Badge of Awesome Communities invites you to share your favourite things to see and do in cool destinations around the world. We caught up with the folks from Rocky Mountain Holidays — one of our featured attractions from the Vancouver, British Columbia area — to learn about what they have to offer and what they think makes their community so awesome.
What makes Rocky Mountain Holidays awesome?
Rocky Mountain Holidays: Luxurious rail travel through the Canadian Rockies – sounds awesome, right?!
We’ve been offering Rocky Mountaineer train vacations since 2005, and our level of service excellence before, during and after your journey ensures your trip of a lifetime flows smoothly. It’s more than just the breathtaking scenery you will travel through, it’s also about the onboard service as well as the attentive service you receive from us. From the initial contact, through until when you return home and share your experiences with us, we are here for you!
The minimum Rocky Mountaineer train duration is 2 days, with an overnight stay in a hotel. For your comfort, all overnights are in hotels, and the train travels through the daylight hours so you don’t miss a thing. There are two levels of onboard service to choose from, SilverLeaf and GoldLeaf, on all routes, and the routes you can take are the following:
- Vancouver – Kamloops – Canadian Rockies (Jasper, Lake Louise or Banff)
- Vancouver – Whistler – Quesnel – Jasper (Canadian Rockies)
You have the option of adding on the Coastal Passage rail route to either of the above routes, which connects Seattle to the magnificent Canadian Rockies. This 5-hour journey offers contrasting scenery to the Canadian Rockies, making it an ideal add-on.
Food food food!
Love food? Then you will be in your element during your time onboard with the culinary offerings. À la carte dining, with snacks in-between your breakfasts and lunches ensure you never go hungry onboard.
To give you more of an idea of what to expect, watch our video below, which features the luxurious GoldLeaf service onboard:
As this train is designed with the absolute best viewing experience in mind, you never know what you might see along the way as you travel through the wilderness!
What makes Vancouver and the surrounding areas awesome?
Rocky Mountain Holidays: Where do we start, without writing an essay?! We can just touch on a few things which makes Vancouver absolutely awesome. There is a reason we include it in every single Rocky Mountaineer Train vacation package we offer.
Vancouver is an excellent starting or ending point for any adventure. Vancouver International Airport is easily accessible with many direct flights available from around the globe.
Vancouver is a green city, and Stanley Park, which was created in 1888, is a 405-hectare (1,001-acre) public park that borders the downtown of Vancouver and is almost entirely surrounded by waters of Vancouver Harbour and English Bay. It is one of the top rated city parks in the world for good reason, as you can walk, rollerblade, run or bike around the seawall. You can even take a horse drawn carriage, if you want to!
You can take the hop-on/hop-off bus to easily get around and from Vancouver harbour, you can take a seaplane to Victoria (on Vancouver Island), for a day trip or overnight stay. If flying isn’t your thing, you can also take the bus and ferry over to the island, or combine the seaplane with the ferry.
Cross over the Lions Gate Bridge to get to Grouse Mountain and the Capilano Suspension Bridge on the North Shore. There is a Grizzly bear reserve at the top of Grouse Mountain as well as breathtaking views of the city. You can also explore Lynn Canyon Park for no charge at all.
Other attractions in Vancouver include Granville Island, a bustling market place – a great place for souvenir shopping.
One thing in Vancouver is that you never know when you may stumble on a movie set as Vancouver is a hot spot for movie making. Look out for famous faces, as well as the lights – camera – action!
Vancouver is an awesome place to be, and however you choose to spend your time there, whether it be taking it easy and enjoying the many culinary delights on offer, or exploring on foot, by bike or by hop-on/hop-off bus, you will leave Vancouver with the memory: “that was awesome.”
This is just the tip of the iceberg as to what you can do in Vancouver, which reminds me, if icebergs are your thing, you can also take a 7 night round-trip cruise to Alaska out of Vancouver!
Whatever you choose, we can help with your entire stay in this awesome coastal city.
- Click here to learn more about Rocky Mountain Holidays
- Discover more awesome things to see and do in the area on our Vancouver, B.C. page