Le Train Jaune

Everyone knows France for the TGV, the sleek high-speed trains that cross the country at 300 km/h. Le Train Jaune — the Yellow Train — is the opposite of all that, and all the more lovable for it.

This is a tiny metre-gauge railway that climbs into the eastern Pyrenees, painted the yellow and red of the Catalan flag and pottering along at a stately 55 km/h. In 63 kilometres it hauls itself from Villefranche-de-Conflent, a walled medieval town at 427 m, up to the high Cerdagne plateau — passing through Bolquère-Eyne, at 1,593 m the highest railway station in France.

To get there it performs two showstoppers: the great stone Pont Séjourné viaduct and the slender Pont Gisclard, the only suspension bridge on a working railway in the country. Open the sides of the carriage in summer, and it becomes one of the most joyful little train rides in Europe — a slow, sunlit, open-air climb through the Pyrenees.

The journey starts at Villefranche-de-Conflent, a jewel of a town wrapped in ramparts designed by Louis XIV's great military engineer Vauban — a UNESCO-listed prelude worth an hour before you board. From here the little yellow train sets off up the valley of the Têt, and almost at once the mountains close in.

The first half is the spectacular half. The line climbs hard, curling through tunnels and along ledges, and crosses the river twice on its two famous bridges: the towering, double-tiered stone arches of the Pont Séjourné at Fontpédrouse, and — soon after — the airy Pont Gisclard, a suspension bridge slung high above the trees. In an open carriage, with the valley dropping away beneath you, this is as good as railway travel gets.

Near Mont-Louis, another Vauban fortress town, the climb eases, and the train reaches its high point at Bolquère-Eyne before running out onto the Cerdagne — a broad, high, sun-drenched Catalan plateau ringed by peaks. It calls at the resort of Font-Romeu and rolls gently across the uplands to the terminus at Latour-de-Carol, where it meets the mainline trains of France and, on the Spanish side, the way to Barcelona.

The whole run takes about three hours, but the trains stop often, so the classic way to do it is to break the trip — ride the bridges, wander a fortress town, and pick up a later train up onto the plateau.

Le Train Jaune is a scheduled SNCF TER service — a real public train, not a tourist special — which is a big part of its charm (and its low fares).

The practical shape of it:

The line runs several services a day each way, year-round (more added in summer, when the open-air carriages run); the full Villefranche–Latour-de-Carol run takes about 3 hours. ⚠️ The line is closed for maintenance from 23 March to 10 April 2026 — check before planning around those dates.

Good to know:

• Fewer trains than you'd think. Only a handful of services run each way per day, and the timetable thins outside summer — check times carefully and don't miss the last one.
• Open-air carriages run in the warm months. The open "découverte" cars are attached in summer; off-season the train is all enclosed.
• Break the journey. With trains a few times a day you can stop at Villefranche, the bridges, Mont-Louis and Font-Romeu and continue later — much better than riding straight through.
• Connections. Villefranche links to Perpignan; Latour-de-Carol connects to Toulouse and to Barcelona over the border.

Frequency and the March–April 2026 closure as of the 2026 timetable. Confirm current times with the operator — see the Tickets section below.

Because Le Train Jaune is an ordinary SNCF TER line, tickets are cheap, flexible and bought like any regional train — at the station, from a machine, or online through SNCF. No reservation, no fuss.

Two natural ways to ride:

• The full line — Villefranche-de-Conflent all the way to Latour-de-Carol, over both bridges, through the highest station in France and out onto the Cerdagne. Three unhurried hours for a very small fare.
• The bridges section — if you're short on time, ride just the lower, steepest half from Villefranche up to Mont-Louis, which takes in both the Pont Séjourné and the Pont Gisclard.

A few pointers:

• Fares are modest and change, so we point you to SNCF for the live price rather than quote a figure that will date.
• Aim for an open-air carriage in summer — sit on the valley side for the drop-away views.
• Combine it with the mainline. Reach Villefranche from Perpignan, or make it part of a cross-Pyrenees trip via Latour-de-Carol to Toulouse or Barcelona.
• Check the day's timetable first — services are sparse, and planning around them is the key to a good trip.

The line links a string of fortress towns and mountain resorts on its way up to the Cerdagne, and it rewards hopping off along the way. Two of the stops below — Villefranche-de-Conflent at the bottom and Mont-Louis near the top — are Vauban strongholds carrying the same UNESCO listing.

The Train Jaune can be ridden in a day from Perpignan, but the Cerdagne is lovely enough — and the light clear enough — to be worth a night or two on the plateau.

• Villefranche-de-Conflent — small hotels and guesthouses within the ramparts, atmospheric for a night at the foot of the line.
• Mont-Louis — inns inside the fortress walls, a characterful and central base for the middle of the line.
• Font-Romeu — the widest choice of hotels, being a proper resort, and the best base for walking and skiing on the plateau.
• Cerdagne villages — chambres d'hôtes and small hotels in the sunny stone villages of the high plateau, for a quiet Pyrenean stay away from the crowds.

The busiest times are the summer walking season and the winter ski months around Font-Romeu; book ahead for July–August and the February holidays. Nights are cool up here even in summer, so pack a layer.