Le Train Jaune

Nicknamed le Canari by the locals for its bright yellow livery, the Ligne de Cerdagne, usually referred to as the Train Jaune, is a metre-gauge railway that leaves the medieval fortress town of Villefranche-de-Conflent and follows the Têt upstream through a steep, forested gorge to Latour-de-Carol in the French Pyrenees. Over three hours, the little train climbs through granite tunnels and across a suspended bridge 80 metres above the Têt, then emerges onto the broad Cerdagne plateau, where snow-capped peaks line the horizon. In summer, the open-air carriages let you feel the air change at altitude and hear the train wheels rattle along the tracks.

The line covers 63 kilometres, rising more than a thousand metres from the Têt valley to the Spanish border, through 19 tunnels and across 40 bridges. Its station at Bolquère-Eyne, at 1,593 metres, is one of the highest in the country, and the line remains one of the last mountain railways in France still running a regular public service. It was built to connect the upper cantons of Pyrénées-Orientales. Work on the line began at the turn of the twentieth century and was completed in 1927, reaching Latour-de-Carol. The railway was electric from the start, powered by a dedicated hydroelectric system fed from the Bouillouses reservoir high above the line.

This guide explains the journey step by step. It covers train timings and routes, ticketing, how the ride works, and what you will encounter at each stage of the ascent.

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Le Train Jaune: the train

Schedule and stops

The Train Jaune is operated by SNCF as part of the liO regional transport network in Occitanie, running between Villefranche-de-Conflent (427 metres) and Latour-de-Carol-Enveitg (1,231 metres). The full journey takes about three hours each way. Of the 22 stops along the line, eight are staffed stations where every train calls. The remaining fourteen are request halts. To get off at one, let the conductor know after you board; to get on, stand visibly on the platform and raise your hand as the train approaches.

The railway operates year-round, though timetables vary by season, and services can be disrupted by snow or rockslides on the mountainous route. In winter, a snowplough based at Mont-Louis clears the track from the early hours each morning.

To reach the Train Jaune, most people take a regional train from Perpignan. The train follows the Têt valley to Villefranche-de-Conflent. Here, you switch to the mountain line. At the other end, Latour-de-Carol-Enveitg is an international station, with connections to Toulouse on the French standard-gauge network and to Spain via the broad-gauge line to Barcelona.

Facilities

The Train Jaune uses both enclosed and open-air carriages. In summer, the open wagons are deservedly popular, offering unobstructed views of the mountains, though it can get very warm in direct sun. In colder months, enclosed carriages with heating are used. Some trains on the fleet offer modern, air-conditioned carriages with panoramic windows. There is no catering on board, so bring water and food if you plan to ride the full length. Pushchairs and a limited number of bicycles are accepted, though there are no lifts to access the carriages.

Millhet JC/Tourisme Mediterranean-Pyrenees

Tickets and passes

Tickets can be purchased at station ticket offices at any of the five stations along the line that have one (Villefranche-de-Conflent, Villefranche Vernet les Bains and Montlouis). You can also book online via the SNCF website. A single journey from Villefranche-de-Conflent to Latour-de-Carol costs around €24.00 at the standard fare. Young people aged 12 to 26 receive a 50% discount. With a return ticket, you can break the journey, but you must add the stop to your itinerary when buying tickets if you are using point-to-point tickets.

Interrail passes are valid on Le Train Jaune (the Little Yellow Train) between Villefranche-Vernet-les-Bains and Latour-de-Carol without requiring a seat reservation. As a TER (regional) service, you can hop on with your pass, and break your journey without having to purchase a separate onward ticket.

In summer, demand is high and advance booking is strongly recommended, particularly for the open-air carriages. ​​Seat reservations are not available on Le Petit Train Jaune, so it’s a good idea to arrive at the station 30 mins before departure time to make sure you get a good seat.

As a day trip

The whole line can be ridden as a day trip from Perpignan. Regional TER trains run up the Têt valley to Villefranche-de-Conflent in under an hour, with around six departures a day. From there, the Train Jaune takes three hours to reach Latour-de-Carol. Most day-trippers ride as far as Mont-Louis or Font-Romeu, stop for lunch and a look around, then take the return service back to Villefranche in time for an evening connection to Perpignan. If you want to ride the full length to Latour-de-Carol and back, allow a full day and check the timetable carefully, as the gap between arrival and the return departure can be short.

Breaking the journey

One of the pleasures of the Train Jaune is that you are free to step off at intermediate stations, explore the surrounding villages and landscape, and catch a later service to continue. The line passes through the territory of the Parc Naturel Régional des Pyrénées Catalanes. Many of the stops give access to walks, hot springs and Catalan heritage sites. Request stops require you to signal the conductor before departure or stand visibly on the platform as the train approaches.

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Le Train Jaune: the journey

The journey begins at Villefranche-de-Conflent, a fortified town at the entrance to the Têt gorge. The ramparts and citadel were designed by Vauban in the seventeenth century, and are now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The town is small and easy to walk around, with narrow streets lined with craft shops and cafés tucked below the walls. For a pre-departure coffee or a Catalan-style galette, Le Patio on Rue Saint-Jean sits in a twelfth-century building, with a shaded courtyard and serves a dedicated Train Jaune menu. The station is located just outside the medieval gates, where the yellow carriages wait at the platform.

Yohan Alazet

The Têt valley: Villefranche-de-Conflent to Fontpédrouse

Leaving Villefranche, the train enters the narrow gorge of the Têt, climbing steadily within a landscape of steep wooded slopes and exposed rock. The first stops, Serdinya, Joncet, and Olette, are small valley settlements pressed between the river and the cliffs. Olette is the first staffed station and a useful point to break the journey for walks into the surrounding hills.

Thierry Llansades/CC BY-SA 2.0

Beyond Olette, the valley deepens, and the engineering becomes more dramatic. At Fontpédrouse, the line crosses the Séjourné Viaduct, a two-storey granite bridge designed by the engineer Paul Séjourné and completed in 1908. It spans the Têt at a height of 65 metres, its lower level featuring a distinctive central arch. The viaduct has been listed as a historic monument and is one of the finest masonry railway bridges in France.

Bains de Saint Thomas.fr

Nearby, the village of Fontpédrouse gives access to the natural hot springs of Saint-Thomas-les-Bains, where open-air thermal pools sit within an amphitheatre. If you break the journey here, you can soak in the sulphurous water with views across the valley before catching a later train onward.

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The Gisclard Bridge and the climb to Mont-Louis

Shortly after Fontpédrouse, the train crosses the Gisclard Bridge. This is a rigid suspended railway bridge 234 metres long, hanging 80 metres above the Têt. Designed by the military engineer Albert Gisclard, it was a radical innovation at the time of its construction. It is the oldest railway suspension bridge in France still in service, and has been classified as a historic monument since 1997. Gisclard himself was killed in a braking accident on the line in October 1909, just months before the railway opened.

From here, the train climbs through a series of tunnels and tight curves toward the fortified town of Mont-Louis, perched at 1,512 metres on a rocky promontory. Built by Vauban in 1679, Mont-Louis is the highest fortified town in France and still houses a military training centre. The station sits below the town at La Cabanasse; the walk up to the ramparts takes around fifteen to twenty minutes on foot. The solar furnace at Mont-Louis, one of the first in the world, offers guided tours explaining how concentrated sunlight is used to generate extreme temperatures.

Alan Mattingly/CC0

Bolquère-Eyne

The line continues to rise from Mont-Louis across open highland, reaching its summit at Bolquère-Eyne, one of the highest railway stations in France at 1,593 metres. The landscape here is wide and treeless, with long views across the Cerdagne plateau to the peaks of the Cambre d’Aze and the Carlit. The Eyne valley, accessible from this station, is known for its alpine flora and is a popular destination for botanical walks in spring and summer.

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Font-Romeu and the Cerdagne plateau

Descending gently from Bolquère, the train reaches Font-Romeu-Odeillo-Via (or just Odeillo) at 1,533 metres, the largest resort on the line and a well-known base for winter skiing and summer hiking. Odeillo is also home to the world’s largest solar furnace, its vast parabolic reflector visible from the train. 

Beyond Odeillo, the train crosses the broad, sunlit plateau of Cerdagne, a high valley shared between France and Spain. The villages of Saillagouse, Err and Sainte-Léocadie succeed one another at intervals, each with stone-built centres, Romanesque chapels and views across open farmland to the mountains. Saillagouse is the seat of the local tourist office and a good starting point for exploring the plateau on foot or by bicycle. At Sainte-Léocadie, the Musée de Cerdagne is housed in a traditional farmhouse and documents the region's history and culture.

Thierry Cleymans

Bourg-Madame and the border

The train continues through Osséja to Bourg-Madame at 1,143 metres, the line's original terminus when it opened in 1911. Bourg-Madame sits directly on the Spanish border, separated from the town of Puigcerdà by little more than a bridge. You can walk across for lunch in Spain and return to catch a later train.

Will Gonzalez

Latour-de-Carol-Enveitg

The final stretch of the line runs from Bourg-Madame through Ur-les-Escaldes and Béna-Fanès to Latour-de-Carol-Enveitg at 1,231 metres. The terminus is itself an interesting stop for rail enthusiasts: an international station where three different railway gauges converge. The metre-gauge Train Jaune shares the station with the standard-gauge French line from Toulouse and the broad-gauge Spanish line from Barcelona. 

Immediately outside the station, the Bistrot de la Gare serves generous portions of grilled meats, pizzas and Catalan specialities on a terrace overlooking the Train Jaune platform, and is a good place to settle with a coffee or a cold beer while waiting for a connection.

Onwards from Latour-de-Carol

Latour-de-Carol-Enveitg provides connections in several directions. The standard-gauge line runs north through the Ariège valley to Toulouse, passing through the mountains via a series of long tunnels. To the south, the Spanish broad-gauge line descends through the Cerdanya to Puigcerdà and continues to Barcelona. For those returning toward the coast, the Train Jaune can be ridden back to Villefranche-de-Conflent, where regional trains continue down the Têt valley to Perpignan.

If you’d rather extend your time in the region rather than travel immediately, the Cerdagne plateau offers plenty of options for exploration. The natural hot springs at Dorres and Saint-Thomas-les-Bains are open year-round, and the Bouillouses lake, reached by road from Mont-Louis, is the starting point for outdoor adventures in some of the finest high mountain scenery in the eastern Pyrenees. The Catalan Pyrenees Natural Park covers much of the territory the train passes through, with well-marked trails ranging from short valley walks to full-day ridge routes. 

Travel to Spain via Perpignan to take Le Train Jaune as a day trip, or check out more of our French and Spanish holidays by train.

Read about the art of slow travel, or why we love to take the local train.

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