Canada trip next year
 

We are looking at doing something different next year for Mrs T's special birthday. Never been to Canada before and want to give it a look before we decide to give long haul flights a miss!

Looked yesterday at riding on the Rockie Mountaineer railway for part of a trip, taking in a bit of Canada and maybe driving down the west coast of the states for a flight home from Sa. Francisco.

Anyone done something with regards to the train and offer any advice.

Thanks!

We did the rocky mountaineer from Vancouver to Calgary 10 years ago, gold leaf service. We had first driven from Calgary up to Jasper then over to Vancouver, so it was a round trip.

The food and wine on board were nice but to be honest, i didn’t think the train was worth it. I thought the scenery was better from the road, with the added bonus that you can stop the car and get out!

The hotel they chose for the overnight stop in Kamloops was also not great. We also had some loudmouth carriage mates who got a bit too well lubricated and on a train, there’s no escape!

We loved the area itself, so much that we just revisited it in May, but I would always recommend driving it over taking the RM. that’s a personal preference though!

I think that if you were to do as you're suggesting you will 3-4 weeks. Vancouver to San Fran is nearly a 16 hour drive (with no stops). We had 12 nights on the west coast of Canada taking in Vancouver, Vancouver Island (Victoria and Tofino) and Whistler and we could have easily have spent longer.

We didn't do the train, but I loved what we did. I would highly recommend western Canada. I haven't heard anyone say they haven't enjoyed visiting. My only piece of advice would be that although places don't look that far apart, in reality Canada is huge.

Thanks for your reply. Interested in what you did. Did you do any sort of trippie?

Length of time first matter as we are both retired so have all the time in the world!

We go in 6 weeks. Fly to Vancouver, vancouver island then ferry to Bella coola, back down thru whistler to Vancouver. 21 days. Can’t wait x

Ooh, I wanted to go up to bella viola but decided that with only 12 nights we didn’t have the time. It looks amazing though.

I’ll post photos ! We have a week from there to Williams lake :wave: