Canadian Rockies

[musings22]

My dad has always wanted to go on a train ride through the Canadian Rockies. He is 80 and I would like to make it happen

Questions-

Where do I start?
Any ideas of where to go? What to see? Who to book with?

We will be going with him dh and 9yo dd) but itinerary would need to be ok for him ( he doesn't have any mobility issues) but obviously is in his advanced years so won't be doing any hiking!

Any advice and experiences greatly received!

Watching with interest as we are planning a trip to Vancouver and Rockies. Rocky Mountaineer is off limits on our budget - can’t justify it-but seat 61 has good break down of each route
www.seat61.com/rocky-mountaineer-train.htm

We did the rocky mountaineer on honeymoon - it's not cheap but it would be ideal for someone with mobility issues. We flew to Calgary, took a bus up to Jasper and then the train to Vancouver. Probably easier to hire a car than take the bus, driving was pretty easy there.

Forgot to say, it was a 2 day trip with a stop over in Kamloops

My DH and I did a road trip for our honeymoon and it was the best holiday I have ever had. We did have a pretty big budget though as we had been saving for it so it was our once in a lifetime trip, staying in all the Fairmont hotels. We flew to Vancouver firstly and spent 2 nights there. We then hired a car and got the ferry over to Vancouver Island, where we spent 2 nights in Victoria. After that we got the ferry back, and spent 2 nights in Whistler, Kamloops (1 night stop off here to break up the journey) Jasper, Lake Louise and Banff. The drive through the Rockies is absolutely breathtaking!! We went in the summer, so it wasn't cold. After we finished up in Banff, we drove to Calgary, went to the Stampede, then flew the next day to Winnipeg to visit family. I think about that holiday so often! I highly recommend. I think even the Rocky mountaineer would be good, but at least with driving you can go at your own pace and stop in other places.

Thanks for the advice

What time of year is best to go?

We went end of May / beginning of June - tgat worked pretty well as most placed low down had thawed bu there was still snow and ice higher up.

And yes, go to Lake Louise, it's beautiful

Sounds like an amazing trip for your Dad (and you all).. we didn’t do the train as it was too pricey for us (DH and two teens), we hope to do it one day without them😁

We went late July/Aug this year for 3 weeks. Have friends who live in Pender Harbour so got lots of good local advice from them. however Trailfinders is a good place to start, I ordered the Canada book and looked at suggested itineraries (bit naughty I know) then organised it all myself. Or Canadian Affair which we used for our car hire (glad we had a 4x4 in The Rockies) as it was the cheapest deal we could get (it’s very pricey). Don’t whatever you do get a hire car from the airport it’s so £££. We used a taxi to get into Vancouver.

what I would say in planning your trip, if you are driving for part of it, work out the distances between each place and how long it takes to drive there. We ended up flying from Vancouver to Calgary (cheapo airline) on a 1 hour flight and getting a hire car in Calgary (much cheaper). Then drove to the Rockies (stayed in Banff, Jasper, Day trip to Lake Louise) Okanagen Valley, then back to Vancouver, got the ferry up to our friends in Pender Harbour then back to Vancouver for 2 days.

Accommodation is £££ so be prepared for mediocre places in peak holiday times eg school holidays etc. Also book as far in advance as you can, we only booked in January this year for August so choice was limited. I usually book through Airbnb but as it was still covid restrictions I ended up using booking.com for most of it for hotels due to the cancellation policy but that won’t be an issue now. I booked one Airbnb place east of Jasper as I could get anything decent in the town. Lake Louise is stunning but full of tourists of course. we booked afternoon tea at the Chateau Fairmont hotel (it was our wedding anniversary) had a window table and we got parking under the hotel included. We could also walk around inside the hotel and the gardens. It was raining when we got there so were glad we did this. Very limited parking and heard that people go very early to get a spot. They were turning people back when we arrived early afternoon. You can also get a bus from Banff but we weren’t keen on that.

So ask away if you would like to know anything more. I definitely think it was a trip of a lifetime, scenery is stunning (esp The Rockies) and the people are so friendly and helpful. We will go back again (my DH was born there and left when he was 5, but now wants to get his Canadian citizenship)!