In May of 2023, we took the Rocky Mountaineer from
Banff to Vancouver. In this video, I'll review the entire experience including some things we wish we
would have known and the details of exactly how it works. Hey Everybody! It's Angie from Trips with
Angie and we are getting ready for a two-night trip on the Rocky Mountaineer from Banff to
Vancouver. I'm going to share everything with you. Most guests will need to pick up their packet at
the Rocky Mountaineer Banff Guest Center. They're ready about 72 hours in advance. It's located at
220 Bear Street in downtown Banff. The easiest way to find it is to look for the Banff National Park
Coffee House, then enter the door that says 220 over the top. You'll pass by the coffee shop and
a small pharmacy and then you'll begin to see that little sign saying Check-in, Peek Out. You'll
make a right towards that sign, head towards the stairwells and the Rocky Mountaineer office
will be to your right. Here they will give you your packet of information. It will include your
hotel information, your bus pickup time, as well as your location on the train. We booked the Gold
Leaf service for the train and a regular hotel, so that put us at the Ptarmigan Inn in downtown
Banff. This was a terrific location, there were lots of shops and restaurants all with an easy
walking distance from the hotel. The hotel also offered a restaurant as well as a Lobby Bar and
a small little gift shop if you forgot something. If you went down the stairs from the lobby you
found this great little room with a steam room, a sauna, two whirlpools, as well as this teeny
tiny little fitness center. This was such a gem to discover. We were surprised when we got in our
room and we found a bed right away because you don't really pick your room type but it turned out
this was a triple. So you have your mini-fridge, your coffee maker, a fan, the hot pot if you
want to make hot tea, a very small closet, luckily we were only here for one night and really
didn't need to unpack. And then in the other space was the king-sized bed, as well as a small table
and chairs. The view looked out to another hotel, this was not a scenic view. The bathroom was
absolutely serviceable, clean, plenty of space for one night and it did include body wash, shampoo
and conditioner. In your packet you'll get tags to affix to your luggage and you'll put your luggage
out at the time they tell you at the hotel. So you want to make sure you have your tag for the next
hotel and then the green tag which is your overall tag. We got picked up at 7 AM. We stopped at two
additional hotels to pick up additional people and then a reminder while you're on the bus they'll
tell you to look at your packet again to know what coach you'll be in. So we were Coach 2, so we
looked for the wavy flag that said 2 and boarded the train. So you had several steps up into the
train and then because you're in Gold Leaf you go to an upstairs Dome car. So you went up this
spiral staircase into this beautiful Dome car. The seats were very comfortable. You had a number
of different options as far as, reclining, lumbar support, so you could get comfortable for your
long journey. The under the seat area is not huge, so you really only can bring a small backpack
or purse. Then it was time to leave and this is so fun. This was on the right side of the train
facing forward as we were leaving. All of the crew members come out and wave you goodbye. Each Gold
Leaf car holds 80 people, so they split us up into two groups for meals. One group went first the
first day, one group went first the second day. We were seated in the first group before the train
even left the station. The menu is the same for both days, for breakfast and lunch. You order from
the waiter and they head back to this teeny tiny kitchen. We had a great fruit plate, I opted for
the cinnamon roll out of the pastry basket, it was delicious. This was the potato bowl with a fried
egg on top and then the most popular option by far in the car was the Eggs Benedict. Everybody was
talking about how great they were. Also on this level are the bathrooms. This is the larger of the
two bathrooms. Those green circles are where you hit to flush and then there's a nice sink area.
We headed back up so the second group could head down for breakfast and that's when it's time for
morning happy hour. Beverages are included as part of the Gold Leaf service, and we have a tremendous
team onboard that is giving you narration as you go through and also you serving you drinks and
snacks. The snacks in the morning are a savory mix or a sweet mix and then it was time to just enjoy
the scenery. We then headed down to lunch. Now one thing is lunch took about two hours and there were
parts where we couldn't hear the narration. The charcuterie board changes, that's one thing that
does change between the two days. Then we had a, I had a terrific steak. The ravioli was terrific
,all the lunch menus were really really good, everyone was very happy. They have nice, light
desserts so this was kind of a meringue and then I love macarons. So they brought me two, which
I thought was really sweet. Then we headed out to the back open air terrace or vestibule. This
is another perk of getting Gold Leaf service. You have the dining room and this incredible outdoor
area. In your seat you'll also get the Mile Post. This is a great thing to look at as you're going
especially before you go down to lunch, so you can see what might be coming up while you're sitting
in the lunchroom. Because again you might not be able to hear the announcements. So you may just
want to hop up and go outside to see a key thing that might be happening during your two-hour lunch
service. One of the things I absolutely loved was passing through little towns and seeing all the
people come out and wave to us on the train. I always made sure to run down to the open air so I
could wave back. In the afternoon we had another snack. So this was wine and cheese hour. Now it
was getting a bit late here and this was one thing we didn't know, was how delayed the train actually
gets as it goes through. So this was a big lesson we learned. We arrived in the station around 8:30
at night. We were given our room keys onboard with the pickup time information. We boarded a bus
and headed to the Doubletree’s. We had no time in Kamloops, so if you want to see Kamloops this
is not the way to do it. The next morning we're up bright and early for our 7:10 AM pickup, back
on the train, back to breakfast. We had second breakfast today. I actually preferred being first
but here is that beautiful pastry again, this time I said pass. We tried the pancakes which were
pretty good. I really enjoyed the avocado toast, I thought it was a great way to start the day. Now
one tip is you're going through and trying to take pictures with your cell phone. Make sure to hold
it all the way to the glass. Now here I could do a nice panning shot of the area surrounding the
Kamloops Train Station because we were stopped. We were stopped for two and a half hours because
of construction on the track. That led to a backup of the cargo trains and this just set the day off
and being delayed all day long. So it meant we were delayed as we hit a number of different
interchanges. Now the scenery is incredible, that you're in the middle of a desert in Canada. I
had no idea this would be so desert-like. Another thing I didn't know was that the Dome car had
shades. When the sun was beating down onto the Dome it made the car quite warm so they put
up the shades, but that did take away from the full Dome effect. For lunch we had a different
charcuterie board but then it was the same menu from the day before. This was the chickpea nourish
bowl. I really enjoyed it. I think this is my favorite entree at lunch. My husband enjoyed this
Steelhead Trout. Everything was prepared perfectly and of course for dessert I had to have another
macaron. Unfortunately we encountered more delays throughout the day and at one point they let us
know that we would not make it to Vancouver on the train. We would need to transfer to buses to
complete the journey. So they let us know all of the details and around 6 pm they brought us up
dinner to our seats. We didn't eat downstairs, a chicken and rice dish. On our way out of the car
we had to walk through five or six cars we saw the Silver Leaf service. So you eat at your chair with
Silver Leaf and you have a little less space. We boarded the buses, there was a little bit of
confusion making sure we were all on the right bus. And then this time we had to stand in line
versus getting our key. The ending felt a little anticlimactic but there were still smiles because
it was an incredible journey. I think overall this is an incredible two-day adventure. You have to
absolutely be prepared for trip delays and long day days on the train. You do not get any time
in Kamloops. So if that's important, again you might want to find another way to visit it. It
was definitely a once in a lifetime journey. I don't know that I would necessarily do it again
because I think I had a wonderful time and I would absolutely go the Banff to Vancouver route
to make sure that you see all of the beautiful scenery around Banff, in case of a trip, a train
delay. One of the other hotels Rocky Mountaineer uses is the Fairmont Banff Springs. So here's a
video about that hotel and here's a video that YouTube thought you might like. Thank you so much.
Please let me know if you have any questions in the comments or if you'd like to book your Rocky
Mountaineer trip through me. For more tips and tricks email Angie@tripswithangie.com.
[Music] thank you [Music]
