How to Spend 3 Days in Skagway

Make Skagway your base to follow in the footsteps of the Tlingit people and the gold prospectors who headed off from the port to the Yukon in the roaring days of the 1890s. Tour the 100 century-old wooden buildings of the restored downtown, visit a saloon and ride the gold train to the summit of White Pass.

Day 1: Skagway Saunter

Get to know this former frontier port by taking a stroll around the downtown Skagway Historic District and its collection of 100-year-old wooden buildings. Glassblowing demonstrations combine with floral displays at the Jewell Gardens, and artifacts from Skagway’s gold-rush heyday are on show at the Mascot Saloon Museum downtown. To meet the locals, visit the Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve on the river flats, or go rafting down the river to spot beavers, bears and moose.

Day 2: Skagway Gold Rush

Scratch the surface and Skagway’s pioneering and prospecting days don’t seem so far away. Photographs and artifacts bring the past alive at the Skagway Museum, revealing just how harsh life was on the goldfields. Drop into the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park visitor center to learn about the area, its history and attractions.

Day 3: Day Trip Destinations

Gold and Tlingit history surround Skagway, so get a taste by traveling to the White Pass summit from the port, stopping en route at the Skagway Overlook for panoramic views over the town and waterway. White Pass was one route prospectors used to travel to the Yukon; the other was the Chilkoot Trail, a walking route taking up to five days that’s not for the fainthearted or unprepared. A far easier way to imagine life in gold-rush days is to ride the White Pass & Yukon Route Railway to the White Pass summit in a historic narrow-gauge train.