How To See the U.S. and Canada With Rocky Mountaineer

At the intersection of ruggedly beautiful and comfortably luxurious you’ll find the train journeys of AAA travel partner Rocky Mountaineer. For more than 30 years, the world’s largest privately owned luxury tourist train has been whisking passengers past wild and unspoiled landscapes—think sheer mountainsides, steep canyons and rushing rivers—that can’t be reached by car or even on foot.

All that natural beauty is just outside your glass-domed train car and is easily viewed from your plush seat or an alfresco viewing platform. Onboard hosts share stories of the surrounding countryside and serve up fresh, regionally inspired cuisine that you can enjoy from the comfort of your seat or in a special dining area. And when night falls, you won’t miss a second of the sights: Rocky Mountaineer’s daylight-only train travel maximizes views and comfort by including overnight stays in luxe hotels.

The places you’ll go

Rocky Mountaineer’s luxury train journeys explore the Rocky Mountains and beyond in both western Canada and the southwestern United States. Here’s a taste of what you can see along each amazing route.

Rockies to the Red Rocks: Rocky Mountaineer’s newest route travels between Denver and Moab, Utah, with an overnight stay in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. The train follows the Colorado River though canyons and rugged landscapes before heading into the 6.3-mile-long Moffat Tunnel, where it crosses the Continental Divide. Keep an eye out for wildlife along the river—you could glimpse bighorn sheep, mountain lions, bears, deer and marmots. Other Colorado highlights include 15-mile-long De Beque Canyon with its stair-step cliffs of sedimentary rock layers; 6,600-foot-high Mount Garfield, the highest point in the Book Cliffs; and roughly 25-mile-long Ruby Canyon, named for the red sandstone cliffs that line it. In Utah, look out for Mount Peale—at more than 12,700 feet tall, it’s the highest peak in the La Sal Mountains, which are usually snowcapped until early summer. The iconic red rock formations of Arches National Park await near Moab.

Canadian Rockies: Three different routes explore the backwoods beauty of western Canada, between Vancouver in British Columbia and either Banff or Jasper in Alberta. Onboard the First Passage to the West route, you cross the Continental Divide and navigate the legendary Spiral Tunnels, an engineering marvel that opened in 1909 to help trains traverse a steep elevation change. Don’t miss Castle Mountain, a landmark sight between Banff and Lake Louise. The Journey Through the Clouds route travels along the mighty Fraser River and past Hell’s Gate, where the river narrows rapidly, sending water gushing between jagged cliffs. The magnificent Pyramid Falls are another must-see sight: Because of their tough-to-get-to location, the 300-foot-tall falls are visible only from a nearby highway and the railway. The Rainforest to Gold Rush route stops in the ski resort town of Whistler, British Columbia, where a ride on the Peak 2 Peak Gondola provides stunning mountain vistas. The rest of the route takes you through the Fraser River Valley to the gold-flecked canyons that attracted prospectors in the mid-1800s and past Mount Robson—the highest peak in the Canadian Rockies—on your way to Jasper.

Make the journey your own

If you thought train travel was a one-size-fits-all vacation, think again. Rocky Mountaineer offers several ways to customize your trip. If you can’t decide which Canadian route to take, you can combine any two on a round-trip Circle Journey. Or, for more time to explore on your own, you can stay additional nights in Vancouver, Jasper or Banff in Canada, or in Las Vegas, Denver or Salt Lake City in the United States. And Rocky Mountaineer’s curated packages let you add excursions and activities before or after your rail journey, from a sightseeing tour of Banff National Park to a trek along the Athabasca Glacier on a giant six-wheel Ice Explorer vehicle.

All aboard!