After a long port day in Skagway (which for a small town has a surprisingly lot to do even without…read morepaying for a shore excursion), my wife & I stumbled upon this museum. Before we got back on our cruise ship, we saw that the museum was still open and wandered in. It was the late afternoon, so it wasn't too crowded. We were able to go through the exhibits and read through the signage without too many other people crowding around. And we also caught the last showing of the short documentary in the theater (4:00 PM start time), which lasted about 30 minutes. We learned a lot about the Alaskan Gold Rush from this movie. The entire experience was free. In the lobby, there are rangers to answer any questions, a small gift shop, and most importantly, a clean publish bathroom!

Visited the historic park in Skagway, Alaska and really enjoyed it. It tells the fascinating story…read moreof the Klondike Gold Rush, including how gold was originally discovered in 1896 by Skookum Jim Mason, his nephew Dawson Charlie, his sister Kate Carmack and brother in law George Carmack, which quickly sparked a rush of prospectors hoping to strike it rich. The museum is run by the National Park Service and does a great job of bringing the history to life. I especially enjoyed the film explaining how the discovery unfolded and how it transformed the region almost overnight. It's incredible to imagine the hardship people went through to get there in search of gold. Even Jack London made it up to the Klondike when he was only 20 years old, which adds another interesting layer to the story. Overall, a very well-presented and informative experience that's definitely worth a visit -- It's free.

When even the cruise table servers say an excursion is worth it then listen up. We did not plan on…read moreany excursions for our trip to Alaska but this one was said to be a "do not skip" and we are extremely glad that we did not. Booking is easy from the cruise app. Check-in was super easy as well. Not too much waiting to board and water was provided for the trip. As we did just the White Pass and did not include the Yukon portion we did not need our passports. We also did not like the idea of a 7 hour train ride. This ride ended up being one of the highlights of the trip. We all huddled in the front of the same car and took turns out in the platform. The views were breathtaking. The narration provided gave a heads up for specifics to look out for. The miners crushed by a boulder. The hanging glacier we passed. The wooden bridge we would climb over. Very informative. Zero complaints. Zero regrets. One thing everyone in the ship would say is that Alaska in general is indescribable, after this journey through the White Pass, I most certainly agree.

Skagway was our third and final Alaskan port of our cruise. We were advised by friends to book the…read moreWhite Pass and Yukon Route Railroad excursion so we did that through Princess Cruises. Yes, it was pricey but our onboard credit offset the cost a bit.... a 6-hour tour that included brunch. It was a 7:15 am boarding so we had an early start for our day. Everything was very organized - we knew where, when, and what to bring (passport!!). After a short bus ride to the rail station, we had a beautiful train ride up through the White Pass Summit and ended at Fraser BC. The views went from dessert to snow-capped mountains. While we were able to sit and watch the views from our train, we actually spent a majority of the ride outside between cars - cold but exilerating. At Fraser, we took a motorcoach to the Yukon Suspension Bridge. There, we had breakfast at a restaurant (which I didn't catch the name of): pancakes, bison sausage, yogurt, fruit, juices, and coffee. All of which was cafeteria-style meh. But, we had time to explore the suspension bridge and surrounding areas - that was really cool. And there was a tiny shop across from the restaurant that sold snacks and souvenirs. On the way back to Skagway via motorcoach, we stopped at an old Gold Rush Cemetery. Since it started to rain, we didn't venture out to the cemetery with the tour group (in fact, many of us decided to stay dry on the bus). Overall, we really liked this excursion despite the high cost. The views were awesome and the weather was perfectly crisp and cool.

Skagway is a small town in the Northern part of the Inside Passage of Alaska. This town is stuck in…read moretime. If you want to feel like you are in the 1800's Gold Rush, come here. I don't say that in a bad way. It is educational and very interesting. There are several breweries, one of which get very busy quick. They have tasty local beers and they couldn't be fresher. I remember my daughter needed something at a deug store and we were able to find one quickly. The town has several restaurants and some nice gift shops. I bought some nice reading glasses and a couole souveniers. Skagway is very warm and welcoming. The people could not be friendlier or more helpful. I enjoyed my time here a lot.

Skagway, Alaska is the northernmost point in Alaska's Inside Passage, at the far end of Lynn Canal…read more This is a gold rush town frozen in time. In 1898, thousands of people came here in search of gold. It was inhabited for over 10,000 years by the Chilkoot Tlingit people. The population has dwindled from 20,000 feverish gold seekers to about 1,000 year-round citizens. It reminded us of a ghost town in the Wild West - very sad to see.

Visited Alaska Sled Dogs and Musher's Camp in May of 2025 during the 'shoulder season'. We decided…read moreto do this day excursion on our own and booked it through Alaska Shore Excursions for $598.47 for the 3 of us, saving $300 if we would have booked it through our cruise line (Norwegian). It was really nice because our group was really small, unlike going with the cruise ship excursion with a massive group. We got off at Skagway and the directions in the email said 'walk to the end of the pier' to meet an associate for Alaska Shore Excursions, not sure how we met up, I think we saw a van and headed for it. We were driven to another van, where Sarah took over as our guide and drove us to the middle of Skagway town so we could wait for another family, which showed up late. From there it was a 35 min drive to Musher's camp and we got some really great history from Sarah, who gave us the low-down on Skagway with fascinating facts such as: most of the wood used in Skagway came from a now-defunct town called Dyea that thrived over a 100 years ago, it was the size of SFO, but petered out for some reason. There are no MDs in Skagway, only 2 nurse practitioners. The high school graduating class only had 2 girls and 1 boy. Grocery shopping is limited to only 1x a week, on Wednesdays. The camp parking lot has a shop, but we didn't have much time to shop there. We had to get on a "unimog"; a monster truck Mercedes van outfitted with large wheels and low gears to take us up to a higher elevation (cooler temps for the dogs and less noise from yapping dogs for the Skagway residents). Once we got there we broke up into groups of 6 and we were led to our musher, Alex. We got onto a thing that looked like a super-large golf cart but it was pulled by Alaskan Husky dogs (fascinating history about them also). Alex's dogs had funny names like 'sushi' 'nori' 'wonton' 'fried rice' 'Charmander' 'Diglet' and 'Squirtle'. The dogs ages were 1.5 yrs old to 10 yrs old. The dogs did a great job pulling the 'sled', which was over 2,000 pounds. The ride lasted 10 mins and after we got to take photos with the dogs. We attended a talk at the end of the ride, led by a musher (too bad I forgot his name) about the Iditarod and how these dogs are training during the off-season and staying in shape pulling the land sleds. We saw a dog running in a giant "hamster wheel" and it was hard to concentrate on the lecture because the dog was stealing the show; the dog's name was Goodway. We got to pet Goodway soon after then go to the puppy pen and hold these baby dogs. It was a way to 'socialize' these puppies as well. I really enjoyed that. After our Musher's camp activities came to an end, we got back on the Unimog and back down to the lower parking lot area w/ the gift shop (again, not a lot of time to shop), and Sarah drove us back to the town of Skagway. I gave her a really nice tip because she contributed a lot to the total experience with her stories about Skagway and her expertly refined storytelling about a woman named Martha Black and Harriet Pullen, both influential women in Skagway/Alaska history. Would totally recommend you booking this tour directly with the dog camp or through Alaska Shore Excursions to save some money and also have a smaller, more intimate group.

This experience was amazing! All the staff at the camp, and the one getting us to the camp, were…read morevery helpful, knowledgeable and kind. It was a unique and great experience to meet people who actually have their own sled dogs and do races with them. I learned allot and had every question answered with happily :) A must do! The dogs, obviously, are amazing! You can see their want to work and run and how happy it makes them. It really shows how well taken care of and trained they are, the staff also loved all the dogs equally as well as they care for them. They helped get good pictures and we got to meet and pet all the dogs too! Best day ever really.

If you really want to learn about the Gold Rush, you must consider the women who worked the towns…read more The museum is a true artifact from that time, filled with memorabilia, stories, and ghosts. The women who take you inside for a tour do a great job with their witty banter and tongue-in-cheek commentaries. Once inside, be ready to learn about the lives of the girls who lived here.

This tour was a hoot!…read more For 15 minutes, our guide, who was dressed to the hilt in sexy red and black garb that women wore back in the day, delivered so much history and information on the building, the girls, and the entire operation of the brothel: all laced with sexual puns and innuendos. Such an interesting and fun tour. It was also creative that the tour was $5 for 15 minutes...exactly what a miner would have paid in gold nuggets or gold coins for that amount of time with a girl. Definitely worth a visit if you are in Skagway!

"She said last night she read those letters And they made…read moreher feel one hundred years old" (Bruce Springsteen) This statue was unveiled in 1997 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Skagway's founding. The city was named after the Tlingit Indian word for "windy place", where they hunted mountain bears and goats. They first encountered European Europeans in 1897 when they met a team of Canadian surveyors who were mapping the area. Within a few years, the discovery of gold in the Yukon brought in a stampede of hundreds of settlers looking to find their fortunes in the Klondike Gold Rush of 1897-1898. The sculpture represents a settler and his Indian guide in the early days of Skagway. The Tinglit Indian's clothes are made from moose hide and bear skin. He his backpack is made of mountain goat skin. The gold stampeder has a wooden box on his back and has a hunting knife, shovel and gold pan strapped to him.

Seals, Bears, Eagles and a Whale ! Captain Robert and Indra…read morewere great guides and we really enjoyed the waterfalls and the wildlife.

This is just one of the tours you can do…read more We had a great time. The driver was very informative about the area. We learned a lot that we didn't know. This is a good tour company.

I had the Brothel Tour through Princess Cruises. It was amazing, interactive, and highly…read moreentertaining! Our tour guide's name was "Tilly Lovett" (till you love it). She was awesome and engaging. I highly recommend going on this tour. It was very informative and fun. I booked this sort of last minute and so glad I did! If you haven't gone on it, what are you waiting for?

This is a cool place but the focus here is without question on the history, experience, and…read moreambience. Nothing special at all about the food but they usually have a different variety of beers. We would definitely come back to have a beer as we love the history, but would definitely find a different place to eat. It's usually very busy as it's one of those checkbox places that a lot of people love to go to, but once we got in, we were happy with the service.

3 stars This is a…read morecity rich in gold rush history, but it is quite small and, besides their history, there doesn't seem to be much else going for it. The modern day gold rush for them comes via cruise ships, so I think that's keeping them alive. Personally, I don't have kids, but if I did have kids around age 10 (5th grade), I'd bring them here to experience what they learned in class. (Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I think we cover sections of the California and Alaska Gold Rush in the 5th grade?). So, basically taking the White Pass train or trail and panning for gold kind of experience. Actually, fun fact - someone told me that Skagway is the best school in the entire state! Anyways, my personal thoughts on kids-I-don't-yet-have aside, the town is pricey...like $$$. A woman's sweater can cost you $60-$75. The cute kids' clothing? Probably $30-$35. Mini stickers are $2.99-$3.99 & larger stickers are $3.99+. There are some ok-ish discounts. The more attractive the design, the more expensive the item is. Cough*Juneau is better**cough. But I'll bring my future kids back in the future. Promise!!

Skagway, Alaska is the northernmost point in Alaska's Inside Passage, at the far end of Lynn Canal…read more This is a gold rush town frozen in time. In 1898, thousands of people came here in search of gold. It was inhabited for over 10,000 years by the Chilkoot Tlingit people. The population has dwindled from 20,000 feverish gold seekers to about 1000 year-round citizens. The city is only a few blocks wide and a couple dozen blocks long, on level ground; making it easy to walk. We are not into shopping or dining, so this town held nothing of interest for us. We did not sign up for any excursions here. What was sad to us is seeing the decay of the city. We came at the start of the season in May, and it does not appear that they are putting any money back into their infrastructure. The buildings all needed painting, the roads were a mess, etc. It reminded us of a ghost town in the Wild West - very sad to see.