The awe-inspiring Rocky Mountains, the heartland of tourism in Western Canada and home to the tracks that are host to the epiphany of luxury scenic train travel. Prominent through British Columbia and Alberta in Canada and continuing down to Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and south to New Mexico in the United states, the Rocky Mountains feature some of the most dramatic landscapes, diverse wildlife and incredible national parks you can witness in Northern America.

I travelled through the Rocky Mountains three years ago with a youth touring company so when the opportunity came up through work for a trip of a lifetime on the Rocky Mountaineer train it was impossible not to jump at the opportunity. 

Rocky Mountaineer offer four different routes through the Rocky Mountain region which are customizable with everything from an Alaska cruise add on, self-drive itineraries, coach tours, pre and post extensions as well as several excursions to tailor your experience.   

First Passage to the West is the original and most popular itinerary they offer and starts in Vancouver and travels through Kamloops and finishes in Banff. 

As well as this they have the Coastal passage which starts in Seattle and then mirrors the First Passage to the West itinerary, Rainforest to Gold Rush which travels north from Vancouver through Whistler, Quesnel and ends in Jasper and the Journey through the Clouds which heads North once in Kamloops through to Jasper.  Each of these itineraries can also be done in reverse as the train turns around once at the end point and completes the trip in reverse. 

We were lucky enough to do a 6-night itinerary on the First Passage to the West with pre-accommodation in Vancouver and a post night in Calgary.

The train journey offers a once in a lifetime opportunity to visit some of Canada’s most inaccessible, yet stunning terrain. 

The First Passage to the West, is as it’s titled – is the first passage that joined East and Western Canada over 125 years ago. 

My trip started bright and early from Vancouver with a 6.00am bag collection from my room followed by a coach pick up at 6.45am to drop us off at the custom-built Rocky Mountaineer Station in downtown Vancouver.  The departures hall was filled with the hustle and bustle of hundreds of passengers about to embark on a trip of a lifetime.

I started out day one on the Silver leaf service that Rocky Mountaineer offer. This is essentially their lower of the two classes with a few changes to the cabin design and inclusion as to offer a lower price point option on the trip. In saying that, Silver leaf was absolutely incredible and exceeded well above all of my expectations for what is the lower of the two classes. 

Silver leaf offers spacious seats with a recline, foot rests, large oversized glass-dome viewing windows, two knowledgeable-storytelling cabin hosts alongside a culinary member, who combined, serve seat-side meal service for breakfast and lunch along with more snacks than you can stomach and complimentary alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverage service throughout the journey. 

• 
• 

The days are long and unpredictable on board the train, the tracks are shared with Canadian Pacific rail so throughout the day you may be required to pull over onto a side track to let a freight train pass. This can be anything from a 2-minute delay to a 30-minute delay as we experienced on day one of the trip.

Probably the biggest downfall to the silver leaf is that while you are stopped on the side tracks to let trains pass, depending on which side of the train you are sitting on, your view for the next 30 minutes could be of high speed freight train carriages rushing past the window as you are sitting at the same height of the other trains, whereas in Gold Leaf you are sitting on the upper level of a carriage unless in the dining cabin so have a view above the trains going past. 

We arrived into Kamloops quite late after the first day of travel due to a few freight train passings and an unexpected stop to let an unwell passenger off the train. The late arrive did put a bit of a damper on this part of the trip as the turnaround from arrival into Kamloops to our departure at 6am the next day meant that after a quick dinner and walk through town it was only 5-6 hours until we had to be up again. 

Day two was the day I had been looking forward to the most. The grandeur and lavishness of Rocky Mountaineer’s Gold Leaf cabin is what sell this experience to many. The custom-designed bi-level coach allows for raised viewing through the full dome windows with unparalleled panoramic views from the comfort of your heated recliner seat.

If fresh mountain air is more your style you can watch as the stunning snow-capped mountains pass by from the large outdoor viewing vestibule which allows for incredible photo opportunities and bear spotting. 

The highlight of the Gold Leaf experience to me was the food. The cuisine service while travelling in Gold Leaf is closer to a luxury a la carte restaurant than something you would expect on a train. The lower level of each Gold Leaf cabin contains a full silver service a la carte dining area.

Splitting the seatings due to the size of the dining area, those who had second service were spoilt with an extra scone and fruit service in the morning, or a cheese and wine experience prior to lunch. 

Each meal seating offered an extensive menu with six to seven options that catered for everything you could think of while offering the best local produce on offer. 

I opted for the eggs benedict at breakfast and the Alberta pork tenderloin for lunch. The meals in Gold Leaf are cooked by a team in the cabin kitchen so can be personalised to an extent if you have quirky needs (our waitress didn’t even roll her eyes when I asked for my eggs to be so hard cooked, I could bounce them on my plate).

• 
• 

Over the two days of travel onboard the train I was never hungry, in fact I was constantly full but continued to overeat because who can turn down freshly cooked oatmeal cookies to dunk in your hot chocolate with Baileys while watching the snow fall out the window.

With an average trip rating of 90% it is not hard to see why the Rocky Mountaineer train trip is on so many people’s travel bucket list. 

I would do this trip again in a heartbeat and would probably do an itinerary that allowed for a third day on the train. Although the days are long and we spent up to 13 hours on board, the two days flew by and suddenly the rail portion of the trip was over. 

If you are a foodie, Gold Leaf is a must as the hospitality you experience through the dining and drinks service is phenomenal and truly makes the trip. 

In saying that my biggest take away from this trip is that Silver leaf is worlds above what I had previously thought. I even found the seats in Silver to be slightly more comfortable as they had a foot rest pop down from the seat in front whereas gold had a reclining seat with a raised leg section which for a shorty like me was not as comfortable. The food in silver was similar to that of some of the nicer business class airlines I have flown so still fantastic for onboard a train although it tends to be options that have been pre-cooked (but still delicious and fresh) and loaded onto the train – think slow cooked beef short ribs or a local salmon dish.  

To make the experience truly unforgettable, ensure you have plenty of time to explore the amazing Rocky Mountains and Western Canada as much as you can, I would highly recommend extending pre and post onto the trip.

Three to four nights in Vancouver will give you plenty of time to visit Capilano suspension bridge, wander through Gastown and sample the delicacies of Granville Island markets. While two to four nights in my favourite Canadian town of Banff will allow enough time to visit the Icefields parkway, head to the famous Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise for afternoon tea, experience panoramic views of Banff from the Gondola and fall in love one too many times with the adorable city surrounded 70% of the year with snow-capped peaks.