There’s a particular kind of stillness that settles over Canada in December. Snow muffles the world, and the sky hangs low and pale, like a breath held too long. It was into this hush that we boarded The
Canadian, VIA Rail’s legendary transcontinental train, on Christmas Eve. Stretching 4,466 kilometers from Toronto to Vancouver, it’s one of the longest passenger train journeys in the world.

But we weren’t chasing distance—we were chasing the essence of the Canadian landscape. We were chasing quiet. Onboard, there’s no Wi-Fi. Time slowed to the rhythm of the rails. The train became a moving retreat, a safe metal cocoon gliding through a snowy globe of majestic forests, wild prairies, and dramatic mountains unreachable by road.