Three times a week year-round, the legendary “Canadian” links Toronto, Winnipeg, Edmonton and Vancouver, via the lakelands of Ontario and the snow-capped mountains of Jasper National Park in the Canadian Rockies. Not only is the scenery spectacular, the train itself is a piece of history: In the early 1990s, without the funds to buy new cars, state-owned operator VIA Rail refurbished the original streamlined stainless steel coaches built in 1955 for the Canadian Pacific Railroad’s “Canadian”.
In Silver & Blue class passengers travel in private sleepers, take breakfast, lunch and dinner in the elegant Silver & Blue restaurant, and relax in lounges sporting traditional roof-top “vista domes” for a 360-degree view of Canada. The three-night journey from Toronto to Vancouver in Silver & Blue class costs from C$859, including sleeper and meals. But there’s also an economy option – Comfort class reclining seats with their own coffee shop, lounge and vista-dome for sightseeing, from C$433, meals extra. Visitors to Canada will also appreciate VIA Rail’s other routes, the fast inter-city trains linking Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec, and the overnight Montreal-Halifax “Ocean”.