Justina

I am trying to arrange a holiday for my 60year old mother and myself in the Rockies or Alaska. We have roughly 2/3 weeks to play with but we don't have unlimited finances! This is a treat for my mother who likes scenery, gardens, wildlife - she is fairly fit but not comfortable with too much hiking and steep inclines.

I have come up with 2 options but can't make up my mind which would be best:

(1) 5 nights Banff, 4 nights Jasper (inc. Icefields Parkway etc.), 2 days Rocky Mountaineer, 5/6 nights Vancouver (inc. day trip to Victoria Whale Watching/Butchart,
North Shore, Stanley Park, Granville...)

(2) 7 nights Vancouver -inc. Victoria as above for 1 day, and Whistler Mountaineer day trip (+ similar activities done in 1)
7 nights Alaska Cruise - with Whale Watching, Heli trip to Glacier, Misty Fjords Seaplane, White Pass Railway.

Basically would you choose Alaska over Banff/Jasper or vice versa if you could only go to one in your lifetime. I presume Whistler Mountaineer journey won't be on same pa as Rocky Mountaineer for vistas but thought it would be nice if we do option 2 to make up for not doing the other.

Probably go June/July this year so need to make up my mind quickly!

Thanks for any help.

ltt

well, considering your mother's age and the fact that hiking will not be a big part of your travels, i would choose option 2. with the 7 days allocated to the vancouver area, i would stay in vancouver for 4 nights, 1 in whister and 2 in victoria.
then the cruise will be wonderful.

April

I've only done the round trip Alaska cruise (including White Pass Railway trip) from Vancouver, but between that and the Rockies, I'd take the Rockies any day. Not sure I'd want 4 days in Jasper but I'll let the Alberta experts comment on that. Option 1 might be more expensive than Option 2 though.

I was thinking it might be fun to take the Rocky Mountaineer from Vancouver and then drive back through the Okanagan and spend a couple of days there (or the other way around) but I think the Rocky Mountaineer packages might only include the car for two days. Might be worth looking into if that was of interest.

newretiree

My husband and I, and our best friends did a similar trip in Sept 2005. We took a 10 day Alaska cruise tour with Holland America, ending in Vancouver, had 2 days in Vancouver, then got on the Rocky Mountaineer for 2 days, then car rental in the Rockies for 5 more days. The first 2 days of the car rental was part of the Rocky Mountaineer tour, and we extended the car the rest of the time. Both Alaska and the Canadian Rockies are beautiful in their own way, and shouldn’t be missed, if you can help it.

On the cruise tour, we started in Anchorage, took the dome car train to Denali for a tour into the park and an overnight, then on to Fairbanks via train, flew back to Anchorage, tour bus to Seward to board the ship – all part of the Holland America package. The cruise was 7 days down to Vancouver. Nothing was very strenuous on the cruise or in the ports. Beautiful scenery and interesting areas to visit, both on the cruise and the mainland, and you can select what you want to do in port.

We then spent 2 days in Vancouver – a beautiful city. We didn’t make it to Victoria – just too much time to get there and back in the 2 days. But we visited the Vancouver Lookout tower, Stanley Park, and Queen Elizabeth Park (a lovely place with a beautiful gardens and a conservatory/aviary), plus walked around the city. Thoroughly enjoyed it. You would probably want to spend more time in Vancouver rather than do the land part of the cruise.

Then we boarded the Rocky Mountaineer (Gold Leaf service, in order to get the dome car) for 2 days to Banff. The train was VERY comfortable and enjoyable for adults (we were all in our late fifties). Big comfortable seats, snacks & drinks service all day both days, and lovely meals in the dining room below. By going to Banff you enter the mountains on the second day, and go through the spiral tunnels on the train. We picked up the rental car in Banff, then spent 2 days in the Banff area, 1 in the Lake Louise/Yoho area, and then drove to Jasper for 1 night, with a morning spent at Maligne Canyon. The drive north on the Icefields Parkway to Jasper, and then back south on another day to Calgary on the way home, was worth every penny of the trip! Absolutely beautiful!! And we didn’t do any hiking! The most walking we did was from the parking lot to Takakkaw Falls (in Yoho), and through the upper part of Maligne Canyon. There is an awful lot to see in the Canadian Rockies that doesn’t take hiking.

For the whole trip, we were gone for 19 days – just to give you an idea of what can be done in the 2-3 weeks. My husband and I returned to the Rockies for a more in-depth visit for 9 days last September, and are taking my 82 year old mother in late May this year. We are planning 6 nights in the Banff area and 4 nights in Jasper in May, with no real hiking – there is plenty to see – and part of the enjoyment is just being outside in all of the grandeur!! (I know that’s a pretty inflated word, but that’s really what it’s like.) It is truly a place to return to many times. And one of these days we would also like to explore further into British Columbia. Hopefully, we can also return to Alaska sometime as well – we look forward to that – it is just a much longer trip to get to the area.

No matter which way you decide, I’m sure you and your mother will enjoy the trip. Enjoy the planning too!

April

Wow, that's some trip, Newretiree. If I may butt in a moment, do you think the extra cost of the Gold Leaf service was worth it on the Rocky Mountaineer?

newretiree

April, Since we thought we would only do the train trip once in our lives, we decided to splurge on the Gold Leaf service, plus the highest level of hotels. I just went to the RM website to refresh my memory of the difference in price, which looks to be about $800 per person for the Gold Leaf. We found that being in the dome car gave us much more visibility for the 2 days on the train (especially once we got into the mountains), plus much more comfortable dining - at a table instead of in our seat. The dining car also has windows for viewing like those on the cars with Red Leaf service, so you can see the scenery even then. I think the drinks & snacks at our seats were probably the same. The seats in the dome car were large and had lots of leg room, but I can't compare since we didn't get to go in one of the Red Leaf cars. For us, the difference was definitely worth it!

One other difference, and it may not be important - Gold Leaf provides you your full complement of luggage each night, while Red Leaf checks your luggage through to your destination - you don't have access at the overnight, except for a small bag.

The Rocky Mountaineer website used to have a video you could watch of the experience on the train itself. I didn't check to see if they still have it, but you could check the website.

Either way, it's really a spectacular trip, especially the second day entering the mountains. And it's a very comfortable way to get to the area.

April

Thanks for your detailed reply, Newretiree.

Justina

Thanks for all your replies...

I'm still debating on this one - I am now thinking if I book flights independently and B&Bs throughout I could reign some monies in and maybe do 5 nights Banff (4 days effectively), 4 nights Jasper (3 days) - 1 day taken up with coach from Banff to Jasper & Icefields, 2 nights Rocky Mountaineer, 5 nights Vancouver (4 days) & then Alaska Cruise for 7 nights with Holland America.

This would make a total of 23 nights but will require more finances obviously so that's what I'm debating...but I'm torn and my mother has never been on a big holiday or will get to do anything like this again. I'm going to have to tell her the holiday fell of the back of a lorry or she'll have a fit!

The B&Bs I was looking at were:

At Wit's End - Banff
Glass House - Jasper
West End B&B - Vancouver

if anyone has any comments greatly received.

April

If I was trying to cut costs a bit, I would lop off a couple days in Banff/Jasper and one or two days from Vancouver.

angeliclovebug

for lovely accommodation in B&B's in Vancouver and the rest of BC please check www.wcbbia.com. I have heard that the Rocky Mountaineer trip and the Alaska cruise is as good as they come. Good choices. I also wouldn't spend as many nights in either Jasper or Banff. Most of the B&B offerings on the referred sight rank much higher than the B&B's in Alberta where they are not allowed to serve a gourmet breakfast.