Guides to the rides that define train travel in Canada — what the trip is actually like, when to go, what to book first, and where to sleep the night before. For everything else, the full directory lists all 64 railways and rides.
The guides
Rocky Mountaineer
A luxury touring train that travels only by day, so you see every canyon and pass from your seat and sleep in a hotel at night. Over two or three days, it links Vancouver with Banff, Lake Louise and Jasper through the heart of the Rockies.
Read the guide →Agawa Canyon Tour Train
From Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, this full-day train ride travels 114 miles (183 km) north into the Agawa Canyon — roadless wilderness on the Canadian Shield — and brings you back the same evening. In autumn, when the maples turn, it is one of Ontario's best-loved days out.
Read the guide →White Pass & Yukon Route
A narrow-gauge railway built in a hurry during the Klondike gold rush, climbing from Skagway, Alaska, over White Pass into British Columbia and on to Carcross, Yukon. It is a history lesson you ride, through mountain country that still feels far from anywhere.
Read the guide →Kettle Valley Steam Railway
Ninety minutes behind a restored steam locomotive in Summerland, British Columbia, on the last surviving stretch of the Kettle Valley Railway. Orchards, vineyards, Okanagan Lake below, and a high steel trestle at the far end — a gentle half-day in wine country.
Read the guide →Wheatland Express
A non-profit excursion train out of Wakaw, Saskatchewan, running through classic prairie grain country to Cudworth and back, with musicians, characters and a prairie menu on board. It is less about the destination than about a good afternoon on the flat, wide-skied middle of Canada.
Read the guide →Eastend Scenic Rail Tours
Canada's prairie south-west has a scenic train of its own: a three-hour round trip from Eastend to Ravenscrag through the coulees of the Frenchman River Valley.
Read the guide →More guides & comparisons
- Best steam train rides in Canada — the operating steam locomotives, honestly labelled.
- Train rides for families — themed trains, ride-all-day museums and small trains for small engineers.
- Rocky Mountaineer vs The Canadian — two famous trains, two different holidays, no declared winner.