Alaska Cruise: Skagway Stopover

Last summer, we did an cruise for the first time, to Alaska. Here, we explore the last of our three port stop-overs, in Skagway.

Yukon Railway

The main attraction that people do in Skagway is riding the White Pass & Yukon Railway. Built for the Klondike Gold Rush in the late 1890’s, it was way to connect the ocean to the gold in the Yukon Territory – both for supplies and to carry of the newfound wealth.

There were several different options for train rides; we ended up doing the 3 hour scenic round-trip train ride that essentially went to the summit at the Alaska-British Columbia border and back.

There were some options for longer excursions, e.g. an 8 hour round-trip that went further into the Canada, including the Yukon Territory. But for us, the 3 hour trip was plenty. Though perhaps a true train or gold rush enthusiast might enjoy the longer trip.

The train ride started out of the downtown, which was right by the docks. We had breakfast in the ship, and then disembarked, waiting a little bit for our pre-booked train, which was a little after 8am. There weren’t any assigned seats, so there was a bit of a scramble for seats after it was out time to board. From there, we started the train ride up the steep grades towards Canada.

Overall, it was a scenic train ride, especially with the day’s clear weather. The conductor called out different spots like Inspiration Point and Dead Horse Gulch along the way up. There was one place where they’d rebuilt the track, and we could see the original, damaged tracks.

Once we got to the summit, we crossed into the Canadian side, in British Columbia. At that point was a lake. Since train did not stop in Canada, there was no passport check involved. The train effectively did a small loop right past the border. If you do want to be able to say that you went to the Yukon Territory, you do need to take the longer tour, though.

The way back was scenic as well, though effectively a repeat in reverse. We didn’t actually get food on the train, I don’t remember it being offered, and the train was on the small side for that. Though with the 3 hour train ride, we effectively got back to the downtown around lunch time.

If you visit, definitely do the train ride – it felt like the main attraction here. For lunch, the docks were quite close to the town, and lunch about our cruise ship was quick and no additional charge, so we just ate there.

Around Skagway

Skagway has some small historic exhibits related to the gold rush, and the frontier life during that time. There’s effectively one long main street, along where most of the exhibits and shops are.

We spent some time there, wandering around in the afternoon. There were many kitsch gold-rush themed souvenir shops; some of that can be fun, though it felt like there wasn’t necessarily as much to do on the Skagway stop, compared with the bigger towns of Juneau or Skagway.

There are some hikes you can do around the area, we did some of that as well. There were some nice little walks quite close to the town for which we followed paths. The area is quite pretty, especially on a sunny summer day. The abundant scenery tends to be what makes Alaska a particularly special place to visit.