Experience Western Canada in Style on the Rocky Mountaineer

Last updated on August 25th, 2023 at 05:42 pm

In August of 2023, I took the famed Rocky Mountaineer train journey from Vancouver to Jasper in the Canadian Rockies with Julia, my daughter and frequent travel companion. I’ve lived in British Columbia all my life and see mountains and trees out my window every day. Would I appreciate the scenery as much as, say, someone from Texas or Oklahoma or London or even Toronto? For people from other parts of the world, the wild BC landscape is as much a novelty as the Yangtze River or African veldt would be for me.

As it turns out, this BC girl thoroughly enjoyed the two-day Rocky Mountaineer train journey from my backyard to the majestic Rocky Mountains. Awesome scenery, fabulous service, and excellent amenities combined to make the trip truly bucket-list-worthy.

This post provides a full account of the trip, from boarding in Vancouver, British Columbia, to disembarking in Jasper, Alberta. Read on to find out if a trip on the Rocky Mountaineer is an experience you too would enjoy.

Day One

Rocky Mountaineer offers three routes featuring the awe-inspiring landscapes of British Columbia and the Rocky Mountains in Alberta:

• First Passage to the West: Vancouver to Banff and Lake Louise via Kamloops
• Journey Through the Clouds: Vancouver to Jasper via Kamloops
• Rainforest to Gold Rush: Vancouver to Jasper via Whistler and Quesnel

We chose the Journey Through the Clouds–a two-day journey from Vancouver to Jasper. Day One takes us to Kamloops in the Interior region of British Columbia, and Day Two takes us the rest of the way to Jasper in Alberta.

Arrival at the Rocky Mountaineer Station in Vancouver

At 6:30 am, we’re out front of Julia’s apartment in North Vancouver, waiting for the Uber that whisks us across the bridge to the Rocky Mountaineer station in Vancouver for the start of our two-day adventure. Attendants welcome us with cheery efficiency into the cavernous Rocky Mountaineer station flooded with early-morning light. We soon discover that cheery efficiency characterizes every moment of the service to come. Everyone who works on the train is cheery; I presume it’s a job requirement. But it feels genuine. I sense that the people who work with guests at Rocky Mountaineer truly relish their jobs.

I enjoy my first coffee of the day at the station and look around at my fellow travelers. While I spy a few families, the majority of the passengers are couples hailing from Australia, Britain and the United States, at least judging from most of the accents I hear. I know from going on several Alaskan cruises over the years that many travelers combine a trip on the Rocky Mountaineer with a cruise to Alaska and a few days’ stay in Vancouver. Although biased, considering it’s my home town, I have to say that Vancouver is worth at least a two-night stay.

A Piper Pipes Us Aboard the Rocky Mountaineer

A piper in full Scots regalia takes up his position in front of the doors leading to the train and begins to play. I do love the sound of the pipes! The cheery train manager who will accompany us to Jasper welcomes us and then asks us all to shout All Aboard. Moments later, we follow the other passengers out to the platform.

We walk a few yards down the tracks to our GoldLeaf car—a double-decker with the seating area in a domed car on the top level and the dining car below.

Two Levels of Service on the Rocky Mountaineer

The Rocky Mountaineer train offers two levels of service—SilverLeaf and GoldLeaf. The scenery is the same, as is the level of cheeriness from the onboard hosts, but the seats in GoldLeaf are more comfortable and the cars are two levels. The dome car on the top level affords views for miles and the dining room on the bottom level hosts two seatings for a gourmet breakfast and lunch each day. An onboard chef prepares all the food to order.

In SilverLeaf, the food is pre-prepared and reheated on board, similar to first-class plane fare, and delivered to people’s seats. Also, the SilverLeaf cars are one level and, while equipped with large windows, are not as airy and high up as the dome cars in GoldLeaf.  Both are good choices, depending on your budget.

Our Onboard Seating in Rocky Mountaineer’s GoldLeaf Class

The sun streams through the fully-glassed-in dome car as we make our way to our assigned seats. There is ample leg room and all sorts of intriguing seat controls. I can choose three temperatures to warm my bottom, from mildly tingling to full-on torrid. Considering the air conditioning is cranked a little too high, I’m grateful that at least my nether regions are toasty.

There are also controls for raising the leg rest, reclining the seat without affecting the people behind (a nice touch), and even a rather lovely lumbar support. On the seat back in front of me is a hook for hanging jackets and purses. Very thoughtful.

The train starts so smoothly that it’s a few seconds before I realize we’re moving. For several minutes, we shunt backwards as the train gets into position on the correct track. The train is very long, consisting of both the Vancouver-to-Jasper and Vancouver-to-Banff cars. In Kamloops, the Banff cars will be uncoupled to go on their merry way eastward, while we will begin the trek north and then east to Jasper.

First Breakfast

Our super-cheery onboard host Ryan welcomes us aboard and reads the safety information required by Transport Canada, then invites half of the passengers in the car to head down to the dining car for breakfast. We are in the first group; tomorrow, we will go second. During the two eleven-hour travel days, we will eat both breakfast and lunch (which is more like a dinner) on board, along with plenty of snacks and unlimited drinks—wine, cocktails, liqueurs, soft drinks, the lot.

We are seated opposite a retired couple from New York. The woman used to run an art gallery and so we have plenty to chat about. Breakfast is excellent. I opt for eggs scrambled with Boursin cheese and accompanied by bacon, potatoes, and greens with pomegranates. It is delicious.

We Head Out of Vancouver

The train creeps along through rail yards that are as ugly here in my home town as they are anywhere in the world. What is it with trains and cities? The tracks are always flanked by the very worst urban blight, with liberal sprinklings of rust and filth. Delightful. We assure our breakfast companions that the scenery will improve.

And it does. By the time we return to our seats, the train is gliding alongside the Fraser River with the mountains beyond butted up against massive puffs of marshmallow clouds. The sun streaming through the clear glass dome above me warms the top of my head, the verdure stretching either side of the train is a rich emerald green, and all seems very right with the world. It is remarkably pleasant, and I feel my shoulders soften and relax.

The Morning Progresses

Every so often, our two hosts in the dome car—Ryan and Asia—take turns delivering informative commentary about the areas we’re passing through. I’m thrilled to discover that I can easily type on my laptop on the generously-sized tray table. My fears about the movement of the train being too jerky to allow me to do some writing while on the journey (I love to write when I travel!) are unfounded. I can type to my heart’s content from here to Jasper without missing a beat.

Over the next few hours, we penetrate deeper into the Coast mountains as we follow the Fraser River through the Fraser Valley and into the Fraser Canyon, one of the scenic highlights of the trip. I’ve driven the canyon a few times, but the only other time I took the train through was in 1967 when I was returning from Montreal with my parents after visiting Expo 67. By some weird quirk of scheduling, the westbound train traversed all of British Columbia—the most scenic part of the country by a country mile—at night, arriving in Vancouver at dawn.

Into the Fraser Canyon

So this will be the first time I see the Fraser Canyon from a train. The hosts tell us that the town of Yale has an archeological dig with artifacts dating back to 9000 BC. Impressive.

About an hour after finishing breakfast, the bar opens and I order a Mimosa and sip it while gazing out at the mountains looming high either side of us. The dome car is a huge plus of traveling in GoldLeaf. I feel like I’m floating through the landscape, looking up to see clouds and trees and mountaintops glide smoothly by.

We Pass by Hell’s Gate

The train passes by Hell’s Gate, and everyone crowds to the right side to peer down at the roiling waters. Ryan excitedly tells us about the history of the area and how Canadian explorer Simon Fraser called the area the Gates of Hell, hence the name. The canyon narrows and the water pours through in unnavigable fury.

Lunch is Served

Lunch is called for us, the first group, and down we troop. The appetizer is a long board of smoked ahi tuna and several plump prawns accompanied by pickled veggies, crisp crackers, and a delicate bruschetta. For the entrée, we can choose from six options in addition to the special—chicken in Béarnaise sauce. Julia opts for that while I choose the cod loin, which is truly one of the best servings of cod loin I’ve ever tasted. A delicate sweet-citrus sauce dresses a generously thick hunk of cod perfectly cooked.

There’s a gentle rhythm to the pace of the train—not fast, not slow. It’s a steady pace that feels just right. This is not a high-speed TGV or bullet train. This is a sedate, elegant train that gets us to where we’re going at a pace that encourages us to enjoy the ride.

Heading Into the Interior of British Columbia

We pass through Lytton–a small town tragically destroyed by fire in 2021. The charred trees bear witness to the devastation caused by wildfires every year in British Columbia. We are lucky that wildfires haven’t affected this trip, but that is by no means always the case. In fact, 2023 is one of the worst years for wildfires in Canada, but not on the route we are currently traveling.

When we are close enough to a town to get cell service, I read the heartbreaking headlines about the devastating wildfires in Maui. Wildfires are increasing worldwide and they all too often win the battle against humans and human settlements. We see evidence of fires throughout the Rocky Mountaineer journey and when we spend the day in Jasper.

The countryside keeps changing the farther into the Interior we go—the monochrome browns and ochres and greys punctuated by burned trees like exclamation points and cut through by the blue-green Thompson River that we will follow all the way to Kamloops.

The mountains are rounder and more arid, the slashes of ochre and white more stark, the trees shrinking even more. At 7 pm, we pull into Kamloops, our overnight stop. We’ve been on the train for 11 hours, which sounds like a long time but has flown by.

Arrival in Kamloops

The organization is impressive. Large buses pull up as we leave the train and everyone from our coach is loaded in and taken to the Coast Hotel. They’ve divided passengers into coaches based on where they are staying. The Coast Hotel is situated high on the ridge above Kamloops in an area bristling with hotels, motels, and malls, and a plethora of chain restaurants, from McDonalds to Dairy Queen. To stretch our legs, we eschew the hotel restaurant and walk to a pub about five minutes’ away.

Snagging the last table outside where the atmosphere is quieter, we enjoy an okay meal. Service is swift and my steak sandwich, while overdone, is edible. Half an hour later we’re back out on the street. The area is regrettably unlovely—just urban sprawl overlooking brown hills and the valley below. We walk as far as the Dairy Queen for an ice cream cone that I don’t need, then stroll back to the hotel and contemplate the pool. I always like to enjoy as many hotel amenities as I can during a stay, but I’m tired and the pool is busy. We opt instead for a quiet hour back in the room before lights-out.

Day 2 of the Rocky Mountaineer Adventure

I’m up bright and early and step out onto our balcony to the smell of smoke from a wildfire about ten miles away, as the bus driver later informs us. We have been instructed to be downstairs no later than 7:30 am to board the bus for the fifteen-minute trundle to the train station. An attendant with a clipboard makes sure we’re all accounted for and off we go.

The bus driver provides a commentary about Kamloops, a town of over 100,000 inhabitants. I remember when it wasn’t much more than an indent on the highway. Over the past several years, Kamloops has grown considerably, thanks to affordable housing, a university, the headquarters of Interior Health, a few mines and a pulp mill, making it an attractive option for people looking to escape the impossibly bleak real estate prospects on the coast. Julia has two friends who have relocated to Kamloops in the past few years.

Heading out of Kamloops

The sun is again shining and within a surprisingly short amount of time, we’re away from the dry Kamloops landscape and chugging through a greener, treed landscape skirting the North Thompson River. The views are spectacular, with mirror-bright reflections and puffy clouds. I love being up so high.

We are on the second shift for breakfast today and so make do with two cups of excellent coffee and a piece of coffee cake drizzled with lemon syrup. It’s a tough go, but we manage. The biggest decision of the morning will be what to choose for breakfast. The menu is the same on both days, and I’m torn. The pancakes with lemon? Or Eggs Benedict? Or…? How to choose? I opt for eggs Benedict–cooked to perfection and accompanied by fresh fruit and lots more coffee.

After breakfast, it’s back up the narrow winding staircase that leads from the dining level up to the dome level to spend another relaxing few hours during which I write a bit of this post, listen to an audiobook, work on my Novel-In-Progress, and of course, have a nap. There is something so restful about nodding off with the smooth movement of the train. In fact, I’ve never been on a train with such smooth movement.

Wildlife Spotting

Our onboard hosts are anxious for us to spot wildlife, but unfortunately, it’s slim pickings on this trip. We spot some bald eagles hanging out at the tops of trees alongside the river and see a bear swimming upstream. Unfortunately, he is too far away for a photo. The only other wildlife excitement are a few clusters of bighorn sheep on a hillside.

Views grow less frequent as the trees close in. Every so often, I go back down to the dining car level where a large outdoor viewing platform offers a different perspective. The August air is warm and breezy.

We Approach the Rocky Mountains

The landscape fills with taller trees and increasingly larger mountains until suddenly we burst into a wide valley with a vista of the Rocky Mountains spread before us. Where before the mountains were tree covered to their summits, the tops of these mountains are bare and rocky. And these are just the foothills. The real Rockies are yet to come.

We go down for lunch, and I opt for the Sumac Ridge Sauvignon blanc from BC’s Okanagan Valley that I sampled yesterday. Clean, crisp, citrusy—exactly what a Sauvignon blanc should be. For our entrée, we both choose the special—steak with broccoli and potatoes. It’s excellent.

We are now traveling into the heart of the Rocky Mountains. Although I’ve seen them before, I’m always surprised at just how big and rocky they are—very different from the blue and green mountains I see out my window at home on the coast. The Rockies thrust unapologetically into the cloud-studded sky—we’re here, we’re proud, we’re Rockies, and all you people in that train snaking through the valley down below have paid a small fortune to come see us. Welcome.

Pyramid Falls

The train slows to a crawl to allow us to take pictures of Pyramid Falls, reputedly taller than Niagara Falls. Extraordinary.

We Pass Mount Robson

An hour later, we pass massive Mount Robson—the highest mountain in the Canadian Rockies. The mountain is located entirely within Mount Robson Provincial Park in British Columbia, and is part of the Rainbow Range.The trees occasionally thin out enough to provide several photo ops. Apparently, clouds very often wreathe the summit, and this is the case when we pass. Even so, it’s an impressive wall of granite.

Coming Into Jasper

As we near Jasper and the end of our Rocky Mountaineer adventure, the mountains are coming thick and fast, along with the iconic deep blue lakes, the first being Moose Lake. The chefs come upstairs and dole out fresh-from-the-oven chocolate chip cookies. It’s a nice touch.

And so, after another full day on the train, we pull into Jasper, Alberta, where the clock has jumped forward an hour to Mountain Time. Ryan reads out the coach numbers corresponding to our hotels. We are in the Forest Park Hotel, which Julia assures me is very comfortable (she’s right). We will be here for two nights.

Music to End our Journey on the Rocky Mountaineer

The sound system delivers a purely Canadian playlist—Gordon Lightfoot, Our Lady Peace, Celine Dion, k. d. lang and more—a fitting tribute to round out the trip. The only exception is John Denver’s Rocky Mountain High, played just as we pull into Jasper train station. A rendition of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah plays as we all rise to descend from the glorious glass-domed car we’ve called home for two days to the track level where we say farewell to our hosts. Jasper Bear meets us at the station.

The sky is starting to dim just enough to indicate that sunset is approaching. Patches of sun splash across the peaks in the distance while forested ridges loom darkly. Clouds are tinged bright white and grey and yellow, preparing to turn crimson and gold with the sunset. We hop on the bus for the five-minute drive to the Forest Park Hotel on the very edge of town. Our room is spacious and well-appointed.

We decide to walk into Jasper for dinner at a pizza place. The sky stays light for several hours, and on our way back to the hotel, we spy a few elk munching grass.

Should You Go?

Is the Rocky Mountaineer trip “worth” it? That’s a good question. It’s an experience unmatched in my life, even though I’ve lived most of it within sight of mountains. I’ve driven through this landscape several times, but the driving experience can’t compare to the relaxation of sitting in the dome car tootling along at a sedate 40 to 50 miles an hour—fast enough to feel like progress is being made, but slow enough to allow for effective picture-taking.

The service is excellent, with the onboard hosts going above and beyond to deliver a memorable experience. They balance commentary with silence and deliver drinks and snacks at exactly the right rate, neither too frequently nor too seldom.

The journey is not for the budget-conscious. To be blunt, it’s expensive. Very expensive. But if you’re looking for a unique way to spend two days crossing the vast reaches of British Columbia and you’re happy to shell out some big bucks, then I highly recommend the Rocky Mountaineer GoldLeaf experience.