yscleo

Trust me. Do NOT take the train to see the Rockies. We did it before and you see a lot of trees blocking the views everywhere.

To see the Rockies, it's best to drive. You can stop at many places, walk to the scenic lookout points. Hike the trails.

Do drive the Icefield Parkway, probably the most beautiful "highway" in the world. We once took 3 days for that trip, stopping at many places. We stayed one night near the Columbia Icefield, so that we can take a tour on those custom built big wheel coaches.

For driving, it's best to fly to Calgary. Rent a car there and drive to Vancouver. It's downhill driving from high mountains.

ozflier

Thank you.
I have digested all your great responses and looks like we will think again about training it.
I can probably only do one long distance train run per year and we are going on Rovos Rail Capetown to Pretoria mid next year anyway so that may be enough for one year.

FlyingDoctorwu

Just curious what you ended up picking?
My parents are doing a trip from Vancouver to Jasper.. initially we had locked at the Rocky Mountaineer, but then we settled on a sleeper on the Canadian (prestige class was sold out). The Rocky Mountaineer was at least 2x the cost of the Canadian. Their plan is to do Jasper, then take a trip down the Icefield Parkway to Lake Louise, and then onto Banff... still need to sort that out as they are into their 70s and aren't terrible keen on driving... I'm looking at Brewster who can pretty much do everything... (kind of replicating a Rocky Mountaineer package but for half the price)... anyone have any experience with them? Any other tour companies that are recommended/reputable?

thanks
FDW

Jasper2009

Brewster and Sun Dog Tours are the two major operators (and also cooperate which each other to some degree). I've had excellent experiences with the latter during off-season (late Sept. / early Oct.; total number of travellers 3-5), but in the summer time it's a mass tourism experience (large tour buses with 40+ travellers)

FWIW, Rocky Mountaineer also outsourced most of its tours to these companies, so there isn't a whole lot of variety.

Depending on your budget, organizing a private tour (or booking via A&K or similar) would likely offer a much more pleasant experience if they don#t want to drive themselves.

FlyingDoctorwu

Thanks for the info... sounds like that's going to be the experience all summer, especially this summer (mass market)... I did see that Discover Banff uses smaller coaches than the other two providers; however it seems that their options are limited. I would be open to putting them in a private option, however I haven't seen any offered (though to be fair, I could contact Brewster/Sundog)... Do you know of any companies offering private tours in the area? A&K dates don't work for them...


thanks
FDW

Jasper2009

I'm sure A&K's tailor-made tours division would be able to find dates that work. (though you'd probably need to budget >$1200CAD/person/day incl. tours and accommodation)

There are three other companies I'm aware of for (cheaper) fully private / customized tours (though I haven't used any of them):

White Mountain Adventures
Discover Banff Tours
Blue Sky Tours (based in Jasper IIRC, more of a smaller operator)

FlyingDoctorwu

thanks! Yeah that quote for A and K is probably a bit high. I've got them lodgin secured at the Fairmonts for their entire stay so just looking to book their tours now. They'd be fine with the coach bus type tour but would love to do them something more private.


Fdw

Jasper2009

Fully agree regarding pricing. FWIW, I seem to recall full-day private tours being offered by those tour companies for $400-$600CAD/day - which is extremely reasonably given that a "mass tourist" experience will cost $100-$150/person/tour. (I haven't looked into those options in a while though; btw it would be great if you could post your findings here should you end up booking a private tour)

FlyingDoctorwu

I'm getting quotes of $845 CAD for a days touring...

FDW

Jasper2009

Thanks for the update!

That's certainly quite a bit higher than when I last enquired (admittedly a few years ago), though not impossible they've increased prices given the (insanely) high demand this year.