The Lakes Train in a day, two hours of reservoirs and tunnels and a lunch in the Pyrenees.

This plan needs neither a car nor a hotel: the Tren dels Llacs leaves Lleida mid-morning, climbs the Noguera Pallaresa valley and leaves you in La Pobla de Segur with a good four hours ahead. What you have to organise is little and is right by the station.

How the day goes

10:40 · Lleida. The historic train leaves with a guide on board; if you live near Balaguer, get on there at 11:10 for the same price. The two hours of the journey are the plan: irrigated plain, then the narrow valley, four reservoirs, forty tunnels and seventy-five bridges.

12:35 · La Pobla. When you get off, the Espai Raier is across the square: archive, photos and films of the raiers who floated logs down the river. It opens in summer, Tuesday to Saturday in the morning; in spring and autumn you will find the door closed and the tourist office open in the old station.

13:00 · Modernisme. Eight minutes' walk along Avinguda de Verdaguer to the Molí de l'Oli de Sant Josep, from 1905, and the Casa Mauri, now the town hall. You see them from outside.

13:30 · Lunch. El Raier, on Avinguda de Madrid, does Pallars produce cooking. Open at midday Wednesday to Sunday and booked online: do it when you buy the train ticket.

16:45 · Head back. To the station with a quarter of an hour to spare. The train leaves at 17:00 and arrives in Lleida at 19:00.

If you go in July or August

In those weeks the panoramic train runs, a modern train with large windows: it leaves Lleida at 10:47, reaches La Pobla at 12:22 and returns at 16:35, arriving in Lleida at 18:23. It costs €25 return. The Espai Raier opens and the plan stays the same, with a little less time.

With children

Two hours on a train is a lot for a very small child, but there are tunnels every few minutes and a guide who tells stories. Under-4s do not pay and ages 4 to 13 pay €18.70 on the historic. In La Pobla everything is less than ten minutes' walk.