CANADIAN ROCKIES VIA RAIL

ITINERARY

DAY 1 - Depart Burlington airport; Arrive in Toronto

Welcome to Toronto! At 6 pm, meet your traveling companions for a welcome drink. Your Tour Director will prepare you for your upcoming adventure.

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DAY 2  - Toronto–Niagara Falls–VIA Rail® the Canadian

Drive along the shores of Lake Ontario to Niagara Falls. For the adventurous, your Tour Director will suggest optional flightseeing over the falls. Then, enjoy a Niagara Falls sightseeing CRUISE for a thrilling boat ride to view the thundering falls from river level. Return to Toronto for an orientation tour. This evening, enjoy  dinner atop the 1,815-foot-tall CN Tower.

 - Breakfast | Dinner

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DAY 3  - VIA Rail the Canadian–Ontario

After breakfast, transfer to Union Station for departure on the CANADIAN, VIA Rail’s premier transcontinental train. Spend the next three days and nights on this classic trip across Canada’s heartland. Your Sleeper Plus class rail cars are refurbished art-deco cars from the 1950s. Domed observation cars let you enjoy views of the Canadian countryside as you roll past Ontario’s landscapes.

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 - Breakfast | Brunch | Dinner

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DAY 4  - VIA Rail the Canadian–Winnipeg, Manitoba

Watch the scenic countryside from your windows as you relax in first-class rail accommodations. Travel past the sparkling lakes and sun-dappled forests of Ontario. Try the observation dome for unparalleled views or enjoy quiet conversation in one of the comfortable lounges. Enter Manitoba with its endless golden prairies and vast cultivated fields. In the late evening, arrive in Manitoba’s capital city of Winnipeg for a brief stop before continuing west into Saskatchewan.

 - Brunch | Dinner

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DAY 5  - VIA Rail the Canadian through Saskatchewan & Alberta–Jasper

Continue through the prairies and winding rivers of Manitoba and Saskatchewan. View the ever-changing landscape with ease and comfort as you meet and mingle with fellow passengers and enjoy freshly prepared meals that showcase Canadian cuisine and regional special

  - Brunch | Dinner

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DAY 6  - Jasper. Excursion to Maligne Lake

Travel from Saskatchewan to Jasper with brief stops in Saskatoon and Edmonton. Admire the scenery as your train roughly parallels the famed Yellowhead Route, Canada’s historic trail of westward expansion. Arrive in Jasper for local sightseeing. Later, enjoy an excursion to Maligne Lake for a full-narrated CRUISE to Spirit Island.

 - Breakfast

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DAY 7 - Jasper–Columbia Icefield–Lake Louise–Banff

This morning, travel through JASPER NATIONAL PARK on Icefields Parkway to the 750-foot-thick Columbia Icefield for a thrilling ICE EXPLORER RIDE. Climb Sunwapta Pass to savor stunning vistas of alpine meadows, waterfalls, and massive glaciers. Next, stop at Lake Louise, whose green-blue waters form a perfect mirror reflection of Mount Victoria. Continue into BANFF NATIONAL PARK.

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 - Breakfast | Dinner

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DAY 8 - Banff

This morning’s sightseeing includes the Bow River and Falls. The rest of the day is at leisure. Consider an optional helicopter flightseeing trip for a bird’s-eye view of the Rockies

  - Breakfast

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DAY 9 - Banff–British Columbia Wine Country

This morning, travel through the spectacular beauty of Yoho National Park, one of Canada’s most popular recreational areas and site of pre-Cambrian fossil finds. On to Canada’s Glacier National Park, where the motorcoach climbs 4,379-foot-high Rogers Pass, a perfect spot for photos of the surrounding mountain cliffs and glaciers. Continue to your riverside resort. Tonight, enjoy a  riverside BBQ with S’MORES.

- Breakfast | Dinner

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DAY 10 - British Columbia Wine Country–Victoria

Catch a BC FERRY to Vancouver Island and the very British “Garden City” of Victoria. Upon arrival, visit world-famous BUTCHART GARDENS. Later, your orientation tour of Victoria includes the gardens of Beacon Hill Park, the Fairmont Empress Hotel, Bastion Square, and Thunderbird Park. After dinner this evening, enjoy a special  TREAT with dinner. Learn of the Nanaimo bar, a regional Canadian confection dating back to the 1950s.

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 - Breakfast | Dinner

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DAY 11 - Victoria

Today is at leisure for independent sightseeing and shopping. Your Tour Director suggests an optional wildlife and whale-watching trip. For shoppers, Government Street’s elegant shops and Market Square’s collection of specialty stores are good places to start. History buffs should be sure to visit the Royal British Columbia Museum. Enjoy dinner on your own at one of the many restaurants in this harbor city.

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 - Breakfast

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DAY 12 - Victoria–Vancouver

This morning, take the BC FERRY and sail through the Gulf Islands, an archipelago known for its Mediterranean-type climate. Arrive in Vancouver for a city tour that includes the harbor and beaches, Chinatown, historic Gastown, and Stanley Park with its towering evergreen forests and totem poles. This evening, your Tour Director hosts a special farewell dinner.

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 - Breakfast | Dinner

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DAY 13 - Vancouver

Your tour ends after breakfast with guests departing on individual schedules. Airport transfers are provided.

- Breakfast

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​NOTE:
On VIA Rail, during the day your cabin for two offers armchairs, toilet, and a picture window. By night it transforms to upper and lower beds where guests must be able to climb a ladder to reach the upper bed. Traveling as a single, your cabin by day features small couch-style seating, toilet and sink, and a large picture window. By night, an economy of space requires the pull-down bed to fill the space obstructing the furniture and bathroom facilities. Public restrooms remain available in each coach. 

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