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.

I love this place and go there every time I'm in the area. It's usually when I'm on an Alaska…read morecruise. This location has beautiful rubber stamps to Commemorate your visit if you have a National passport stamping book. The exhibits onsite give you a feel for what the prospectors had to go thru to try to get to the gold Fields. It looked like the golden staircase had huge step ups on the way up the trail. And it said each miner had to have 2,000 pounds of food, so they had to make lots of trips up and back to take all that food up the trail.

Booked the Parker car through our Disney Wonder cruise…read more Hubby is a train fanatic and this is the one railroad he had not yet ridden. Maya, our hostess, was phenomenal: engaging, funny, knowledgeable about the history, and made the trip even more enjoyable than when I originally rode this train ( regular passenger) a decade ago. Scenery was amazing, history interesting, and the food ( particularly the cream puffs) fantastic!! Lived my Maya Mimosas too! Make sure you book our trip, whether it is regular fair or for the parlor car ASAP as a quickly fill up.

Booked via Norwegian Encore for May 6, 2026, departure 12:00pm, as a solo and had the fare…read morediscounted by $50 because of my package excursion credit. The day was dry, clear, but blustery and our ship was the only cruise ship scheduled in port that day, normally 3 to 4 cruise ships are docked each morning for the day. The train accessed a rail spur allowing boarding near the ship, but the terminal in town is not a long distance if lacking mobility issues. Each car has outside viewing areas, and clean bathrooms, but unlike the staff, guests are not allowed to move between cars. If you spy an issue with your fellow rail car guests upon boarding like small screaming children I would change cars quickly after boarding. Even though water was provided with my fare I would suggest packing water jugs or bottles, and some nibbles ( I packed some yummy freshly baked cookies from a lounge on my ship) for the 3 hour ride, inexpensive snack boxes were sold on the return trip from the summit as were White Pass & Yukon Route ball caps for $15. Windows are large, but if you want the river view as you ascend the 20 mile climb to the summit then sit on the left side, when returning the right side faces the chasm. Ascending and Descending you should pass several White Pass Rail Trains so wave at your fellow tourists. Overall a nice experience for me, with great views. This is a seasonal experience that mirrors the Alaska cruise season, and it takes weeks to prepare the rail for each season.

Been here a few times now and it doesn't get old for me. It's a healthy walk from town to the…read morecemetery, but it's mostly flat, going through the city and a little beyond the tracks. It's intriguing seeing the headstones and getting a small glimpse of who lived here so long ago. **Bonus: There's a short trail that leads up to Lower Reid Falls. Definitely worth the short hike because it's a beautiful spot.

Could be walked to from town. Cemetery also is visible for a quick moment during a train ride…read more Interesting part of a history, could be kept in a better shape.

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.

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.

We did the Sled Dog Adventure in Skagway and had a great time. The dogs and puppies were super…read morecute. The dogs seemed to be in good condition, but there was some concern about their well-being in our group. Our guide was a bit avoidant with some of her answers about the dogs, such as how many puppies they have a year, what the owners do with the puppies that don't make it as sled dogs, and what happens to the sled dogs when they retire. If we had received solid answers to some of these questions, we would've felt a little better. We also drove past the living quarters of the dogs and they appeared to be chained up to individual dog houses. I know these dogs aren't "sleep on the couch at home" type of dogs, but it still made me a little curious. Some of the dogs also seemed pretty skinny. I could easily see the ribs and hip bones of some of the dogs. They did seem genuinely excited to run, so I'm hoping that they are well taken care of and I am just being extremely cautious. We also didn't have to wash our hands before handling the puppies after touching all of the other sled dogs. We weren't allowed to set the puppies on the ground because they weren't up to date on their shots (makes sense), but we were able to handle them without washing our hands first? Seemed odd. They also gave no guidance on how to hold the puppies and I saw some other guests handling them in less-than-desired ways. Our puppy was also shaking violently and crying after we held her for a few min. I understand wanting to socialize the puppies, but the younger puppies we interacted with (pictured) seemed like they were too young.

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?

Casual bar that offers brothel tours for $20…read more One of a handful of places in Skagway that offer something gluten free. Every time I'm in Skagway I cone to The Red Onion for a GF pizza. Their cauliflower crust is pretty tasty and it's a nice treat. Came in early morning today 10:15am because with 4 cruise ships in port the wait would be longer later in the day. We were seated immediately, I love their Miner's Morning Martini basically an Espresso martini. The bartender's do a great job and don't skimp on the booze. Usually follow up with the Reindeer Fart Shot as those are quite tasty too but as I hadn't had any breakfast I was feeling the drink. The Classic gluten free pizza was as always yummy and worth the wait if you don't get here early. In this visit, hubby got the Big Dessie and AK Brewing vodka Lemonade enjoyed both.

Had a good time here as part of our Alaskan cruise. I loved all these ports of call during our…read moretrip. It's an old Gold Rush town from back in the 1900's, and the buildings have that fun old era look and feel. There are actually around a 1000 people who live here year around, while the bulk of those who come here are off the cruise line business. It's a quaint small town to walk around and we had fun at the Red Onion Saloon, checked out Camp Skagway, admired the mountain vistas overlooking the streets in the background, did some souvenir shopping, and finished up the day with terrific beers at the Klondike Brewing Co. It's a little bit of history, but definitely built now for tourists.

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.