Taking the train across Canada has been one of those “things I’ve always wanted to do” for many many years. As always, I pushed it off because of the perceived cost and the time required to actually do it.
- I thought that it would be cost-prohibitive (ie. thousands of dollars). I bought my ticket during VIA Rail’s 50% off sale (subscribe to their mailing list for advance notice of these fabulous sales) and it ended up costing about $800 for the leg between Vancouver to Ottawa (with one stopover in Winnipeg).
- I thought that it would take too much time. Flying between Vancouver and Ottawa takes between four to six hours direct. It takes the train about 4 days.
Although I’ve driven through the Rockies numerous times, the view through the Rockies is supposed to be even more breathtaking by train since it goes through places that you would never be able to access by car. I also wanted to see the Prairies (Saskatchewan and Manitoba) and figured, sitting on a train watching the Prairies go by must be much more interesting than having to pay attention to the road as you drive across. Rural Ontario is supposed to be beautiful as well as you traverse the Canadian Shield. And isn’t the notion of rail travel romantic? The beautiful train stations, the slowness of the train (compared to flying).
In my opinion, Pacific Central station in Vancouver is the most beautiful of all of the train stations that I saw…and I saw Vancouver, Jasper, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, and Toronto.

Leaving Vancouver, we passed over the Fraser River on the New Westminster Bridge, right beside the Pattullo Bridge, which connects New Westminster to Surrey.

Then we were on our way towards Jasper. We left Vancouver on a cloudy evening and awoke the next day to an even more gray day. Breakfast is generally served from 6:30am to 8:30am, which I thought was ridiculously early…until I found myself being roused awake by early birds at 6am. The menu typically has four options for your main course, along with coffee, tea, juice, or milk. For lunch and dinner, there is an appetizer and a dessert as well. The portion size is generous enough for a crowd who sits all day and sleeps the rest of the time.

As we travelled closer towards the Rockies, the weather became more gray and it started to pour. Good thing we were inside! Unfortunately, the majestic mountains were shrouded in low-lying clouds and a common comment from fellow travellers was “My camera keeps focussing on the raindrops [on the windows]”. I felt consoled that at least I had seen the beauty of the Rockies before, but I felt sad for the passengers who had never seen them before (and didn’t get to see them on this trip either).





And then it was lunch time! (Seriously, all you do on the train is sleep, sit, and eat. I joked with someone that this must be what it’s like in the womb, complete with rocking motions thanks to the train)



After lunch, we went back to the Panorama Car to watch the scenery again. (tough life eh?)



We saw a lot of rain, clouds, trees, and the bottom halves of mountains but didn’t get to see the true beauty of the Rockies that you would see on a sunny day. Others who had either taken this train previously or who spent a lot of time in the area commented that there was a complete lack of wildlife sightings this trip. No bears, no moose, no caribou, few bald eagles, no beavers. The stop in Jasper was shorter than planned (about an hour) and it was pouring rain. Would some dinner cheer you up?


As dinner is being served, the sleeping car attendants whisk through the sleeper cars and make all of the beds. It’s really quite amazing, they’re very efficient and methodical, and they have to change the sheets every single day (it’s a rule, apparently). The next morning, it was super sunny as we rolled through eastern Alberta and into Saskatchewan. A “problem” with being on this train is not having any idea where the heck you are! I actually thought that we were getting close to Saskatoon (where we would’ve been if we were on schedule) but after asking around, I learned that we had been at least an hour delayed leaving Edmonton (at 2 in the morning!) and had been sitting on the tracks somewhere else for a long time…and needless to say, we were still in Alberta somewhere, hours delayed. But no fret, the scenery was beautiful.







As we were travelling through Saskatchewan and into Manitoba, it started to pour like crazy! In the dome car, you could hardly see in front of you. BUT when the sun peeked through the clouds for a bit, we were treated to a double rainbow! And because the land is so flat, you could see the entire arc of the rainbow!

Seven hours delayed, we arrived into Winnipeg in the middle of the night.