The Rocky Mountaineer train is special, but the Rockies blew me away

Arriving into the Rockies by train is wonderful but not as magnificent as actually spending time among them, in person.

The first European to see the Canadian Rockies was an English fur trader called Anthony Henday. History doesn’t record what Henday said on sighting this majestic mountain range in 1754 but, if he was anything like me, there would have been swear words involved.

Unlike his year-long odyssey from Hudson’s Bay, travelling 1400km west by river and land to Alberta, it takes me less than 48 hours from Vancouver, travelling in pampered comfort aboard the Rocky Mountaineer train, to crest Kicking Horse Pass and enter a world of jagged snowy peaks soaring 3km into the sky.

Reaching the Rockies – World Heritage listed for their “exceptional natural beauty” – is the undisputed climax of our rail journey, but the entire route is a crescendo of changing scenery and light, viewed through glass carriages as we wend our way 900km east to the spa-and-ski resort of Banff.

Perhaps because the train’s passengers skew towards the senior end of society, the experience is streamlined and easy from the moment some 650 of us embark at the Rocky Mountaineer’s dedicated downtown station. By 9am we’re pulling out and trundling, at first, through the city’s gritty, fascinating backblocks before crossing the Fraser River swing bridge as harbour seals fish the surging waters below.

Day one is a leisurely transition from coastal rainforest to the semi-arid desert of Kamloops where we disembark and spend the night in hotels. The Rocky Mountaineer only runs during daylight hours to maximise the glorious views.

Train tickets come in two classes, SilverLeaf and GoldLeaf. I’m travelling Gold in a duplex carriage with dining room below and spacious carriage above fitted with business-class-comfortable heated seats, and glass walls and roof for optimum enjoyment. There’s also an open-air “vestibule” if we want to feel the wind in our hair or hunt for bears (no luck this time).

Breakfast is served not long after take-off. I sit downstairs with three other strangers – soon friends – at window-side tables while dining on raspberry and banana smoothie bowls, smoked salmon and avocado toast, and eggs Benedict. I quite like the ceremony of shifting between rooms for meals; Silver Leaf passengers are served in their seats, like on an airplane but with superior service, food and drinks.

Initially we pass through river valleys ordered by agriculture and quaint wooden farmhouses before entering the woods, the train hugging cliffsides as jade rivers rush below. During the winding climb into the mountains we lunch on smoked albacore tuna and Dungeness crab ravioli and drink Okanagan Valley wines.

If the ride sounds a little sedate so far it’s because I haven’t yet introduced our hosts, Patrycja Podgorski and Victor Venutti. She’s Polish originally, he’s Brazilian, and between them they run the Rocky Mountaineer show.

You want facts? They have them all, whether your interests run to railway history or the reproductive habits of salmon. Their engaging commentary punctuates the journey; they also curate the playlist – “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” comes on as we drive through double rainbows on the approach to Kamloops; “Rocky Mountain High” when we enter the alpine wonderland. They’re charming and funny travelling partners who win everyone over with their personalities and also their wine and cheese.

We arrive at and depart Kamloops in the dark so I have little to report aside from our local guide’s “fun fact” that temperatures can reach 50C in summer and minus 40C in winter.

At 6am GoldLeaf passengers are fetched from the comfortable Delta hotel and bussed back to the platform where Victor has rolled out the red carpet for us. Kitschy but cute.

Day two is more dramatic as we segue from pastel hilltops and mirror lakes to a lofty world of forested slopes whose summits are snagged in clouds. The passage is slower than expected due to the high volume of cargo trains on this route, which have right of way. We are often parked on mountainsides waiting for coal-laden carriages to clear the tracks. These are some of my favourite moments, standing on the open deck in dense forest and pristine air.

Arriving into the Rockies by train is wonderful but not as magnificent as actually spending time among them, in person. I stay two nights at the retro Rimrock Resort, handy to the famous hot springs, downtown Banff and must-see sights such as the glacial-blue lakes Louise and Moraine.

Driving between Banff and Lake Louise along the Bow Valley Way, which is already 1500m above sea level, daunting mountains soar almost 2100m above me. This is why the Canadian Rockies are so revered. They make us humans feel insignificant.

Down the track

The Rocky Mountaineer operates between April and October on four routes – three in western Canada including my two-day trip from Vancouver to Banff, and a US itinerary between the Colorado Rockies and the canyons and hoodoos of Utah.

The writer travelled as a guest of the Rocky Mountaineer and Fairmont Hotels & Resorts.

Originally published as The Rocky Mountaineer train is special, but the Rockies blew me away