Kamloops Travel Forum

Hi - Want to know if anyone has traveled from Kamloops to Banff (or anywhere in the Banff area) or Jaspar, via car or train and how long it took and the upsides and downsides are for both.

Thanks.

There is only an expensive tourist train that actually stops overnight in Kamloops between Vancouver & Calgary, stopping briefly, I think, in Banff... so your choice is really between bus & car. I've done both, and preferred the car because we got to stop whenever there was a photo opportunity, or we felt like a coffee break. On the other hand, on the bus could look out and not worry about concentrating on the road and keeping the rubber-side down. The bus takes 7:20 - 8:35 hours depending upon the one you catch. It was a while since I drove, but I know if you do it faster, you can get there faster.
Just reverified - you can take the train from Kamloops to Jasper but it leaves Kamloops at 2:25am and arrives at 11am, so you aren't going to be doing a lot of sightseeing in the dark of night!
www.greyhound.ca for bus and www.viarail.ca for train.

i've driven and taken the train, but in the other direction. i took the train from Edmonton to Kamloops.. the train left jasper around 2:30pm and arrived shortly after 10:00pm. it was in late december, so daylight was as short as it could get, but i took in the spectacular views of the Rockies before it got dark (and less spectacular anyway, imo. heh)

riding the train is great, nice and relaxing, you don't have to be the one to drive and worry about road conditions, and you can enjoy the view. but normally i'd prefer to drive because i like the freedom to stop whenever and wherever, and it's faster. i took the train partly for kicks and also it just happened to fit into my itinerary for my entire trip quite nicely.

as jane's mentioned, the only train that goes through Banff is rather expensive, and i wouldn't recommend it.

Hi, I just recently drove up to Jasper for the weekend back in November. The drive there took up about 4 hours. Hope this helps.