Best Ways to Spend One Day in Skagway, Alaska

Nestled in the center of the Inside Passage, Skagway, Alaska is what you picture when you think about a bustling town during the Gold Rush. As mostly a cruise ship stop town, it’s our first stay in the 49th state during our 2-month stay in Alaska and road trip. Our main reason for stopping here is to catch the ferry to Juneau after driving on the Alaska Highway from Chicago, but we were lucky to also have some time to discover what a gem this town is.

1. What is Skagway?
2. Is it Worth Visiting Skagway?
3. Know Before You Go
4. Skagway Overlook
5. Explore the Downtown & the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park
6. White Pass & Yukon Route Railroad
7. Arctic Brotherhood Hall
8. Chilkoot Trail
9. Other Hikes
10. Grab a drink!
    1. Skagway Spirits Distillery
    2. Skagway Brewing Company
    3. Red Onion Saloon
11. Where to Next?
    1. Pin my Skagway itinerary for later!

What is Skagway?

Founded on Tlingit land, Skagway is famous for its well-preserved buildings from the Klondike Gold Rush era in the late 1890s, picturesque scenery, and home to the iconic White Pass and Yukon Railroad (the “Scenic Railway of the World”). The downtown is designated as a National Historic District.

During the Klondike Gold Rush in the late 1890s, Skagway was the starting point for tens of thousands of gold rush stampeders who were heading to the Yukon primarily on the Chilkoot and White Pass trails, which were two of the main routes over the Coast Mountains towards the Yukon. At its peak, Skagway grew from a small settlement to a bustling town of over 10,000 people, with saloons, hotels, and shops catering to the needs of the stampeders.

During the Gold Rush, Skagway was known as a rough and lawless town, filled with gamblers and thieves. One of the most infamous figures of this era was Jefferson Randolph “Soapy” Smith, a conman who led a gang that controlled much of Skagway’s crime. He manipulated newcomers with scams, controlled the saloons, and even had influence over local officials. Soapy Smith’s rule ended in 1898 when he was killed in a shootout on the Juneau Wharf by vigilante Frank Reid, which marked the beginning of Skagway’s efforts to restore order. The history behind “Soapy” is one you’ll learn all around town and adds a lot to the town’s charm as a place full of “outlaws” during the gold rush.

The well-preserved buildings on the main streets on Broadway take visitors back in time to the gold rush days, complete with restored buildings, false-front boutiques and restaurants, and even locals in period costumes. Today, Skagway is one of Alaska’s top cruise ship destinations, with thousands of tourists visiting each year.

Is it Worth Visiting Skagway?

Yes! Skagway is a uniquely Alaskan, historic town that’s worth the stop. Many visit Skagway when taking an Alaska cruise as it’s located right in the heart of the Inside Passage route, but we added it as a one-night stop onto our Alaska road trip.

If you decide to stay overnight, you’ll really get the feel of how different day and night is in Skagway. When we were getting a drink at Skagway Spirits Distillery, the bartender told us how much the town clears out by 4 pm after all the cruise ships leave and he was so right. It felt like a whole new place by dinnertime! This really allowed us to get to know the local Alaskan atmosphere. Over 90% of the town’s visitors arrive by cruise ship, so it really becomes a ghost town (in a good way) once everyone leaves! 

Know Before You Go

• How do I get to Skagway?
  • The most common form tourists visit Skagway is by cruise ship, but there are numerous ways to visit. You can reach this historic town by car, boat, flight, bus, or train. 
  • Flight: Skagway has a small regional airport with limited service, primarily via small regional airlines. Many major airlines offer flights to Juneau from cities like Seattle, Anchorage, and other Alaskan towns, and once you arrive in Juneau, you can fly to Skagway! Another common method is flying into Whitehorse International Airport in the Yukon, and you can rent a car for the quick 2 hour drive to Skagway.
  • Boat: Alaska Marine Highway System (AMHS) ferries operate between Juneau and Skagway. The ferry ride takes about 6-7 hours and offers beautiful views of the Inside Passage. There are also high-speed catamaran services like the Alaska Fjordlines, which operate seasonally and take about 3 hours to reach Skagway from Juneau. We took one of these ferries in the reverse direction from Juneau to Skagway, and we highly recommend it! Post coming soon on this!
  • Bus: Skagway is approximately a 2-hour drive south of Whitehorse along the South Klondike Highway, and bus services operate between these two locations. Companies like the Yukon Alaska Tourist Tours and Klondike Travel offer seasonal bus services from Whitehorse to Skagway. These bus services usually operate from late spring to early fall.
  • Road: If you are looking to get to Skagway by road, your only option is through Canada! There’s no direct road route from most Alaskan cities (like Anchorage or Juneau) to Skagway because it’s isolated by rugged terrain and lacks road connections with the rest of the state. As a result, for those who arrive to Skagway via the road, they would take the turnoff on the Klondike Highway from Whitehorse, Yukon Territory. It is certainly a beautiful drive, and it would be the drive that you would also take from the Lower 48 states, as well as from Anchorage.
    • If you are looking for more information on the drive to Skagway, or the Alaska Highway itself from Canada to Fairbanks, check out our article on the Alaska Highway, which we took as part of our road trip from Chicago, IL to Anchorage, AK, which included a bit of a detour to Skagway!
    • If you’re driving from southern Canada or the Lower 48 states, you can reach Whitehorse via the Alaska Highway (Highway 1), then connect to the South Klondike Highway to reach Skagway.
    • Drive south on the South Klondike Highway (Highway 2) for approximately 100 miles (160 kilometers) from Whitehorse to Skagway.

• How do I get around?
  • Skagway is very walkable! The downtown is very small and easily walkable, as it’s not more than a few streets. The cruise ships also stop at a port that’s only a few minutes walk to the heart of the town. However, if you decide to visit places like the overlook or go hiking, you would need a car.
  • Biking is a popular option in Skagway, especially for exploring beyond the downtown area. Several local shops offer bike rentals such as Sockeye Cycles or Klondike Electric Bicycles. The town is fairly flat, making it easy to ride, and there are scenic biking routes like the Dyea Road that lead to beautiful viewpoints and the historic site of Dyea.
  • SMART Bus is another transportation method available to tourists that operates as a shuttle service in town. This bus is most frequently used by cruise ship passengers, and has a cruise ship dock to downtown loop that is run every 15 minutes from 7 am to 9 pm each day. They have pickup service you can call in for and also offer ways to get to areas farther than downtown, such as Dyea or the Gold Rush Cemetery! Learn more about the SMART Bus here.
  • Driving your own car is the best way of getting around town and the surrounding areas! There are a few smaller companies, or branches of larger ones in town, that provide car rentals. We are not too familiar with the status of rental cars in Skagway, but it is very likely that similar to the rest of Alaska, they typically sell out well in advance of the rental date, as well as are relatively high priced. So if you are interested in renting a car, we highly recommend trying to book your vehicle as early as possible.  

Skagway Overlook

If you have a car, take this winding road about three miles out of town to the Skagway Overlook for views of the town, the Skagway River, as well as the Lynn Canal from above. With a great view of the town and the surrounding mountains, it’s also a nice spot for ship or plane spotting. If you don’t have a car, no worries — you can access this overlook by hiking or biking as well (but I’d imagine it might be a bit strenuous with the elevation gain).

Explore the Downtown & the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park

In the heart of downtown, Broadway Avenue is filled with historic buildings preserved by Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park. 

The Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park was established in 1976 to preserve the cultural and historical resources associated with the Gold Rush, in which the town of Skagway and the surrounding landscapes played a crucial role in the migration of thousands of prospectors to the Klondike region. The park encompasses about 13,000 acres of land, including the historic downtown Skagway area and significant portions of the White Pass and Chilkoot Trails.

Within the town itself, the park has several preserved and restored buildings from the Gold Rush era, with interpretive exhibits, guided tours, and rangers who share stories about the town’s history. You can start at the Visitor Center, located in the historic White Pass & Yukon Route Railroad depot building, to get maps and information about walking tours, read historical exhibits,and attend ranger events. You can also check out the Moore Homestead and Cabin nearby, built by one of the town’s earliest residents, to get a sense of life in Skagway during the Gold Rush.

Many of the buildings have been carefully restored to their appearance to the peak gold rush in the 1890s. As you would expect, there are also tons of shops with souvenirs, jewelry, handmade crafts, and Gold Rush-themed items.

Arctic Brotherhood Hall

The Arctic Brotherhood Hall is one of Skagway’s most iconic historic buildings. Located on Broadway Street in downtown Skagway, the hall is a great example of Gold Rush-era architecture. The Arctic Brotherhood was a fraternal organization founded by a group of stampeders in 1899 to help provide support for those heading north during the Klondike Gold Rush, and the hall was constructed as their meeting place.

Beyond the cool history, the building itself is the most famous for the around 8,800 pieces of driftwood, arranged in intricate patterns that make up the outside of the building. The wood was collected from local rivers and beaches, and the decorative elements include symbols related to the Arctic Brotherhood and the natural surroundings of Alaska. The interior as well has been restored and contains similar beautiful wooden details.

The Arctic Brotherhood Hall is open to the public, and visitors can stop by to admire its architecture and learn more about the history of Skagway and the Arctic Brotherhood, and currently is the location of the Skagway Convention & Visitors Bureau, which can help with any question tourists may have as well!

Chilkoot Trail

The Chilkoot Trail is a 33-mile trail that runs from Dyea, Alaska, near Skagway, to Bennett, British Columbia, in Canada. Most hikers take 3 to 5 days to complete the trail. This trail was the prime route for stampeders during the Klondike Gold Rush to access the goldfields of the Yukon in crossing the Coast Mountains. The trail has been preserved to give hikers a sense of what the Gold Rush stampeders experienced while incorporating facilities and services to support modern trekkers. You can even see rusted tools, old tram cables, and other artifacts left by stampeders throughout the hike.

Nowadays, the Chilkoot Trail is a well-maintained, but still challenging hike that brings in people from all over the world. Once you look at some pictures of the hike and learn more about it, it is not hard to see why! The Chilkoot Trail offers diverse landscapes, from coastal rainforests near Dyea, rocky alpine terrain at Chilkoot Pass, as well as alpine lakes and meadows throughout. 

A permit is required to hike the Chilkoot Trail, as it is jointly managed by Parks Canada and the U.S. National Park Service. Permits are limited and can be booked online. The trail is open from late June to early September, with July and August being the most popular months. However unfortunately, the situation with access for the trail is constantly changing, often on the United States side. If you are interested in hiking the trail, it is important to research in advance on that season’s rules, as far as access, permits, any closures or weird rules. Things just get a little more complicated when the trail crosses an international border! 

As mentioned above though, even though it is much easier than it was during the gold rush, it is still a strenuous multi-day trail, even with the relatively luxurious amenities it has now at the various campgrounds. Bear-proof food containers are required, unpredictable weather, even with snow in the summer, Alaska-level mosquito attacks, and it is good to keep bear safety in mind due to the territory you are in. We are certainly not experts in backpacking (yet), so we recommend checking out the National Parks Service website, or the Parks Canada website for more information and advice surrounding the trail! 

Other Hikes

There are a good variety of trails in and surrounding Skagway that offer picturesque views of alpine lakes, waterfalls, and even graves of the town’s most notorious residents — Soapy Smith and Frank Reid. Our link below does not include the path to see their graves, but you can see them at the Gold Rush Cemetery around a 30-45 minute walk from downtown each way. You also can drive, or take the SMART Bus (see the “getting around” section of this article for more info) as well! 

Alltrails is a great place to see local trail conditions, lists of local trails, and advice from recent hikers. As you can see, there is a wide range of trails in town, with shorter trails such as the Lower Dewey Lake and Yakutania Point trails, more moderate-strenuous ones such as the Upper Dewey Lake and Sturgill’s Landing Trails, and very difficult multi-day ones such as the Chilkoot Trail, which is greater than 30 miles. 

However, two trails that interested us at first when researching before our trip were the Laughton and Denver Glacier trails, which you can also see in the Alltrails link above. Both of those trails appear to be full of beautiful views of the respectively named glaciers and on a more moderate hike of just a few miles. Although these really interested us, we quickly realized that these trails are only able to be hiked as part of the White Pass and Yukon Route railroad. They do offer the hike as a separate excursion, which appears to be at a lower price than the full train journey—which is nice! Check that out here and here for each of the glaciers. Both seem to be very highly reviewed, and definitely could be worth checking out if you have the time. Also, don’t forget that you are constrained to the timing of the railway trip down in order to complete your hike, don’t get stuck up there. 

One of the hikes we did was International Falls on the way into Skagway along the Alaska Highway, where we were able to cross from Canada to Alaska by foot! More information about this hike in our article on the Alaska Highway. 

Grab a drink!

Skagway Spirits Distillery

Skagway Spirits Distillery is a family-owned distillery in Skagway, Alaska, known for their small batch Alaskan-made gin, vodka, and other spirits that include a large amount of native ingredients. The distillery is located a few blocks out of the downtown area so it may be tough to find unless you are looking for it, or wandering around the smaller “neighborhood” area of Skagway—but it is worth the trip! Inside, there is a tasting room with a laid-back atmosphere and some super unique drinks to try. 

I thought the coolest part of visiting the distillery was learning about the ingredients that were in some of the spirits themselves or included in the cocktails. Ingredients such as fireweed and spruce tips, both coming from local plants, and for example one of their “flagship” spirits, “Glacial Vodka,” even includes glacier water in it that comes from the Juneau Ice Fields. 

It was a ton of fun to try some cocktails at a place that really felt like it embodied the Alaskan spirit, as far as the passion of the people who run the business and the ingredients used within the drinks! Keep an eye out for the distillery’s operating hours, which changes seasonally due to the ebb and flow of cruise ship traffic, as well as any cool limited edition spirits and drinks that are rotating consistently at the distillery’s tasting room. 

Skagway Brewing Company

In the downtown, Skagway Brewing Company is the local brewery (and also restaurant!). The spot is very popular for both locals and visitors, especially in the summer. The original Skagway Brewing Company was opened during the peak gold rush period in 1897, operated until the early 1900s, and then closed due to the decline of the gold rush, before being revived in 1997, over 90 years later. 

Nowadays, Skagway Brewing Company’s location downtown was built and designed with an emphasis on sustainability, even using aquaponics for growing some ingredients such as lettuce and other vegetables on site. It fits all the boxes of a great brewery: delicious beers, live music and events, family friendly atmosphere, as well as delicious pub food, such as burgers, sandwiches, pizza, and some Alaskan specifics, such as halibut tacos, salmon chowder, and reindeer sausage. 

The beers also have a lot of unique Alaskan ingredients (and names) like the Chilkoot Trail IPA named after the local trail, or the Spruce Tip Blonde Ale which is made with Sitka spruce tips, part of the Sitka tree, which is an evergreen tree in the southeast Alaskan rainforest. 

Red Onion Saloon

Once a lively brothel, the Red Onion Saloon is now a historic bar and restaurant also known for its tours and museum. Built in 1898 during the height of the Klondike Gold Rush, the Red Onion Saloon was built to cater to the influx of miners and prospectors passing through Skagway. It quickly became one of the most popular spots in town for its services.

There are tours offered at the upstairs Brothel Museum, led by costumed guides who share stories about the building’s history and the lives of the women who worked there. The museum preserves artifacts from the time, including old photographs, furnishings, and personal items. Rooms are set up to look much as they would have in the late 1800s as well! It is also very common to see some of the workers from the saloon walking around town giving large walking tours in period clothing, with adopted personas as if they were one of the ladies who worked at the brothel as well.

Downstairs, the Red Onion still operates as a bar and restaurant, offering some classic Alaskan food such as salmon, chowder, and reindeer sausage. The place also has an awesome assortment of local craft beer and cocktails. What’s not to love!

Where to Next?

After a night of sleeping in our car (unfortunately, not the most comfortable without a car mattress), we are waking up bright and early the next morning to drive the CRV onto a ferry to Juneau! From Juneau, we will be visiting the town for a few days and then taking a flight to one of the most remote national parks—Glacier Bay National Park—to of course, see some giant glaciers!

Thanks for reading my little blog! 🙂 Have you been to Skagway or planning a trip or cruise there? Send me your thoughts about what you loved the most or are most excited about! If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment.

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