Would love some thoughts on a train journey of about 10 days from Vancouver eastward to the Banff, Lake Louise and Jasper areas of Alberta. I have been intrigued by the company called Rocky Mountaineer (link below) but am put off by the cost of such a journey on this train. Is there another train system to use for accomplishing a vacation of this type? Thinking 2 nights in Vancouver, 3 nights in Banff/Lake Louise area and 3 nights in the Jasper area. Then rent a car for driving the Icefields Parkway dropping the car in Calgary to fly home to Seattle. Any thoughts about this plan? And is there an alternative to the Rocky Mountaineer train?
Posted by
Lynnwood, Washington
8394 posts
Absolutely there is an alternative!
https://www.viarail.ca/en
The challenge is that you want to watch the schedule and make sure that you are not passing highly scenic areas at night.
Here is a sample vlog. There are lots of them out there
https://www.ontheluce.com/vancouver-to-jasper-by-train-via-rail/
Posted by
7673 posts
We wanted to visit the Canadian Rockies from Vancouver prior to our Alaska Cruise a few years ago.
I researched doing the Rocky Mountaineer four day tour, but it seemed expensive.
So I looked for other tours of Jasper, Banff and Lake Louise. We found a great bus tour for four days visiting same area and MORE sites.
Cost was 1/3 of the cost of the Rocky Mountaineer. The tour was great, it was with Key West Tours.
Posted by
2360 posts
So, some logistics here.
The Rocky Mountaineer option stays south travelling from Vancouver to Banff. You would need a car rental in Banff to travel the Parkway to Jasper THEN travel back down the Parkway to the Calgary airport.
The Via Rail options would be:
Board the Via Rail train in Vancouver destination Jasper. Rent a car in Jasper, drive down the Parkway to Banff and Lake Louise THEN on to the Calgary Airport.
OR do the reverse. Pick-up the car rental at the Calgary Airport heading west to Banff and Lake Louise THEN north to Jasper THEN the Via Rail train from Jasper to Vancouver.
The Rocky Mountaineer overnights in a hotel in Kamlops; Via Rail travels through the night.
So, study the timing options of the Via Rail trains noting which which direction will give you maximum daylight through the Canadian Rockies.
Also check rental car drop rates - Jasper hates losing cars so it may be more favourable costwise to drop the car in Jasper.
My own preference would be the Via Rail options. See if any of it works for you.
Posted by
OP
Seattle, WA, USA
1322 posts
Carol, thanks for the viaRail Canada train link for planning the trip and geovagrifith I do appreciate a good bus tour but for this trip, I wanted to focus on a Canadian Rockies train ride for at least a portion of the journey. There are factors I didn’t reveal in my OP.
First, this will be my second trip to Banff, Lake Louise, Icefields Parkway and Jasper. This trip is basically a do over for me with a train trip added in, but to also include my cousin. She lives in Colorado and I’m in Seattle so, logistics do come into play quite a bit. If she wants to visit other family members here in Seattle or even take in a couple tour days in Vancouver, then she would meet me here in the PNW before we take the trip.
Periscope had a very good idea to check on daylight hours before booking the train portion of the trip. Quite honestly, I haven’t asked cousin if she wants to travel by train. Therefore, it might be a good idea to both fly into Calgary, rent the car, explore B, LL, Icefields, J then go our separate ways. She would fly back to Colorado from Calgary and I would take the train journey back to Vancouver.