Vancouver to Banff & Jasper: 6-Day VIA Rail & Icefield Tour

1/15

Duration6d

GroupUp to 54

LanguagesEN · ZH

Mobile ticketAccepted

Six Days on VIA Rail & the Icefields Parkway: From Vancouver to Glacier Ice

You board VIA Rail in Vancouver, sleep on the train, and arrive in Jasper to explore on your own or with an optional guided tour. The bus then takes you south along the Icefields Parkway, stopping at Bow Lake, Crowfoot Glacier, Peyto Lake, and the Columbia Icefield (with optional glacier or skywalk add-ons). In Banff, you visit Moraine Lake, Lake Louise, Emerald Lake, Natural Bridge, ride the Banff Gondola or soak in Upper Hot Springs, and hike Johnston Canyon. Everything is timed and guided; you just show up at the hotel lobby when the bus arrives.

Step-by-step itinerary

Day 1 — Train from Vancouver to Jasper

Arrive at Vancouver station early
Board VIA Rail train at 15:00
Enjoy train amenities and Wi-Fi
Overnight on train to Jasper

Day 2 — Arrive Jasper and self-explore

Arrive in Jasper around 11 am
Check into hotel in Jasper
Explore Jasper at your own pace
Optional Medicine and Malign Lakes tour

Day 3 — Jasper free time and Banff transfer

Morning free to explore Jasper town
Optional Jasper Sky Tram ride
Wait in hotel lobby at 1:20 PM
Shuttle bus to Banff via Icefields Parkway
Overnight at Banff Town Hotel

Day 4 — Moraine Lake, Lake Louise, and more

Visit Moraine Lake or Marble Canyon
Explore Lake Louise and Victoria Glacier
Lunch at Lake Louise Village or Resort
Visit Emerald Lake in Yoho National Park
See Natural Bridge in Yoho National Park

Day 5 — Banff Gondola, falls, and canyon hike

Ride Banff Gondola to Sulphur Mountain summit
Relax at Upper Hot Springs (optional)
Visit Bow Falls
Stop at Surprise Corner viewpoint
Lunch and shopping on Banff Avenue
Visit Lake Minnewanka
Hike Johnston Canyon waterfalls trail

Day 6 — Icefields Parkway and glacier tour

Drive along Icefields Parkway
View Crowfoot Glacier
Stop at Bow Lake
Explore Columbia Icefield and Athabasca Glacier
Optional Columbia Icefield Skywalk visit
Visit Peyto Lake viewpoint

The Experience

The train departs Vancouver at 3 PM, and you're on board for nineteen hours of track running northeast through the Rockies. You'll sleep overnight in your cabin (or upgrade to a berth if you prefer), wake somewhere in the mountains, and roll into Jasper around 11 AM the next morning. There's Wi-Fi on the VIA Rail, washrooms, showers — the kind of details that matter when you're not driving yourself. That first afternoon in Jasper is yours to wander the town or add a sightseeing tour of Medicine Lake and Malign Lake with a cruise if the season's right (June through October, small extra fee).

By day three you're on the bus heading south on the Icefields Parkway, one of the world's most photographed drives, and the landscape shifts every few kilometers. Bow Lake appears first, then Crowfoot Glacier with its distinctive toes still visible from the road despite decades of melting. The bus stops at Peyto Lake — turquoise, shaped like a maple leaf, framed by peaks — and then you're at the Columbia Icefield, the largest in the Rocky Mountains. You can walk the Columbia Icefield Skywalk, a glass platform 280 meters above the Sunwapta Valley, or book the Ice Explorer snowcoach ride onto the Athabasca Glacier itself (both are add-ons, paid separately). Either way, you're standing on ice that's thousands of years old.

Banff gets two full days. Day four takes you to Moraine Lake first — the one with the vivid turquoise water and the Valley of the Ten Peaks behind it — then Lake Louise with the Fairmont Chateau and Victoria Glacier in the background, then Emerald Lake in Yoho National Park with its wooden bridge for photos. You'll stop for lunch on your own (Lake Louise Village has options), and finish at the Natural Bridge, where the Kicking Horse River has carved a limestone arch over thousands of years. Day five is the Banff highlights: the Banff Gondola takes eight minutes to climb 698 meters up Sulphur Mountain, where you can walk the boardwalk and see six mountain ranges at once. You can choose the gondola or the Upper Hot Springs instead — warm mineral pools with Rundle and Cascade Mountains around you, first-come-first-served entry. Then Bow Falls, Lake Minnewanka (called "Lake of the Spirits" by the Stoney Nakoda First Nations), and Johnston Canyon with its waterfalls and turquoise pools.

The bus is air-conditioned, the guide speaks both Chinese and English, and the itinerary can shift depending on weather and the season — Marble Canyon replaces Moraine Lake in winter, Johnston Canyon might swap for something else if conditions change. You're not arranging transport between cities, not timing yourself at each stop, not figuring out which lake to skip. The six days do that for you.

What’s included

VIA Rail passage from Vancouver to Jasper with overnight accommodation on the train.
hotel stays in Jasper and Banff.
bilingual tour guide (Chinese and English) for the bus portion.
air-conditioned bus transport between cities and to all attractions.
entry to Moraine Lake, Lake Louise, Emerald Lake, Natural Bridge, Bow Lake, Peyto Lake, Crowfoot Glacier viewpoint, Lake Minnewanka, Johnston Canyon, Bow Falls, and Surprise Corner.
GST.

Good to know

Easy physical levelStroller friendlyPets welcomePublic transport nearby

Operated by Banff ToDo

Is this one for you?Choose this tour if you want the full Canadian Rockies experience in six days without renting a car or planning each stop yourself — the fixed itinerary and included transport between Vancouver, Jasper, and Banff is what makes a glacier, five lakes, and a gondola ride fit into one trip.