Travel: Make tracks to the Rockies retreat fit for Hollywood elite

The powerful Athabasca Falls in Jasper National Park, Canada.

It’s the world-leading luxury train that for more than 500 miles through the most spectacular terrain – much of it only accessible by rail – has carried me to what is arguably one of the prettiest towns on the planet.

Throughout the two-day deluxe Rocky Mountaineer Journey Through the Clouds that started in Vancouver, followed by an overnight stop in Kamloops (luggage magically disappearing and reappearing in hotel rooms), I have been wined and dined and regaled with fascinating and fun facts by its GoldLeaf staff, before finally rockin’, rollin’ and ridin’ into Jasper and a welcome fit for royalty and Hollywood glitterati.

Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge resort’s Point Cabin, once occupied by Marilyn Monroe.

In fact, this historic alpine town has regularly hosted both. Established in 1801 as a supply depot for traders and explorers, Jasper is the beating commercial heart of the 1907-designated Jasper National Park, the largest in the Canadian Rockies.

Part of Canada’s Alberta province, it’s just a short 10-minute drive from the swanky Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge resort – my holiday home for a couple of days. Once the beloved retreat of the late Queen Elizabeth II, it has for generations been a favoured haunt for the rich and famous including Hollywood legends Marilyn Monroe and Bing Crosby, and more recently John Travolta and Miley Cyrus.

Marilyn Monroe stayed at Jasper Park Lodge.

And this time round the Rocky Mountaineer’s arrival is particularly auspicious, marking the return of the iconic train whose regular trips to Jasper were halted following the devastating forest fires of July last year that raged through 80,000 acres of woodland and levelled a third of the town.

A total of 5,000 residents and 20,000 tourists had to evacuate in what was the second costliest fire disaster in the country’s history. Estimated by insurers to have done damage worth around 1.23 billion Canadian dollars (£666 million), the inferno was eventually brought under control on September 7.

Now Jasper – brimming with optimism and already rebuilding – is delighted to welcome back tourists with its focus on “silver linings”. The fire thinned out dense areas of woodland, with sunlight now reaching the forest floor, sparking fresh new growth and affording greater than ever opportunities to view its rich wildlife.

A mama grizzly and her cub in Jasper National Park.

As if bang on cue, on the short drive to the resort, we hear a mama bear and her cubs have been spotted ambling along near its entrance. With the Canadian Rockies its backdrop, Jasper Park Lodge, on the serene banks of Lac Beauvert (meaning Beautiful Green Lake), comprises a collection of heritage log cabins and distinctively luxe Signature dwellings spread across 700 pristine acres of a Unesco World Heritage Site.

It is also home to Canada’s No 1 golf course where bears, I’m told, are far more common than birdies. Bing Crosby fell in love with this idyll while filming The Emperor Waltz here in 1946. He returned a year later to win the Jasper Park Lodge Golf Club’s Totem Pole Tournament and was famously pictured with a bear.

In 1953 Marilyn Monroe – who with Robert Mitchum starred in River of No Return, filmed partly in Jasper National Park – holidayed at the resort with her lover, US baseball star Joe DiMaggio. The log cabin she occupied became mine for my stay. Known as Point, its neighbour is Outlook Cabin, the retreat of choice for the royal family (George VI and the Queen Mother made it home in 1939, followed in 2005 by their eldest daughter, Elizabeth II). Luxuriating in its cavernous lounge, cradling a glass of wine as a fire roared in the towering natural stone fireplace, a lake view from the panoramic windows of its garden room, it took a tantalising itinerary to lure me from this haven.

This place is a wildlife paradise where black bears, elk, moose and mountain goats roam and I spotted many of them on the expertly guided Jasper Wildlife Discovery Tour.

The geological wonder that is the Maligne Canyon, with its series of spectacular waterfalls and bridges, was yet another jaw-dropping experience.

Back at the resort, guests can try a guided glacial plunge in the crystal-clear lake, and in warmer weather other activities such as canoeing.

The Wapakwanis Plant Walk with Cree Knowledge Keeper Matricia Brown is an enlightening journey through the plant medicine world of the park.

Later – after a sumptuous feast – I gathered with others around a fire pit and, swaddled in cosy blankets, listened rapt as First Nation diva Matricia shared the wisdom and stories of her ancestors before breaking into a Cree tune with an “everyone join in!” Full of enthusiasm and without knowing the language, they did. Matricia, it transpires, is also the mistress of comedy.

The culinary experience at Jasper Park Lodge is as five-star as its celebrity guest list. But as the stay neared its end and my Rocky Mountaineer friends went off to enjoy cocktails with culinary pairings, yours truly escaped to the JPL health club for a twilight dip in its heated pool.

With mist rising from its surface and the green lake shimmering beyond, I watched as the setting sun kissed the snow-capped Rockies, and they blushed.

Ancient glaciers, cascading waterfalls and frozen lakes

While the two-day train journey from Vancouver to Jasper was the highlight of my six-day trip, there were many other marvellous experiences to be had, like the powerful and picturesque Athabasca Falls, a stop en route to the famous Icefields Parkway.

The Icefields journey from Jasper to Lake Louise is rated as one of the top 10 most beautiful drives in the world. With more than 100 ancient glaciers, lakes and cascading waterfalls that freeze when the temperature drops, it’s a wonderland even in spring.

The Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise hotel, Lake Louise and the Victoria Glacier.

I was awed by frozen Bow Lake while the Columbia Icefield is the largest south of the Arctic Circle, with snow coaches that in summer take visitors on to the glacier.

But it’s at the palatial, five-star hotel Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise, in Banff National Park, where this gal’s dreams came true.

Having dined on buttered lobster fondue and Alberta filet mignon, we travellers retired to its Lakeview Lounge and, to the clink of Champagne flutes, took in the view through vast arched windows.

Framed by majestic peaks, frozen Lake Louise and the Victoria Glacier unfolded before us.

Factfile

A Rocky Mountaineer rail-only package starts at £1,606 per person for SilverLeaf, and £2,160pp for GoldLeaf. It includes two days on the train, an overnight stay and transfers in Kamloops. Other packages are longer with hotel stays at each end of the train journey, which can include Fairmount’s Jasper Parker Lodge and Chateau Lake Louise. Flights are not included. Visit rockymountaineer.com to explore packages and pricing or call its sales centre on 0800 088 5541