Abstract. In this paper we characterize the Gromov hyperbolicity of the double of a metric space. This result allows to give a characterization of the hyperbolic Denjoy domains, in terms of the distance to R of the points in some geodesics. In the particular case of trains (a kind of Riemann surfaces which includes the flute surfaces), we obtain more explicit criteria which depend just on the lengths of what we have called fundamental geodesics.