The Rockies by Rail and Helicopter

1. Day 1: Arrive in Vancouver

   Vancouver airport (YVR) to the Rosewood Hotel Georgia, about 30 minutes

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Dinner
   • Stay: Rosewood Hotel Georgia or similar
   Day 1 details

   Your host meets you in the arrivals hall at Vancouver International Airport (YVR), and a private car takes you about 30 minutes into the city, over the north arm of the Fraser River to the Rosewood Hotel Georgia on West Georgia Street. The hotel first opened in 1927 and reopened after a long restoration in 2011. It is a short walk from the Vancouver Art Gallery, Robson Street and the Coal Harbour seawall, where floatplanes take off in front of Stanley Park and the North Shore mountains. The afternoon is yours to rest after the flight or stretch your legs by the water. In the evening the group meets for a welcome dinner, and your host talks you through the week ahead and tomorrow's early start for the train. Pack a small day bag tonight: your suitcase travels separately to Kamloops.

   Included

   • Private pickup at Vancouver International Airport (YVR)
   • Welcome dinner with your host

   Free time: Afternoon free

   

2. Day 2: Rocky Mountaineer: the Fraser Canyon to Kamloops

   Vancouver to Kamloops on the Rocky Mountaineer, GoldLeaf

   • By train
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay: Kamloops hotel booked with the Rocky Mountaineer journey or similar
   Day 2 details

   An early transfer takes you to the Rocky Mountaineer station and your GoldLeaf coach: an upper deck under a full glass dome, a dining room below and an open-air platform for photographs. The train runs only by daylight, so you miss none of the route. It leaves the city through the farms of the Fraser Valley, then climbs into the Fraser Canyon, where the river squeezes through Hell's Gate, a gap about 35 m wide. Past Lytton the line follows the Thompson River through steep, dry canyons, rock sheds and tunnels, and the forest gives way to sagebrush hills around Ashcroft and the long shore of Kamloops Lake. Breakfast and lunch are cooked on board and served downstairs, with drinks included. You reach Kamloops, where the North and South Thompson rivers meet, in the early evening, and your bags are waiting at the hotel. Dinner tonight is your own; your host can suggest a place nearby.

   Included

   • Transfer to the Rocky Mountaineer station
   • Rocky Mountaineer GoldLeaf, first day: Vancouver to Kamloops
   • Luggage taken by road to your Kamloops hotel

   Free time: Evening free in Kamloops

   

3. Day 3: Rocky Mountaineer: over the Rockies to Banff

   Kamloops to Banff on the Rocky Mountaineer, GoldLeaf

   • By train
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay: Fairmont Banff Springs or similar
   Day 3 details

   Back on board after an early transfer, the train follows the South Thompson River and the shore of Shuswap Lake, then passes Craigellachie, where the last spike of the Canadian Pacific Railway was driven on 7 November 1885 and the line first joined the country coast to coast. It crosses the Monashee Mountains by Eagle Pass and the Selkirks through tunnels beneath Rogers Pass; east of Revelstoke the clocks move forward an hour to Mountain Time. After Golden the line climbs the Kicking Horse River into Yoho National Park. Near Field it loops through the Spiral Tunnels, two tunnels that curl back on themselves inside the mountains to ease the grade, then crosses the Continental Divide at Kicking Horse Pass into Alberta and runs past Lake Louise and down the Bow Valley to Banff. You arrive in the evening, and a short transfer takes you to the Fairmont Banff Springs, opened by the railway in 1888, for dinner together.

   Included

   • Rocky Mountaineer GoldLeaf, second day: Kamloops to Banff
   • Transfer to the Fairmont Banff Springs

   

4. Day 4: A private heli-hike above Canmore

   Banff to the Canmore heliport, about 25 minutes each way

   • Drive about 45 min
   • Breakfast
   • Stay: Fairmont Banff Springs or similar
   Day 4 details

   After breakfast your private guide-driver takes the group about 25 minutes down the Bow Valley to the heliport at Canmore, a former coal-mining town just outside Banff National Park. Helicopter landings for sightseeing are not allowed inside the park, so heli-hiking here starts from Canmore. The group flies in two small parties of up to five, a flight of a few minutes up a narrow canyon to an alpine ridge above the treeline. A certified mountain guide then leads about three hours of walking across open ground, at the pace of the group, with the Bow Valley and the peaks around Canmore spread out below. The ridge is yours alone. The helicopter brings you back down by early afternoon, and the rest of the day is free: book a treatment at the Willow Stream spa in the hotel, ride the gondola up Sulphur Mountain, or walk from the hotel to Bow Falls and into town along the river.

   Included

   • Private heli-hike from Canmore, about 3 hours with a certified mountain guide
   • Private guide-driver to and from the Canmore heliport

   Optional experiences

   • Willow Stream spa treatment at the Fairmont Banff Springs
   • Banff Gondola up Sulphur Mountain

   Free time: Afternoon free in Banff

   Activity: The flight runs only in safe weather; the pilot decides on the morning.

   

5. Day 5: Lake Louise: a canoe and the Plain of Six Glaciers

   Banff to Lake Louise, about 45 minutes

   • Drive about 45 min
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay: Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise or similar
   Day 5 details

   Your guide-driver takes you about 45 minutes up the Bow Valley to Lake Louise, where the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise stands at one end of the lake facing Victoria Glacier at the other. First you take a canoe out from the boathouse onto water coloured green and blue by rock flour, the fine silt carried down in glacial meltwater. Then walk the Plain of Six Glaciers trail, about 5.5 km each way from the hotel with roughly 370 m of climbing, first along the flat lakeshore and then up through the forest to a log teahouse that has served walkers for close to a century. Lunch is there, with tea on the balcony. Strong walkers can go a little further to a viewpoint over the glaciers. If you would rather keep the day gentle, stroll the lakeshore path instead and have lunch at the Chateau. Your room is ready when you are back, and dinner is together in the evening.

   Included

   • Canoe on Lake Louise
   • Plain of Six Glaciers walk with lunch at the teahouse

   Easier option: A gentle stroll along the Lake Louise shoreline instead of the teahouse walk, with lunch at the Chateau.

   More active option: Continue past the teahouse to the viewpoint over the glaciers.

   Free time: Late afternoon free

   Activity: The teahouse is open in summer only and takes cash.

   

6. Day 6: Moraine Lake at sunrise and Emerald Lake

   Moraine Lake, then Emerald Lake in Yoho National Park

   • Drive about 2 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay: Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise or similar
   Day 6 details

   An early start: your private guide drives you about 14 km up the Moraine Lake Road in the dark, a road closed to private cars, so the group is there before first light. A short climb up the Rockpile path brings you above the lake to watch the sun reach the Valley of the Ten Peaks and the water turn from grey to deep blue. Back at the Chateau for a late breakfast, then cross the Continental Divide at Kicking Horse Pass into British Columbia and Yoho National Park, about 40 minutes away. On the way you stop at the Spiral Tunnels viewpoint, where freight trains loop through the mountains you rode through on day 3, and at the Natural Bridge, where the Kicking Horse River has cut through solid rock. Lunch is by Emerald Lake, under Mount Burgess. The afternoon is free back at Lake Louise, and the week ends with a farewell dinner.

   Included

   • Moraine Lake at sunrise with a private guide, road access included
   • Spiral Tunnels viewpoint and the Natural Bridge
   • Lunch at Emerald Lake in Yoho National Park
   • Farewell dinner

   Free time: Afternoon free

   Activity: The Rockpile path is short but rocky and steep in places; take a torch for the dark.

   

7. Day 7: Lake Louise to Calgary

   Lake Louise to Calgary International Airport (YYC), about 2 hours 15 minutes

   • Drive about 2.5 h
   • Breakfast
   Day 7 details

   A slow last morning. Early risers can walk down to the shore while the canoes are still stacked on the boathouse dock and the lake lies flat under Victoria Glacier. After breakfast your private driver takes you east on the Trans-Canada Highway, down the Bow Valley past Banff and the Three Sisters at Canmore, and out of the mountains into the rolling foothills to Calgary International Airport (YYC), about 205 km and roughly 2 hours 15 minutes. Book a flight leaving after about 2 pm, and tell us your flight time so we can set the pickup to suit it. The trip ends at the departures door. If you would like more time in the mountains or a night in Calgary before you fly, ask us and we can add it to your booking.

   Included

   • Private transfer to Calgary International Airport (YYC)

   Free time: Early morning free

   

Wildlife and weather: Summer days in the Rockies are mild and the nights cool, and mountain weather turns quickly, with afternoon thunderstorms common in July and August. Smoke from distant wildfires can haze the views on some summer days. Elk, bighorn sheep, mountain goats and black and grizzly bears are sometimes seen from the train and the road, but no sighting is certain.

• 1 night · Day 1

  Rosewood Hotel Georgiaor similar

  Vancouver · Hotel

  Downtown, on West Georgia Street

• 1 night · Day 2

  Kamloops hotel booked with the Rocky Mountaineer journeyor similar

  Kamloops · Hotel

  Assigned by Rocky Mountaineer and included in the rail fare

• 

  2 nights · Days 3 and 4

  Fairmont Banff Springsor similar

  Banff · Hotel

  Above Bow Falls, a short walk from Banff town

  Inside the park

• 2 nights · Days 5 and 6

  Fairmont Chateau Lake Louiseor similar

  Lake Louise · Hotel

  On the shore of Lake Louise

  Inside the park