Western Canada by rail.
 

We are looking to take a train tour thru Western Canada. Globus has a 12 day tour, we feel this is too long. Best to go by car to see? Part drive and part rail? We would appreciate any help or suggestions.Plan to go in May or September, 7 days or less.

I have two favorite trips in that area. There is a private excursion rail trip called the Rocky Mountaineer that travels between Vancouver and either Calgary or Jasper. The other is VIA Rail's Skeena between Jasper and Prince Rupert. They both pass through magnificent scenery with lots of wildlife. A big attraction for me is that they only travel during daylight hours. The Rocky Mountaineer stops overnight in Kamploops and The Skeena stops overnight in Prince George. That way, you are able to see all of the passing countryside in daylight and you can sleep much more comfortably in a hotel bed than in a rail sleeper. I don't have their web site URL's handy but they should be easy to find on Google. <BR>An ideal trip for me, that you could do in 7 days, would be to fly to Vancouver; take the Rocky Mountaineer to Jasper, then take The Skeena to Prince Rupert, then fly back to vancouver.<BR>Enjoy your trip.

I have taken the Skeena from Jasper to Prince George (overnight in a hotel) to Prince Rupert. The scenery was wonderful, including black bears and elk (moose?). The food was quite good and the service very good. This is a difficult trip to do by car. Let VIA Rail do the driving. We would not hesitate to do this again. Prince Rupert is a nice little town with great seafood restaurants.<BR><BR>Also, the BC Rail trip from Prince George to Vancouver is excellent. The train goes along the very edge of the Frasier River Canyon and you're looking down a looooooong way to the river. The trip takes about 12 hours if I remember correctly. A great ride!

I liked the route from Prince George to Vancouver also but in a previous thread, was informed it no longer operates. Is it still running?

Thanks for the info. I think with SARS problem we will cancel untik next year.

Any other thoughts or updates?

I vote for a car trip. You can stop where you like and you can extend your stay whereever you like and you can concentrate on regions like the Rocky Mountains or the coast.

Driving on Canada's highways is very easy and stress free, because they have less traffic.