Best Things To Do In Skagway

1. Sightsee in Skagway

Tiny in size but big on preservation, Skagway offers an authentic glimpse of the Gold Rush era.

Take a downtown walking tour and get a feel for what it was really like.

(Pro tip: Use Alaska.org’s exclusive Skagway Audio Guide!)

2. Go Beyond the Town

Make Skagway your launching pad to scenic adventures. Travel to the Yukon border—or spend a whole day there—with Midnight Sun Excursions.

If trains are more your thing, this is your chance to ride into the Yukon on the White Pass & Yukon Route Railroad, built in 1898 during the Klondike Gold Rush.

Or improve your camera skills on a photography tour and capture winning images of the unique wildlife here.

3. Catch Gold Rush Fever

Hiking the 33-mile Chilkoot Trail is no small feat, but it’s a fascinating journey: So many Gold Rush artifacts line the route that it’s known as a “very long museum.”

You can also experience the thrill of finding gold firsthand on a gold panning tour, where you’ll eat fire-grilled salmon and learn about Gold Rush history in addition to panning for the precious metal!

4. Explore a Glacier

Glacier-filled valleys abound outside Skagway, and it’s a great chance to go explore one of these icy blue behemoths by taking a scenic helicopter ride and touching down on one.

Then you can go on a guided glacier hike, where you’ll walk around and drink glacier water.

Or experience the thrill of glacier dog sledding, where you’ll spend time at a dog camp that plays host to 300 Alaskan sled dogs!

5. Get Out on the Water

With calm waters and scenic mountains, Skagway is a great place to take a sea kayaking tour and look for wildlife as you paddle.

You can also easily hop over and visit the charming town of Haines—the quickest way to do it is on the Haines Skagway Fast Ferry—then take advantage of all the fun things to do in Haines!

6. Dog Sledding

Board a flight with TEMSCO Helicopters that whisks you thousands of feet above sea level to the Denver glacier and a dog sled camp hidden away on a remote snow field, where Alaskan Sled Dogs will greet you energetically, ready to take you on the ride of your life.

Skagway Day Tours & Attractions View All

Season: May 1 - Oct 12 $60+ 4 hrs

Take the train out of Skag­way to some of Alaska’s best hik­ing. Not just any train, though, but a Gold Rush-era, nar­row-gauge train that winds through gor­geous scenery and drops you off at the trail­head. The White Pass & Yukon Route Rail­road winds through stun­ning scenery on its way to drop you off on hik­ing trails that offer water­fall, moun­tain, and glac­i­er views. It’s a fun way to gear up for a day or two of great hik­ing. The train is an  ...more

Season: Late April – early October $119 2 hrs

Walk the fine line between folk­lore and gold fever. The Liarsville Camp, near Skag­way, was orig­i­nal­ly named after jour­nal­ists who came here dur­ing the Klondike Gold Rush and cooked up all man­ner of tall tales. The event begins with an all-you-can-eat feast in the for­est. Then explore the old trail camp and fin­ish off your day with a vis­it the Fan­cy Goods store. You can also have your pic­ture tak­en with one of the dance hall girls or the camp’s  ...more

Season: May - September $409 2 hrs

Tak­ing a TEM­SCO heli­copter tour shows off the Gold Rush lands around Skag­way in a new light, reveal­ing gor­geous, glac­i­er-filled val­leys, tum­bling water­falls and peak after icy peak at the north end of the Juneau Ice­field. Then land on a remote glac­i­er for an excit­ing guid­ed jour­ney on ice that was formed thou­sands of years ago!

Season: May - September $99+ 2.5 - 6.5 hrs

With bald eagles, bears, and gor­geous scenery, as well as fas­ci­nat­ing cul­ture and his­to­ry, these tours out of Skag­way and Haines offer an up-close expe­ri­ence with insights from knowl­edge­able local guides. There are sev­er­al options, includ­ing wildlife and nature tours that focus­es on find­ing and learn­ing about wildlife, a pho­tog­ra­phy tour where you get the chance to enhance your pho­tog­ra­phy skills, raft­ing, and some fun sight­see­ing tours  ...more

Season: May 3 - Sept 30 $146 2.5 – 2.75 hrs

Ride the rails on a real gold-rush era, nar­row-gauge rail­road from Skag­way into the heart of the Yukon. On the White Pass & Yukon Route Rail­road, you’ll have sev­er­al trip options, tak­ing you past glacial rivers, water­falls, and gorges for a real taste of wild Alas­ka. You’ll feel like you’ve gone back in time on this authen­tic train, as you climb 3,000 feet to scenic vis­tas and past apt­ly-named spots named Inspi­ra­tion Point and Dead Horse  ...more

Private excursions, group rates for up to 14 passengers 3 - 7 hrs

Skag­way may be a quaint small town, but it offers a big lens into the Alas­ka fron­tier. This tour oper­a­tor — run by a cer­ti­fied Nat­u­ral­ist for the state of Alas­ka — offers a friend­ly and fas­ci­nat­ing way to explore some sur­pris­ing depths of the Alas­ka wilder­ness. Options include pri­vate tours rang­ing from 5 to 7 hours that explores the sights of British Colum­bia and the Yukon

Season: May 1 - Sept 26 $82 Round Trip 45 mins one-way

Oper­at­ing from May to Sep­tem­ber, this pri­vate fer­ry ser­vice is the eas­i­est and fastest way to trav­el between Haines and Skag­way. The 45-minute ride pass­es through Taiya Inlet, a steep-walled rocky fjord just out­side of Skag­way, and then opens up to the Lynn Canal near Haines. As you ride, look for seals and sea lions, as well as hump­back, minke, and orca whales. Don’t for­get to look up from the water from time to time to check out the  ...more

Season: May 1 - Oct 1 $95+ 3 - 8 hrs

Some peo­ple love the view of Alas­ka from the side of a ship, or from above in a bush plane. But this cycle shop and tour oper­a­tor based in Haines and Skag­way proves that there’s noth­ing quite like the view of Alas­ka from atop two wheels, as you glide through the gor­geous­ly unique scenery. Its day trips are a fab­u­lous way for inde­pen­dent trav­el­ers and cruise pas­sen­gers to take a detour on their voy­age, enjoy­ing a dif­fer­ent pace and per­spec­tive on  ...more

Season: May - September $135+ 4 hrs - 8 days

Guid­ed sea kayak­ing in Alaska’s South­east opens up the mag­i­cal world of water-based tour­ing. Glide through a marine envi­ron­ment with gor­geous views in every direc­tion, and many oppor­tu­ni­ties to spot wildlife – from eagles and salmon to bears, whales and sea lions. Options include day tours for busy sched­ules and mul­ti-day immer­sions, all under the expert guid­ance of nat­u­ral­ists who help you under­stand the com­plex work­ings of a unique and amazing  ...more

Season: May - September $599 2 hrs

Board a TEM­SCO flight that whisks you thou­sands of feet above sea lev­el to the Den­ver glac­i­er and a dog mush­ing camp hid­den away on a snow field. Lis­ten to their cho­rus of ener­getic bark­ing before tak­ing off with their mush­er across the glac­i­er. After the demon­stra­tion, you will make your way over to cud­dle the future Idi­tar­od cham­pi­ons, puppies! 

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Skagway Parks & Trails View All

Difficulty: Moderate Distance: 8 miles

Tucked on the moun­tain­side over­look­ing the cruise ship docks, this mod­er­ate hike offers great views down Taiya Inlet and an idyl­lic camp­ing spot. This 8‑mile round trip trail is unknown even to some locals. It leads through a mixed stand of trees and descends to a beach­front jut­ting south towards Haines on Lynn Canal.

Difficulty: Difficult Distance: 10 miles

Com­plet­ing this all-day climb, a 10-mile round trip climb­ing near­ly 5,000 feet, isn’t for begin­ners. But at the top, you’ll be on the ridge sep­a­rat­ing the Dyea and Skag­way riv­er val­leys, with an awe-drop­ping, 360-degree view. Once above the tree­line, some rock cairns mark the way, but the trail can be vague due to heavy brush and rocky terrain.

Difficulty: Moderate Distance: 33 miles

An amaz­ing look at the his­to­ry of the Alaskan Gold Rush, with the added nov­el­ty of hik­ing from Alas­ka to Cana­da. This trip offers a vari­ety of scenery and dis­tinct­ly dif­fer­ent ecosys­tems: riv­er val­ley, coastal tem­per­ate rain­for­est, exposed alpine, and arid bore­al forest.

If you’re in Skag­way for a sum­mer job or just a week­end fling, take your bike. Most­ly flat ter­rain and a com­pact urban lay­out makes this town a fan­tas­tic spot to see on two wheels. There’s even a free bike-repair sta­tion out front of Skagway’s pub­lic library.

Difficulty: Easy Distance: 2 miles

This mod­er­ate, 2‑mile loop trail near the Skag­way Riv­er cir­cles a boul­der strewn out­crop­ping. It also fea­tures sun­ny look­outs while mean­der­ing through a birch and pine for­est and lead­ing to a pro­tect­ed cove and pic­nic area.

Difficulty: Difficult Distance: 33 miles

This trail is con­sid­ered to be a very long muse­um and the old arti­facts left over from the Gold Rush Days must be left alone. Adven­ture­some trav­el­ers can retrace the stam­ped­ers’ route to the gold mines by back­pack­ing the 33-mile climb up and over the Gold­en Stairs,” immor­tal­ized in Char­lie Chaplin’s silent film, The Gold Rush”. The trail begins nine miles out of town in Dyea and on aver­age the trek takes five days to com­plete, but…  ...more

This park across from the Skag­way Riv­er offers ball­fields, horse­shoe pitch­es, a BMX trail, and a disc golf course. Out­door town events and con­certs, includ­ing the annu­al sol­stice cel­e­bra­tion, are held at the park’s stage/​amphitheater.

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