Canada’s Rocky Mountaineer train cuts through the heart of the Rockies, and explores how a country came to be.
The next step up Mount Norquay requires a lunge of faith. Looking over my sunglasses, slipping in sweat, I see I must now go left and out, across an outcrop of rock that juts some 200 feet above nothingness. I look at my red knuckles, gripping the tiny iron rungs bolted on the face of the cliff, and utter an expletive. (My mind knows I’m safely harnessed and tethered, but my body doesn’t believe a word of it.) I swing my left foot across the brittle rock, landing it on an inch-shallow ledge. I stay like that, hanging on, straddling a mountain face outside the town of Banff in the Canadian Rocky Mountains, as close to spread-eagle as my 47-year-old frame gets.
Wait, wasn’t I supposed to be on a train trip?
It started that way. In three days, I got to Banffin Alberta, Canada from my home in Portland in Oregon, U.S.A., partly by rail. It’s not only a gorgeous ride, cutting across the snow-capped Rockies and river gorges, but also a historic one.
Sir John Macdonald, Canada’s beloved first prime minister, built the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) in the 1880s to turn Canada into a unified, transcontinental nation. Eventually it spawned the country’s national park system, opened up the mountains to tourism, and led to the development of Canada’s first luxury hotels. The only way to traverse the historic railway’s most rugged stretches is the Rocky Mountaineer, a luxury excursion train from Seattle to Banff(with overnight stops in Vancouver and Kamloops in British Columbia). That gives plenty of opportunity to consider the essence of Canada. Oh, yes, and dine on three-course meals while sipping Okanagan Valley wines.
Denne historien er fra October 2016-utgaven av National Geographic Traveller India.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra October 2016-utgaven av National Geographic Traveller India.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Best Of The World 2023
Travel inspiration is everywhere. The question is where to go next. Here's our annual list of enlightened destinations for the year aheadplaces filled with wonder, rewarding to travellers of all ages, and supportive of local communities and ecosystems. Framed by five categories (Community, Nature, Culture, Family, Adventure), these destinations are under the radar, ahead of the curve, and ready for you to start exploring.
Α ΗΟΜΕ IN THE HILLS
Skyview by Empyrean is a onestop destination for adventure and leisure in Jammu
ENTER THE PICTURE POSTCARD
A stylish luxury hotel in Thimphu's northern outskirts is where illustrious Bhutanese and travellers alike are finding their happy place
48 Hours : Seattle Leads The Way
The jewel of the Pacific Northwest is one of America’s greenest and grooviest culture capitals
BIG BINGE: DUBAI FOR THE JET-SETTING GOURMAND
Delightful degustation menus, French brasseries with art-inspired menus and Japanese diners excelling at nostalgia—the Dubai Food Festival 2022 justified the city’s status as one of the world’s premier food capitals
CULTURE COOL - UNDER THE EMIRATI SUN
Home to one of the world’s grandest mosques, an exciting emerging arts district on Saadiyat Island and an entertainment hub promising genuine thrills, Abu Dhabi has arrived in the league of extraordinary family destinations
ONLY IN OTTAWA
ACTIVE ADVENTURES, BUZZY BREWERIES AND NEIGHBOURHOODS THRIVING WITH BARS AND BOUTIQUES— CANADA'S BIJOU CAPITAL HAS PLENTY TO DISCOVER BEYOND THE HALLS OF PARLIAMENT
OF FRENCH FINESSE
QUENELLE DE BROCHET IS A REGIONAL LEGACY DISH HAILING FROM LYON. THE OVAL, POACHED PIKE DUMPLINGS ARE BELIEVED TO HAVE BEEN INVENTED BY A PASTRY CHEF TO REGULATE FISH OVERPOPULATION
Coorg: A WILD ROAST
Back in another timber den of Karnataka, native wildlife and humble stories surprise Suhas Dwarkanath as he sips on a bold cup of robusta.
DIVING INTO RAS AL KHAIMAH
THE U.A.E'S NORTHERNMOST EMIRATE IS ALL ABOUT ENJOYING NATURAL TREASURES, FROM SOARING OVER THE AL-HAJAR MOUNTAINS ON THE WORLD'S LONGEST ZIPLINE TO PERUSING PRECIOUS PEARLS BY THE SEASHORE