Taking a train through the Canadian Rockies is the dream vacation for many people, particularly Americans, in whose minds the notion of trains and the Canadian Rockies are inextricably twined.
There are two trains that travel to the Canadian Rockies. Both depart from Vancouver, British Columbia.
The first is the Rocky Mountaineer. The Rocky Mountaineer rail tours include two day train journeys between Vancouver and Banff National Park and Jasper National Park in the heart of the Canadian Rockies. These rail adventures take two days and traverse some of the most beautiful scenery in the world.
On its way to the Canadian Rockies, the Rocky Mountaineer train travels through the fields of the Fraser Valley and into the Fraser Canyon, past Hells Gate and snakes along with the river until the Fraser meets the Thompson River in Lillooet.
From Lillooet, the scenery changes with every bend in the tracks. The trains pass grasslands, lakes, small towns, foothills and farmland. Just before the train reaches Kamloops, the Gateway to the Canadian Rockies, the train skirts Lillooet Lake and follows the shore of the lake into Kamloops.
After a night in a Kamloops hotel, the most spectacular day of the journey begins. The terrain gets more rugged, the mountains get higher, the rivers get deeper as they have carved steep gorges into the rock and the train travels over bridges high above the rivers below. Visitors arrive on the train in Banff National Park feeling that their vacations to the Canadian Rockies have already been a huge success and they haven't even begun to explore the Rockies by car, RV or motor coach.
The second train that offers rail tours from Vancouver to the Canadian Rockies is the ViaRail Canadian train. It departs Vancouver for Jasper National Park each Tuesday, Friday and Sunday at 5:30 PM and arrives in Jasper National Park the following day at 11:00 AM. It travels from Jasper to Vancouver each Monday, Thursday and Saturday at 3:30 PM and arrives in Vancouver the following morning at 7:50 AM.
The ViaRail Canadian is fun for families and people looking for an old time rail adventure since the train, built in the 50s, gives passengers the same experience they would have had 50 years ago. They can explore the train from front to back, spend time in the lounge car or club car and eat in the dining car. Also, if you take the ViaRail Canadian train trip in the summer, the days are so long and the nights so short, that you will miss very little scenery while you travel from Vancouver to the heart of the Canadian Rockies.