The Royal Gorge Route Railroad takes you deep into the Royal Gorge in Cañon City on a restored mid-century train, with the Arkansas River rushing beside the tracks and granite walls rising more than 1,000 feet overhead. You can ride in a glass-topped Vista Dome, eat a meal cooked on board, and step into the open-air car to look straight up at the Royal Gorge Bridge.

The tracks you ride on were the prize in one of the Old West’s wildest corporate fights. In 1878, silver strikes around Leadville sent the Denver & Rio Grande and the Santa Fe railroads racing to build through the gorge, which at its narrowest is only about 30 feet wide. The two-year Royal Gorge War brought court battles, sabotage, armed guards and seized depots before the rivals settled in 1880 and the Rio Grande reached Leadville. Along the way, the famous Hanging Bridge was built in 1879, a 175-foot girder bridge suspended above the river from A-frame girders anchored into the rock walls. Passenger trains through the gorge ended in 1967, but in 1998 the line between Cañon City and Parkdale was saved and the excursion train you ride today was born. It now carries more than 200,000 guests a year.

The train runs 365 days a year, with up to four departures a day from the historic Santa Fe Depot in Cañon City, usually at 9 a.m., 12:30 p.m., 3:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Morning and afternoon trips last 1 hour and 50 minutes round trip, and the evening dinner train runs about 2 to 2.5 hours. Thanks to push-pull operation, the train goes through the gorge and back without turning around. Choose Coach, Deluxe, the Vista Dome or a First Class lunch, and order breakfast, lunch or dinner from the 403 Grill, cooked to order on board. Every ticket, in every class, gives you access to the standing-room open-air car, the best place to spot bighorn sheep, eagles and herons and to see the Hanging Bridge up close.

Browse departures and special trains on the Royal Gorge Route ride page. The Holiday Train runs daily throughout November and December, and the family-favorite Santa Express Train rides to the “North Pole” deep in the lit-up gorge, where Santa boards to greet every child. New this year, select First Class Gourmet Santa Express and Holiday Train departures run Dec. 20 through Jan. 1. Holiday seats sell out early, so book ahead.