect to find taxis, buses or even shops between the stations and your accommodation. The walks are all beautiful.

Accommodation: Apartments, some hotels and campsites (book ahead as many are seasonal)

Toilets: None on the train but there are at some stations along the line and the train has stops to allow passengers to use these

Refreshments: Carry your own emergency snacks, this is a rural mountain area and shop and cafe opening times can be unpredictable. Not all the villages have a shop.

Additional info: The whole Yellow Train journey can be easily done in a day but I recommend taking longer and exploring the villages and trails along the way. We opted for two nights in Font Romeu and two in Evol and could easily have enjoyed more. We also visited the thermal baths at St-Thomas-Le-Bain; a decent walk up the hill from the station but well worth the effort.

After our successful trip to Paris by train and ferry last spring (2024), we were keen to plan another train trip to Europe.

Going flight free and taking the train around Europe is always a good idea in my book but, with so many options, deciding where to go isn’t necessarily easy. Our initial plan was Switzerland to view the Eiger’s infamous North Face but accommodation there was looking expensive so we decided to save that for a campervan trip and find some other mountains with trains.

‘Mountains with trains’ is now my favourite search term because it led us to the train route through the Pyrenees known as Le Petit Train Jaune (the Little Yellow Train). I initially thought it would be tricky to get to, but this beautiful mountain route is part of France’s national rail network and has great links at either end. Even better than that, it’s also part of the Interrail network with no seat reservations (or additional charges) necessary.

I have to say I am a fan of the Interrail planning tool but other than the words ‘short train’, neither that nor the SNCF app gave me any indication of exactly what I was letting myself in for when I booked a ticket on the Yellow Train between Latour-de-Carol and Villefranche-de-Conflent. Luckily I had done my research. This train does offer great connections but as it’s also a very pretty tourist ride, those connections aren’t speedy.

Map of the Little Yellow Train.

You could drive to the Pyrenees for a ride on the Little Yellow Train but your trip would be less sustainable and less fun. Especially as the route is so well served by train lines at each end.

Over the course of our holiday, we travelled on sixteen trains in total and loved (nearly) all of the journeys. Below is the train itinerary for our 10-day trip. We had two overnight stops in Paris, three nights in Toulouse and two nights each in mountain villages on the Yellow Train route. I booked most of the trains via the Interrail app and used SNCF on the other occasions.

DAY 1: London to Paris via Eurostar (2.5 hours)

DAY 2: Paris to Toulouse (5 hours)

DAY 5: Toulouse to Latour de Carol to Font Romeu (4 hours)

DAY 7: Font Romeu to Olette (1 hour)

DAY 9: Olette to Latour de Carol to Toulouse to Bordeaux to Paris (11 hours!)

DAY 10: Paris to London via Eurostar (2.5 hours)

If you’re used to flying, some of the journey times above will seem long but life on the train is rarely boring. The bigger French trains have cafe cars, which we really enjoyed and there is always plenty to look at, especially when you’re travelling in the mountains.

With hindsight, I might not have chosen the long travel day back to Paris. There was initially the possibility of a sleeper from Latour-de-Carol but I took too long to make up my mind and it was fully booked.

We only travelled the Yellow Train between Latour-de-Carol and Olette, preferring to take our time, stop at several stations and explore slowly. If we had gone all the way to Villefranche-de-Conflent, we would have been able to catch a train from there first to Perpignan and then back to Paris.

While many tourist and mountain trains aren’t available via an Interrail pass, the Pyrenees Yellow Train is part of the French train network and will show up in the Interrail planning app.

This means that you can use your Interrail pass to travel the Yellow Train without reserving a seat and without paying any extra, as long as you have enough travel days available.

Interrail offer two types of pass.

One Country Passes allow you to explore one country in more detail and are available for a certain number of travel days in one month.

Global Passes allow you to cross borders and give you the flexibility of a certain number of days in one month or a certain number of days in a row.

We opted for a Global Travel Pass with five days travel in one month.

Our passes cost €239 each but it’s worth looking out for Interrail sales as you have a year to use a pass once you’ve bought it (I just missed the spring sale!!)

Before buying, I did price up alternative ticket choices but Interrail proved the cheapest because it included a greatly reduced Eurostar fee and free UK train travel (Global Passes give you two day’s travel in your own country at the beginning and end of your trip).

We had to pay reservation fees on the faster European trains (around €12 each) and on Eurostar (around €32 each) but several of our journeys came free with our Global Passes.

If this sounds complicated, don’t panic!

The Interrail app is intuitive, good at answering questions and has plenty of planning information. It allows you to look up train times, plan trips and book reservations in advance. One thing it doesn’t do though is give real-time train information as you travel, I used the SNCF app for that.

There’s no denying that this train ride through the Pyrenees mountains is a different experience to you’re usual city-to-city Interrail trip. Although it fits neatly in with the rest of the French train network, it is quirky and does take you to some unusually remote train stations. Expect some fairly long walks to villages and venues like the Thermal Baths in St Thomas (well worth the 40 minutes uphill!)

Whilst you can buy tickets for Le Train Jaune at some of the stations, I would recommend booking online via the SNCF app or using your Interrail app. Surprisingly for such a remote area, there’s good mobile signal all the way along the line and in the nearby villages.

Whilst you don’t have to be able to speak fluent French to enjoy this journey, we found some key words and phrases were useful. The train staff and all the locals we met spoke only a little English but were always happy to help and make sure we ended up at our intended destinations. For me, using more French and learning more vocabulary was one of my favourite parts of the trip. It’s amazing how many words I found hiding away at the back of my brain!

Without a shadow of a doubt!

We fell in love with the area and there were plenty more villages and trails to explore. If you’re looking for laid-on entertainment, and don’t like walking, this isn’t the holiday destination for you. But if you enjoy peace and quiet, authentic local experiences and some rather quirky sightseeing (solar furnaces for example), I couldn’t recommend the Little Yellow Train more.