Pat Steever

My husband and I would like to take a train tour west from toronto next summer stopping at the great Canadian Pacific hotels along the way. We will start at the Royal York in Toronto and travel west beginning in June for about two weeks. Can anyone suggest an itinerary or package that would suit us. We do not want a group tour. Thanks.

Lynn

I am looking at my 1995 catalog from Rocky Mountaineer Railtours. We did a Canadian Package tour through them that included coach and rail, however, I see one in the back of the catalog that is a rail/drive package that goes eastbound or westbound and lasts 6 days/7 nights, although I'm sure you could add on days. It begins in Calgary, heads to Banff, Lake Louise, Jasper, Kamloops and Vancouver. They state you pick up your rental car in Calgary, drop it off in Kamloops and then hop aboard the train from Kamloops to Vancouver. You can choose the superior hotel option with their tours that would include the CP properties. We stayed at a CP property in each town except Jasper and we enjoyed every one. Once in Vancouver, you could also book a night on Victoria Island at the CP there. If you want more information, their number is 1-800-665-7245.

rand

This may annoy some people, but in my opinion travelling from Toronto to Calgary by train is a waste of two days of your life. Can you price compare flying to Calgary and renting a car there for a drive to Vancouver. There are people who can drive that in 13 hours straight, but you could easily kill 2 weeks meandering in the mountains and valleys ending in Vancouver. And/or you can do as Lynn suggests and ferry (~$50 each way) over to Victoria on Vancouver Island (yes It confuses a lot of people). If rugged coastline interests you, there is a loop route with a special ticket over to Victoria, drive up to Comox, back over to the 'sunshine coast' and drive/ferry back down to Vancouver. You could spend a week just doing the loop, or you can do it in 3 days.

Brian Gosselin

I suggest you take alook at this site : www.viarail.ca.

Bill

Living on the Great lakes in Ontario I find your comments about the train across Canada from Toronto to Vancouver very biased. Having lived in the west for a number of years and loving every minute of it and now living on the Great Lakes and loving it equally as well. The landscape is different than the west but the train trip along the shores of Lake Superior is breath-taking. The prairies are flat but they two are part of what makes up Canada-commonly known as the breadbasket of Canada.We support our farmers and their efforts. The people you meet on the train will probably be train enthusiasts as well and you will share stories of your journeys. Travelling is as much about the people you meet as the scenery you will be exposed to. Some to time in Toronto will give you still another view of Canada. <BR>If this is a relaxing trip and you have time to enjoy your vacation I think your idea is wonderful. <BR>Bill <BR>

rich

My suggestion based on what you said and no limit on the dollars spent would be as follows. If you wnat to train, then train from Toronto to Jasper, enjoy it, have talked to many people that love it and would do it again. Get off the train in Jasper. Rent a car and drive the Rockies yourself, if you don't want the group tour method. Now the problem. Can you get reservations at the CP hotels as an individual???? Maybe, maybe not. Start calling now or find a good travel agent. If you want the train experience to Vancouver hook up with the Rocky Mountaineer train from Banff to Vancouver. <BR> <BR>2nd Option: Get off the train in Jasper and hook up with the Rocky Mountaineer train people and book a holiday package with them and also the Brewster people out of Banff. They can get you into the hotels and offer the transportation and the tours of the Rockies you want. Brewster will get you the hotels and tours and the Rocky Mountaineer will get you from Banff to Vancouver via their day-time train and you can fly back from Vancouver to your home. Good Luck in your planning. Have run tours through the Cdn rockies for 12 years if you have more questions e-mail me.

Lynn

I wanted to comment further on Rich's information about Brewster and Rocky Mountaineer since I didn't give much details about OUR train/coach trip above. We flew into Calgary, had an overnight, then were taken by Brewster motorcoach to Lake Louise for an overnight, Jasper for two nights, then Banff one night. As Rich suggested, it was Banff where we, too, caught the Rocky Mountaineer to Kamloops for an overnight, then on to Vancouver. <BR> <BR>Having done the rail and coach trip, I personally would not do the Brewster motorcoach segment again. I would drive it myself. The reason is that we chose the Superior package level from Rocky Mountaineer. (Opposite of what Rich stated, Rocky Mountaineer booked all three for us--hotel, train and coach. We didn't do separate packages with RM and Brewster.) Anyway, the coach tours took FOREVER to load and unload passengers at the various hotel stops. It seemed we were always the last to be dropped off. In addition, the motorcoaches were carrying people, students in most cases, who purchased tickets independently. These students got dropped off at various hostels during our coach trips from city to city. This also took up an enormous amount of wasted "tour" time for all the stopping. <BR> <BR>The day we left from Jasper en route to Banff, it was sometime early in the morning. Since we stayed at the Banff Springs, it was the farthest outside town. The bus dropped everyone off at all the other hotels in town in Banff. By the time we got to the Banff Springs to check in, it was about 5:00 p.m. and we had very little time to see the sights of Banff in only one night. Perhaps this was an ignorant error on our part in not adding an additional night to our tour, however, we never anticipated it would take that long to get from point A to point B nor were we ever told this. <BR> <BR>Don't get me wrong--the scenery and trip was breathtaking and very memorable. If I were to do it over again, I would, as Rich suggests also, book my OWN rental car and stop where and when I wanted and plan my trip accordingly, and also arriving at my destination in time to see it as well. Then, drop off the rental car in Banff and take the train from there.