Though the whole city could be walked in an hour or two, we found Skagway, Alaska to be one of the most enjoyable stops on our Alaskan cruise.

View other posts in this series:

• Trip Introduction: Cruising the Last Frontier
• Review: WestJet 737-800MAX Economy Class LAX-YVR
• Superb Service and Surprisingly Good Food: The Hyatt Regency Vancouver
• Vancouver with Kids: Fun in the Great Outdoors
• Family Dining in Vancouver: The Best of What We Ate
• Review: Celebrity Solstice Alaska Cruise – Part 1 – Booking and Room
• Review: Celebrity Solstice Alaska Cruise – Part 2 – Dining
• Review: Celebrity Solstice Alaska Cruise – Part 3 – Onboard Entertainment
• Review: Celebrity Solstice Alaska Cruise – Part 4 – Ship Features
• Disappointing Wi-Fi on Celebrity Solstice
• PSA: Do Not Waste Money on Celebrity Cruises Drink Packages
• Pro Tip: Celebrity Cruises Gives Free Parking at MGM Resorts
• Icy Strait Point: A Simple Alaskan Port Town
• Skagway: A Small But Enjoyable Port (this post)
• A Brief Encounter at Dawes Glacier
• Juneau: Full of Outdoors Experiences
• Ketchikan: Home to Salmon and Lumberjacks
• Review: Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge YVR (Transborder / US Flights)
• Review: Air Canada 737-800MAX Business Class YVR-LAX

Map of the Area

Skagway is a small town, only four streets wide in some areas and about 22 streets long. As such, it’s a very walkable town. Walking down State Street will pretty much get you anywhere you want to be. Skagway was an important city during the Alaskan gold rush that provided supplies and sustenance to aspiring miners, but now it serves as a fun little port town.

Being such a small town, it tends to unfortunately feel very crowded when several large cruise ships are in port at the same time. There were several restaurants recommended to us for this stop:

• Woadies over on 4th and State, if you’re looking for dungeness crab
• Skagway Brewing Company, more than just local brews
• Red Onion Saloon, with good frozen drinks for about $9 each

However, when our first tour ended just before noon and with four large cruise ships in port, each location had a lengthy wait. If you’re looking to enjoy the local eats, come to the restaurant early if you can. If you decided to double-stack your excursions like we did with a morning and afternoon activity, know that it’s going to be challenging getting food in between your activities. I didn’t find many places that accommodated take out food but there are a couple of gift shops that sold pre-packaged sandwiches and salads.

There are a few good hikes you could take if you’re in town, denoted by location #36 in the map above according to our tour guide.

If you’re looking for souvenirs, some recommended spots include Bearhead Photography over at 7th and Broadway and Wild Yukon Furs between 5th and 6th on Broadway.

On odds years, you’ll typically find salmon in the stream near the train station (between locations #7 and #11) according to the locals.

But the town is indeed small enough that you can walk the whole town in just a few hours. If you don’t have any pre-arranged activities, I think it would still be a fun time walking around here and checking out all the stores.

Klondike Doughboy (Alaskan Fry Bread)

I want to spend a moment talking about Klondike Doughboy, found on 3rd Street. Leading up to the trip, Jenn had done a lot of Instagram research and found that a popular thing to do in Alaska was to try the fry bread. It’s a very popular spot, so expect a line but it did move decently quick enough. I’d say the bread tastes most like a churro but clearly it’s not in the shape of a churro. Instead it’s a massive flat bread shape that offers decent bang for the buck.

Admittedly, this ended up being our lunch during our time here. I think the size is good enough for two adults to share as a snack (personally I wasn’t that hungry because cruise ships make me feel absolutely full at all hours). It’s good, but expect something that is on the sweeter side.

Musher’s Camp and Sled Dog Experience

One of the popular things to do while in Alaska is a sled dog activity. We chose to do this in Skagway, which isn’t along the famous Iditarod race route from Anchorage to Nome but still houses quite a few racing dogs. This ended up being the highlight of the trip for the kids, who absolutely adored seeing the dogs. If you’re looking to get your kids in the mood before coming here, I would recommend watching the movie Balto. We booked our excursion through Celebrity Cruises at a cost of $806 for four adults and two children. If you’re booking through Celebrity, keep checking back for a cheaper price after you book as we found it was lowered in price a couple of times over the course of a year (it’s free to cancel and rebook).

Our tour guide for this excursion was Patrick, a tall man who was a perfect mix of information on the area and corny jokes. He definitely kept us entertained until we made it to our destination, about 20-30 minutes outside of town.

Along the way, we did spy a few bald eagles seated atop the trees (and some at the back of the bus saw it defecate). I also saw a red fox running around along the side of the road so be sure to keep your eyes open if you’re looking for wildlife!

The tour company took us to a rather cute spot that included some gift shops and a large all-terrain vehicle that would take us up to where the sled dogs live and train. The road beyond here was pretty bumpy, but both our children (ages eight and four) had a fun time sitting next to each other.

Once at the sled dog activity, we were separated into small groups of six each (awesome for us since there were six of us). We then sped along the racetrack for three laps while the trainer talked about her own experience with the dogs. She owns the dogs on her sled and absolutely gushed about each of her dogs. It was a treat hearing her talk glowingly about each dog pulling us along and assured us that all dogs here are properly cared for and loved.

After the sled dog experience, we got a chance to meet the dogs pulling us along. The friendliest dogs (Mars and Sable) were placed at the front of the line, but the musher proudly talked in depth about each of the dogs pulling us along. We got ample time to spend meeting with Mars and Sable to thank them for the journey and they returned the favor with many kisses and much affection.

On the way back down, we stopped by a nice spot for a few minutes that overlooked the whole area, including the Dyea tidal flats we passed on the way up.

We came back to the cute mini-village where we boarded the all-terrain vehicle and got face-to-face with some very friendly puppies born just a few months earlier on May 13th. This included the puppies from some of the same dogs that pulled our sled. We were invited to hold each puppy—and, boy, there were a lot of kisses they gave—or you could spend your time in the gift shop. Hmm, what a decision between playing with puppies and spending money in a gift shop… I think you know where we spent all the time!

I would highly recommend this tour, especially if you’re a dog lover. It’s a great mix of history and dogs. The mushing experience does go by pretty quickly, but honestly the fun doesn’t stop there as you get to play with some very friendly puppies. I was a bit fearful coming in of how the dogs were treated, but I came away thinking these dogs couldn’t be taken care of any better than they were.

White Pass Scenic Railway

If you’re looking for a train leading you up the mountains along an incredibly scenic path, look no further: the White Pass Scenic Railway is a perfect option for you. But let me get this out of the way early: you should consider booking this excursion independently and not through the cruise line. We booked through Celebrity Cruises and found it extremely difficult to secure enough seats for our party of six within the same cabin (we still ended up separated for the trip) given how many people wanted to take the trip. Meanwhile, everyone who booked it on their own ended up in a special car roped off from everyone else at the front of the train.

It felt like each car was absolutely packed to the brim. If you’re looking for some personal space, I recommend spending most of your time standing outdoors—either at the front or back of your car. For some reason, most people didn’t hang around outdoors in our car, so I ended up spending most of the time with some fresh air and beautiful scenery (apologies to Jenn for taking care of the kids while I enjoyed the outdoors). Also included in this excursion was some complimentary bottled water found at the back of each cabin.

The journey is quite lengthy and it did cross into Canadian borders before looping back around. For those wondering, no, you don’t need your passport to ride the train. But it is still a captivating experience if you’re standing outside. But what if you’re sitting inside? I’d argue it’s a bit on the boring side. The cabin gets a little hot and if you’re not outside, I think you’re in for a vastly different experience (comparing my experience with Jenn’s). So absolutely get outdoors and spend the journey standing outside or risk a mediocre experience.

I Like Skagway

Out of all the destinations on our cruise, I personally liked Skagway the most. Why? I really liked the small town atmosphere found here. It’s a bit unfortunate that it suffered the most from excessive crowding with four large cruise ships in port when we were there but even still the dog sledding experience was a blast.

If you’re only looking for one experience, I’d argue the sled dogs were a more engaging and fulfilling experience than the train ride was.

Have you been to Skagway? How was your experience?