Rocky Mountaineer or an agency?
 

Hi,

I am looking to book a train journey through the rockies but unsure where best to start.
I have been on the rocky mountaineer website but there seems to be lots of agencies offering alternative packages. (when searching on google)

Should I stick with booking direct or can anyone recommend an alternative.

PS - would like to combine the trip with a stay at a ranch for a week. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Early stages of planning and just trying to get as much info on places as I can.

Any help would be great.

Thanks

Hello TeddG,

I have never travelled between the west coast and the Rockies by train. After participating on a couple of travel discussion boards for a while, however, I have observed that many travellers have LOVED their experiences on the Rocky Mountaineer.

I have not looked at the websites that describe the alternative packages to which you are referring. I suspect the reason that alternative packages exist is that there are companies that offer add-ons, visits to particularly scenic spots that the train does not reach. Indeed, the Rocky Mountaineer's own website offers add-ons in the form of bus trips down the Icefields Parkway (the very scenic road that connects Lake Louise and Jasper), visits to Moraine Lake, Lake Louise, and Emerald Lake, and so on.

And this brings us to the limitation of that train journey. It cannot, on its own, do justice to the Canadian Rockies. It needs to be supplemented with some form of road travel, be it by car or bus.

I'm not speaking from personal experience, but I really can't see how there would be any advantage to booking the Rocky Mountaineer through anyone but the Rocky Mountaineer's own website.

As to ranches, you could choose from a selection of them in British Columbia and Alberta.

If you were willing to drive in Canada, it would expand your possibilities. I've followed your name to see what other messages you've posted at Fodor's Talk. Sorry, I didn't do that just to snoop on you. Sometimes it does help to provide more context for the questions that a poster has asked. I see you've posted a couple of responses about Scotland. That could mean, but does not necessarily mean, that you live in the UK. Anyway, if you do live in the UK you may have some reservations about driving on the right hand side of the road. I can assure you that driving on the "wrong" side of the road is not at all daunting as long as you are outside of the major cities. Luckily major cities like Vancouver have good public transportation, so you don't have to worry about driving in them.

The reason I bring up the issue of driving is that, if you are willing to drive, it will expand your possibilities, both in terms of what you can see in the Rockies, and in terms of the ranches from which you'll be able to choose.

I don't know if the Rocky Mountaineer would permit you to break your journey for more than the single night that it usually stops in Kamloops. If it permits a longer gap between the two legs of your train journey, you could rent a car in Kamloops and drive from there to the Williams Lake area, which is British Columbia's cowboy country. Then you could return the rental car to Kamloops, ride the Rocky Mountaineer to Banff, and once again rent a car with which to visit Jasper, etc.

Alternatively, if you spend a week on a ranch in Alberta, you might do it after reaching Calgary. I believe some of the guest ranches collect guests from Calgary, but again your options would open up if you were willing to drive to the ranch.

Something you should be aware of is the drop off fee you can incur if you pick up a rental car in one location and drop it off in another location. That often is a far more convenient thing to do, but it can add a considerable expense.

Sometimes the direction of travel makes a difference too, depending on the time of year. In one month the drop off fee may be greater if the pick up is in Calgary and the drop off is in Vancouver, for example, and in another month it may be the other way round.

If you use open jaw flights (into one city, out of another), the direction of your travel again may impact your air fare. So it's worth checking the fares in both directions.

Another possibility for you to consider, rather than a ranch, is a mountain lodge that includes horse riding and other outdoor activities. For example, you might be interested in the review that "hibiscushouse" wrote about Beaverfoot Lodge near Golden, BC last summer:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34519462

To get a sense of distances and travel times in Western Canada you could go to

www.freetrip.com

and

www.mapquest.com

Tourism British Columbia has a great website that organises information according to regions within BC. You also can order a free hard copy map and travel guide from them:

http://www.hellobc.com/

Here is Travel Alberta's web page about ranch vacations:

http://albertacountryvacation.com/

and here is their web page about the Rockies:

http://www1.travelalberta.com/Rockies/

You can order a free map and travel guide from Travel Alberta too.

Do acquaint yourself with the variations in the weather amongst Vancouver, Banff and Calgary:

http://www.worldweather.org/056/m056.htm

Whew, that's a lot to think about. Ouch. Anyway, I hope it has given you a start.

Judy,

That's some response I now have a lot more reading to do thanks!

Don't mind the snooping but you would have found a lot more under 'TedG' if it wasn't for my pc going crazy a while back which meant me re-registering with the slight amendment to the name.

You may be right with the driving option, I have spoke to others that have said it is the best way and the roads are apparently pretty quiet anyway. (The wrong side of the road thing isn't normally my cup-of-tea) Yes UK based! We like our tea.

Thanks for the info.

Ted

With respect to car hire (I've also been looking at this for an upcoming trip), several majors will give you good rates with insurance bundled in and no oneway fees on "obvious" routes like Vancouver-Calgary if you book through their UK sites such as www.hertz.co.uk, www.avis.co.uk and www.thrifty.co.uk (in this case a UK licensee, but but cheapest of all for my dates).

Dear Ted

As you are UK bsaed have you looked at a company called Canadian Affair. We have used them three times to travel to Canada from the UK and have been very impressed with the service and the prices.

I can't remember off hand if they do ranch stays but we did book the Rocky Mountaineer in October 2003 which was fantastic.

Another company to look at is Brewster who do a variety of coach/train trips and shuttle services in the Rockies.

We didn't want to drive in Canada (I hate driving at the best of times)and managed a three week trip, flying into Calgary and out of Vancouver using a mixture of sightseeing coaches (the Icefields Parkway) and shuttles etc. I agree a car would give you extra flexibility (especially for a ranch stay)but we didn't feel like we were misssing out too much.

Here are the URLs www.canadian-affair.com and www.brewster.ca

Have fun

Thanks for the new links. I am busy ordering plenty of brochures.

Ted