Husband and I are thinking of doing the 6 day Canadian Rockies Highlights tour with Rocky Mountain Railtours during the last week of April. Vancouver, Kamloops, Lake Louise, Banff, Calgary. Anyone done this? What weather should we expect at that time? We'd like to hear any comments on this trip. Thanks!

Hello highnote,

I've never been on the Rocky Mountaineer, but everyone I know who has been on it has loved it. Actually I've never seen or heard a poor review of it.

One of the good things about it is that it stops in Kamloops for the night. It travels only during the day, and passengers get to see all of the scenery along the route.

People who have been on it say that the extra price of Gold Leaf Service is worth it. Golf Leaf passengers take their (hot) meals in a dining car, and they have the use of a domed observation car. Cold meals are served to Red Leaf passengers in their seats. I also seem to recall reading that Red Leaf passengers don't have access to a domed observation car.

The problem with the 6-day Rockies Highlights itinerary is that it does not include Jasper and the Icefields Parkway, the very scenic road that connects Lake Louise and Jasper. To me it's unthinkable to come a long way and spend a lot of money and then not even see Jasper and the Icefields Parkway. That is not to knock Lake Louise and Banff, which are beautiful. It's just that, once you already were so close to Jasper and the IP, it would be a dreadful shame to miss them.

The other thing I question about your proposed trip is the timing. April usually is great for spring skiing. That's if you're coming to the area for skiing, but I don't get the impression that you are. There also are travellers who live in perenially warm climates (Australia, Hawaii, etc.), who consider it to be a huge treat to see ice and snow. For them the frozen lakes, etc., are a novelty.

In my opinion, however, the crowning jewels of the Rocky Mountains are the turquoise lakes. But you can only be guaranteed to see them at their turquoise best from the middle of June onwards.

This is where it gets tricky to pick the narrow window of opportunity in which the lakes are at their best but the summer crowds are not at their worst. In my opinion, there are two windows. They are the second half of June and the month of September.

July and August are fine from the point of view that the lakes are looking great, but there are large numbers of visitors and there is a heavy demand for accommodation.

The weather can fluctuate wildly in April. In Banff the average daily high is 48 deg F, but the highest high in the last 70 years has been 78 deg F. The average daily low is 25 deg F, but the lowest low in the last 70 years has been - 17 deg F.

Using the Trip Planner feature of the Weather Underground web site, I see that the average daily high for Banff during the last week of April during the last 4 years has been 51 deg F, and the average daily low during the same period has been 28 deg F.

This issue of when is a good time to see the mountains is highly objective. It's one of those questions that is visited again and again and AGAIN on the travel discussion boards -- like which city is best : Rome, Florence or Venice? Prague, Vienna or Budapest? Different people have different opinions.

Oh yes, one other thing. It's easy to drive in the mountains. Unless you have some very particular reason for not driving, I think you'd have so much more flexibility if you drove amongst Jasper, Lake Louise and Banff. It would be fine to use the Rocky Mountaineer to get you from Vancouver to the mountains but, once you were in the mountains, I think it would be nicer not to be in a tour group. Just my opinion.

Did I say there was just one other thing? Well here's another. You can choose between two rail journeys with the Rocky Mountaineer. One connects Vancouver and Jasper. The other connects Vancouver and Lake Louise, Banff and Calgary. They're both the same between Vancouver and Kamloops. It's the bit between Kamloops and the mountains that differs. My take on it is that the route from Kamloops to Lake Louise is more beautiful than the route from Kamloops to Jasper.

I hope this has helped.

Judy, thanks! This is exactly the kind of information that I'm looking for. We would definitely do the Gold Leaf service - my impression was the same as what you heard. We are from the deep south and have never driven in snow/ice, so if we did a driving vacation it would need to be later in the summer. We're chicken. The timing of this spring's trip isn't flexible, as it will be my 40th birthday and I want to be as far away from home as we can manage! No black crepe paper and RIP cards for me, thank you very much, just a nice hotel and somewhere great to be. We love beautiful scenery and like to hike. We also enjoy concerts/opera, museums and such. Do you, or anyone else out there, have suggestions for a great trip at the end of April? Thanks again!

Hello highnote,

The Rockies in April certainly would give you good scenery, but you wouldn't be able to hike because there would be snow on the hiking trails. There also would be very limited opportunities for enjoying concerts and museums.

I think you would be better off doing a combination of Whistler (for the mountain scenery) and Vancouver (for the museums, concerts, and walks in places like 1,000 acre Stanley Park in the central part of Vancouver and the forest around Lynn Canyon Suspension Bridge in North Vancouver).

Whistler is a 2-hour drive from Vancouver.

The average daily high in Vancouver in April is 55 deg F, and the average daily low is 42 deg F. Vancouver gets rainy winters, but by April the rain has started to taper off. That month gets an average of 2.7" of precipitation.

It probably will give you an idea of what the weather is like if I tell you which flowers bloom in Vancouver in April : magnolias, rhododendrons, cherries, dogwood and camellias.

Since Whistler's elevation is high, its weather is more like that of the Rockies.

Vancouver has art galleries and various other kinds of museums. I like the style of west coast artist, Emily Carr (1871 - 1945).

My favourite museum in Vancouver is the Museum of Anthropology. It depicts the traditional lifestyle of the First Nations people of the west coast. Their art is very distinctive. The museum also is housed in a building that is very handsome and ideally suited to its purpose. Furthermore, there is a good view from the museum.

Vancouver also has theatre, symphony, opera and other cultural amenities that you would expect in a city of 2 million.

The city also has funky shopping districts, e.g., Yaletown and Granville Island.

The combination of mountains on one side and the ocean on the other side is a fortunate scenic combination for a city to be blessed with. There is a joke that in Vancouver you can ski in the morning, golf at lunch time and swim in the afternoon.

Vancouver is a walkable city, as you can see from this web site (first provided by BowenLinda of this forum):

http://www.walkvancouver.com/

The Destinations section of the Fodor's web site provides a good itinerary for seeing Vancouver.

I don't think the Rockies in April will quite do it for you, based on what you've said about yourself, but I believe Vancouver - Whistler would do it. Just my opinion.

Well, I just came back from a driving tour of the Rockies - and I live in Houston, and love trains and railroad history, so maybe I can give a little opinion.

Yes, you won't be able to hike or tour the Icefields Parkway, but I think a train tour along CP's Transcon railroad during that time of the year will be great, with all the snow and ice. For those of us living in the South, it'd be an amazing experience.

The route is amazing. The Fraser Canyon before Kamloops. Rogers Pass in the Selkirks. And the Kicking Horse Pass of the Rockies, with its spiral tunnels and all.

The latter two areas were beautiful this past weekend, but I think April would be wonderful too with all the snow still around.

Save Jasper and the Icefields Parkway for another trip. But that shouldn't discourage you to do this one in April.

I don't know how much you like to see/do in about one week, but here is another option. If you really have your heart set on the Rocky Mountain Railtours, select the two day gold leaf service. Leave from Calgary (though you could do this in reverse from Vancouver); spend the night in Kamloops; arrive in Vancouver the next day. This gives you a taste of the Rockies without the concerns about driving in potentially poor weather.

Then, you could sightsee in Vancouver for several days with a side trip to Whistler. RM Railtours will make arrangements to fly you back to Calgary where you can connect for your return flight home.

We have taken several vacations in the Rockies. On one (in June), we flew into Calgary, rented a car to explore Banff, Lake Louise, and the Bow River Valley and Icefields Parkway. We then took the two day trip on the Rocky Mountain Railtours - Banff to Vancouver. In Vancouver, we hired a car and took the BC Ferry to Victoria. The RM Railtours made arrangements to fly us from the airport on Vancouver Island back to Calgary for our trip home. The cost of the return flight was very inexpensive.

RM Railtours are not inexpensive, but we found the attention to detail and service to be first class. Whatever you decide to do, I'm sure you'll have a wonderful 40th.

My first question is - how old are you? The reason I ask is because the rail tours is not for those under the age of 40. My husband and I are in our 30's and did the rail tour last summer. The food was good and the scenery spectacular, however, it was very touristy and we felt like we were in a tour group. The pictures in the brochure make it seem like it's peaceful. We were stuck between 2 large tour groups who were very loud. Our complaints got us nowhere. Also, the accommodations in Kamloops are deplorable. We paid for the gold section and stayed in a hotel 40 minutes away from the train station - which meant a 40 minute bus ride. The hotel/motel was the equivalent of a motel 6. Also, the train was late getting into Kamploops, so we ate dinner at 10 p.m.
My suggestion is for you to rent a car and take the highway along the rail way. You will see the same scenery and will be able to do things on your own terms. Make your own reservations at the Fairmont hotels - Lake Louise is beautiful-- it is a must. Do not stop in Kamploops. There is nothing to see but a dirty town w/ casinos.
My husband and I made our own hotel reservations and rented a car for the Banff, Lake Louise and Jasper area. We were so glad we did. (Also, it is cheaper to make your own reservations).
Stay at all of the Fairmont hotels - including the one in Vancouver. It's located downtown and is very nice.

While Crimmy's experience may all be true, the OP may really like riding a train. And April is definitely not a time for someone who lives in the south to do a roadtrip over the mountains. Road conditions may be poor and roads may be closed.

The Rocky Mountaineer is absolutely the best train trip my wife and I have ever been on. The food is fabulous if you take the Gold Leaf, the scenery is magnificent, and you are pampered in every way. I can not believe a person under 30 would not agree with this. This is the platinum standard of train travel, especially the section between Kamloops and Banff. Kamloops itself is not much, but a buffet is offered with a show about Western Canada that enables one to spend the night with reasonable food and entertainment. Don't pass up the chance to take this trip! It is fabulous! Accommodations in Banff and Lake Louise (the Fairmont) are excellent.

highnote, would you and you husband enjoy two days on a luxurious train viewing inspiring scenery or would you get bored and restless? This is one point I believe Crimmy is making. This was also a consideration for my husband who is a very high-energy person and my brother-in-law and his wife, both in their mid-thirties at the time we took the tour. We were part of a family group of eight spanning 3 generations ( 19 to 80 years ). Everyone - save the 19 year old - really enjoyed the trip. You can stand on an open-air platform at the end of the car with the wind blowing through your hair and take great photos, too. We estimated that the median age for the tour group - yes, this is a tour - was about 55-60 years, so if you opt for this birthday trip, you may well be the youngest one on board!

If you are concerned about getting in a car with a large tour group, I would call RM Railtours and specifically ask to be in a car with only couples and families. My mom has serious health problems and I made several calls to the Railtours with concerns and questions. They made special arrangements for my mom, which made this trip pleasant for all of us.

The show in Kamloops cost extra, and majority of our family rated it “corny”; buffet food was just OK. We would have gotten a nice meal elsewhere, if we had known what we do now.

As Crimmy suggested, you do not have to make hotel reservations through RM Railtours. We made all of them, including our side trip to Victoria and Buchart Gardens, independently. Only the tour and our return flights to Calgary were part of the package.

Crimmy. it sounds like your experience was awful. I would not want to be sandwiched between large noisy groups on a train for two days either. Was no one from one of these tours willing to trade seats with you so you could have a quieter corner? From what you've said about your accommodations in Kamloops, it sounds like you were given lodging traditionally reserved for Red Leaf folks - a 2 star motel. On our trip, Gold Leaf folks were lodged at a 3 star hotel closer into town, though RM Railtours does have a disclaimer about lodging on their website. Sorry your experience was so bad.

Thanks so much everyone for your help - you've brought up several things that we hadn't thought about. Hubby and I have been on the Glacier Express in Switzerland and loved it, so I don't think sitting still and being bored would be a problem. The loud tour groups might be, though. We had several experiences with "ugly Americans" (yes, I'm an American, so I can say that) in Europe and are a little worried about being crowded in with rowdies and not able to escape. The two day Gold Leaf is beginning to sound better. Crimmy and MIWinnie, was Gold Leaf at least fairly roomy, or did you feel like you were in coach on a plane for two days? That would be ugly.

Another vote for the 2 day gold leaf, and then several days in Vancouver/Victoria. You wouldn't need a car for ANY of the trip. You can easily get around and between Vancouver and Victoria without one.

See if you can get a flight into Calgary and out of Victoria.

Save the rest of the rockies for another trip.

Dear Highnote-
The Gold Leaf section was comfortable and roomy. And, we were able to go outside and view the spectacular scenery. The food was good, too. A 2 day tour is a better idea. My husband and I did a 2 day tour from Vancouver to Banff and then a 2 day tour from Jasper to Vancouver. We wished that we had only taken the train one way. By the time we got back from Jasper to Vancouver, we were over it.

highnote, we never felt cramped on the entire trip. The seating is spacious, as Crimmy mentioned, and you can get up and go outside for a breath of fresh mountain air. The two day tour will give you a good overall sense of the Canadian Rockies. You'll want to come back and explore in the summer!