Question for Canadians - Vacation spots

[happyhoix]

DH is a life long Southerner. I’m a Yankee who has lived in the South about thirty years, and I’m sick of puny winters. I want snow covered mountains, trees caked with snow and ice, hot chocolate in front of roaring fires, etc.  I’ve talked DH into doing a winter Canadian vacation - I just need to figure out where. 

We’ve been to Montreal and Quebec and both are lovely - but I’m really looking for maybe a ski resort type place. Something not in a city. And it would need to be accessible by rail. DH and I don’t know how to drive on snow, and I don’t want us to spend the whole vacation actively freaking out over driving. The perfect option would be us flying to Chicago, then taking a train to somewhere in Canada which is likely to have snow, getting close enough to it we could take a taxi or Uber ride to it.  Not really sure what ‘it’ would be - or where.  

OR - we really did like Quebec City, so maybe that would be worth a second trip? Bet it’s beautiful in the winter. 

Any suggestions? 

[swamp]

Banff

[stillmovingforward]

You could also fly to fairbanks Alaska. There's a hot springs resort that will come get you from the airport and drive you to the resort about 50 miles away. Not much to do (very limited cell and internet) but go to the hot springs, visit the sled dogs, and watch the northern lights.

[Tennesseer]

As Swamp said:Banff/Lake Louise area.

[mollyc]

I don't know much about skiing in Eastern Canada other then that it exists so I can't help you there.  If you just meant places in Eastern Canada, then ignore the rest of this post.

You could probably find a package deal to go skiing somewhere in BC or Alberta out of Vancouver, BC or possibly even from one of the Northern States that would transport you directly to the ski resort.

There is a train that will take you from Vancouver to either Kamloops, BC, or Jasper or Edmonton, AB.  From Vancouver, you can get transportation to Whistler and other relatively local ski areas.  From Kamloops, you could probably get transportation to the ski resorts in the Kelowna area.  Jasper has skiing.  It may be that you could make connections from Jasper to Banff.  You could get transportation from Edmonton to various ski resorts on the Alberta side of the Rockies including Banff.

If you're interested in Banff, it would probably be easiest to fly to Calgary and travel from there.

[mollyc]

I stand corrected.

Apparently Rocky Mountineer train service can get you from Vancouver to Whistler or Lake Louise/Banff.

[stillmovingforward]

Oh, I might look into that for next winter! That sounds delightful.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Jan 5, 2022 22:02:31 GMT -5 stillmovingforward said:

Oh, I might look into that for next winter! That sounds delightful.

Just be prepared for the cost.  The Rocky Mountaineer is definitely not inexpensive.  

[happyhoix]

Jan 5, 2022 21:22:23 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

As Swamp said:Banff/Lake Louise area.

Wow!

[happyhoix]

Jan 5, 2022 21:46:55 GMT -5 mollyc said:

I don't know much about skiing in Eastern Canada other then that it exists so I can't help you there.  If you just meant places in Eastern Canada, then ignore the rest of this post.

You could probably find a package deal to go skiing somewhere in BC or Alberta out of Vancouver, BC or possibly even from one of the Northern States that would transport you directly to the ski resort.

There is a train that will take you from Vancouver to either Kamloops, BC, or Jasper or Edmonton, AB.  From Vancouver, you can get transportation to Whistler and other relatively local ski areas.  From Kamloops, you could probably get transportation to the ski resorts in the Kelowna area.  Jasper has skiing.  It may be that you could make connections from Jasper to Banff.  You could get transportation from Edmonton to various ski resorts on the Alberta side of the Rockies including Banff.

If you're interested in Banff, it would probably be easiest to fly to Calgary and travel from there.

We’re not interested in skiing, exactly, except maybe trying cross country. I used to ski in HS but that was a long time ago when I didn’t snap into bits when I fell down. I know that ski areas are usually beautiful and have other things to do like sleigh rides and snowmobiling that I think DH would enjoy if he was wrapped in enough layers, so I figured one might make a good destination.

[happyhoix]

Jan 5, 2022 22:14:40 GMT -5 The Walk of the Penguin Mich said:

Jan 5, 2022 22:02:31 GMT -5 stillmovingforward said:

Oh, I might look into that for next winter! That sounds delightful.

Just be prepared for the cost.  The Rocky Mountaineer is definitely not inexpensive.  

Yeah train travel is not cheap but compared to being crammed into a plane shoulder to shoulder with grumpy people or trying to drive through snow (which neither DH or I is comfortable doing) I’d like to try to go that way.

I’d love to travel in the Orient Express but that costs something like 20K per person. yikes.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Jan 6, 2022 10:21:31 GMT -5 happyhoix said:

Jan 5, 2022 22:14:40 GMT -5 The Walk of the Penguin Mich said:

Just be prepared for the cost.  The Rocky Mountaineer is definitely not inexpensive.  

Yeah train travel is not cheap but compared to being crammed into a plane shoulder to shoulder with grumpy people or trying to drive through snow (which neither DH or I is comfortable doing) I’d like to try to go that way.

I’d love to travel in the Orient Express but that costs something like 20K per person. yikes.

When I looked into doing this a few years ago, it was roughly $1000/day/person.  The trip I wanted to take on the RM was nearly $16,000 for the 2 of us.  As a comparison, the cruise we were just on…..including business class air was about $20,000 for 60 days.

[laterbloomer]

check out sunpeaksresort.com

[happyhoix]

Jan 6, 2022 15:14:14 GMT -5 laterbloomer said:

check out sunpeaksresort.com

Ooo, Alpine village. Reminds me of Austria. Both sleigh rides and dog sled rides. Snowmobiling and snowshoeing! DH might like the guided ice fishing, if his dark little Southern heart can deal with the cold.

And you can take the train to Kamloops and a shuttle from there.

Very interesting.