Skagway on a budget

Apologies if this has been asked already! We are scheduled to be in Skagway mid-June on the Celebrity Solstice.

We are planning more expensive excursions like the Tracy Arm Glacier Explorer and just don't have the budget for expensive excursions at every port. We're looking for a low cost excursions or other ideas. Low cost = around $50/pp. Will we be content just walking around town? Or is that a waste of our time in Skagway and we should try to reconfigure our excursions so we have the budget for WPYR?

We found a National Park Service building in town that had movies about the Klondike Gold Rush and many exibits. I think they also offer walking tours.

Very interesting and mostly free.

Rent a car from Avis. You can drive to the Yukon and see great scenery at your own pace. It is really easy. Just rent your car as soon as you can. This is a great alternative to the White Pass train ride.

The National Park Service does do free walking tours. You do need to get tickets early in the morning even if you are going later in the day - the slots fill up.

Did you look at the town web site for ideas .... look for a thread on the next page, called HELPFUL RESOURCES FOR PLANNING A VISIT TO ALASKA, where you'll find the town website as well as one for Yukon/goldrush NP, where therer are free ranger led tours.

http://www.skagway.com

Would you consider renting a car for a drive to the yukon and Emerald Lake.

Get a day pass on the city bus and visit The Goldrush Cemetary at the edge of town. Do the NP tour first to better understand the history. At the edge of the cemetary there's a short trail leading to the falls.

Look at past trip reports ( posted above) to see what others did in in Skagway.

We found a National Park Service building in town that had movies about the Klondike Gold Rush and many exibits. I think they also offer walking tours.

Very interesting and mostly free.

That sounds great! I'm definitely going to check that out. Thanks for the tip!

Rent a car from Avis. You can drive to the Yukon and see great scenery at your own pace. It is really easy. Just rent your car as soon as you can. This is a great alternative to the White Pass train ride.

 

The National Park Service does do free walking tours. You do need to get tickets early in the morning even if you are going later in the day - the slots fill up.

I'll bring up the car rental idea to my group and see how they feel. I have 2 small kids that require car seats that we would have to rent, so I'm not sure how I feel about that.

But I LOVE at the NPS does guided walking tours! I'm going to see if we can reserve online just in case. Thanks!!

Both of the car rental places in Skagway, furnish car seats for kids.DD

Both of the car rental places in Skagway, furnish car seats for kids.DD

Great to have locals contributing!

Apologies if this has been asked already! We are scheduled to be in Skagway mid-June on the Celebrity Solstice.

 

We are planning more expensive excursions like the Tracy Arm Glacier Explorer and just don't have the budget for expensive excursions at every port. We're looking for a low cost excursions or other ideas. Low cost = around $50/pp. Will we be content just walking around town? Or is that a waste of our time in Skagway and we should try to reconfigure our excursions so we have the budget for WPYR?

Check out Dyea Dave tours website...

Summit tour is good (took it my last trip) and is in your price range

Both of the car rental places in Skagway, furnish car seats for kids.DD

Hi Dyea Dave! We took your Emerald Lake & WPYR combo on our last trip to Alaska and had a blast! Kathy was so patient with me and all my questions! :)

Check out Dyea Dave tours website...

 

Summit tour is good (took it my last trip) and is in your price range

It's too bad we don't have the budget for the same tour with Dyea Dave next year, but why didn't we think to look at his other tours?? :rolleyes: I'll talk to the group about the Summit tour. Thanks!

Hi Dyea Dave! We took your Emerald Lake & WPYR combo on our last trip to Alaska and had a blast! Kathy was so patient with me and all my questions! :)

 

 

 

It's too bad we don't have the budget for the same tour with Dyea Dave next year, but why didn't we think to look at his other tours?? :rolleyes: I'll talk to the group about the Summit tour. Thanks!

My first journey with them we did a custom type of tour, last time it was the summit and this next trip will be emerald Lake and southbound train...

don't hesitate to talk to them about options and maybe a custom thing...but the summit tour is nice...

they are the friendliest and knowledgeable up there in my opinion...

Mom02, we don’t go for the expensive excursions when we go to Alaska, we are budget minded. We’ve been with Dyea Dave numerous times and have enjoyed going with him every time. Call Dyea Dave and ask him this is all we can afford with tip, what can we do. He’s a great guy he might be able to work with you and set up something. The National Park center in Skagway is free and it is packed with all kinds of information. The Skagway city museum is a really nice museum and it’s not too expensive. http://www.alaska.org/destination/skagway/museums How many are in your party? Is anyone in your party over 62? I they are they should bring their National Park senior citizen pass, if they don’t have one they should get one, it’ll get them and 3 of their friends into the visitors center at Mendenhall Glacier, if you take the Blue or White bus show them your National Park senior citizen pass when you buy the tickets and they’ll knock $5 off the ticket price. You can also use the National Park senior citizen pass to get into the Forest Service Discovery center in Ketchikan. You can take the bus in Ketchikan to Totem Bright state park.

Mom02, we don’t go for the expensive excursions when we go to Alaska, we are budget minded. We’ve been with Dyea Dave numerous times and have enjoyed going with him every time. Call Dyea Dave and ask him this is all we can afford with tip, what can we do. He’s a great guy he might be able to work with you and set up something. The National Park center in Skagway is free and it is packed with all kinds of information. The Skagway city museum is a really nice museum and it’s not too expensive. http://www.alaska.org/destination/skagway/museums How many are in your party? Is anyone in your party over 62? I they are they should bring their National Park senior citizen pass, if they don’t have one they should get one, it’ll get them and 3 of their friends into the visitors center at Mendenhall Glacier, if you take the Blue or White bus show them your National Park senior citizen pass when you buy the tickets and they’ll knock $5 off the ticket price. You can also use the National Park senior citizen pass to get into the Forest Service Discovery center in Ketchikan. You can take the bus in Ketchikan to Totem Bright state park.

:eek: That's awesome intel! We are on this cruise to celebrate my dad's retirement, so we have at least one person over 62 :p We have 5 adults, 2 seniors and 2 kids (3 and 6 yrs old). So if we get 2 senior passes, it should cover our entire party?

Where would we go to purchase the senior citizen pass? Can this be done online before the cruise?

When I googled Forest Service Discovery center in Ketchikan, "Southeast Alaska Discovery Center" came up. Is that the same thing?

Thanks so much this info is great!!

Yes you can go online here https://www.nps.gov/planyourvisit/passes.htm and get the senior pass, scroll down the page until you see “Senior pass” or you can buy it at any National park. Yes the proper name is "Southeast Alaska Discovery Center" in Ketchikan, it’s run by the forest service and yes your senior pass will work there.

I had a nice hike on the Lower Dewey Lake trail, which is just off the main stretch of downtown.

I had a nice hike on the Lower Dewey Lake trail, which is just off the main stretch of downtown.

Thanks for the link! That looks like a great trail for our group. The website says there's a steep switchback for the first 500ft, do you think it's still easy enough for a preschooler (and those of us who are REALLY out of shape) to walk? :D

Thanks for the link! That looks like a great trail for our group. The website says there's a steep switchback for the first 500ft, do you think it's still easy enough for a preschooler (and those of us who are REALLY out of shape) to walk? :D

I haven't done Lower Dewey Lake, but I've done Yakutania Point and Smuggler's Cove in Skagway, when I was more out of shape than I am now, with no problem.

Thanks for the link! That looks like a great trail for our group. The website says there's a steep switchback for the first 500ft, do you think it's still easy enough for a preschooler (and those of us who are REALLY out of shape) to walk? :D

That switchback is pretty steep - rather like walking up a long flight of stairs. It should be OK if you can handle a staircase of similar length. If not, hopefully one of the other trails mentioned above will be a better fit for the whole group. :)

Thanks for the link! That looks like a great trail for our group. The website says there's a steep switchback for the first 500ft, do you think it's still easy enough for a preschooler (and those of us who are REALLY out of shape) to walk? :D

If you check in at the NPS building which is at Second & Broadway, they will not only give you a free map of all of the trails around here, but they will size up your group and probably steer you to the right fit for your group at that time!

From what I have read here, I would probably recommend the trail out to Yak Pt, for your group, for starters.

Then when you return to town anyone of the more ambitious set can have a go at Lower Lake!

There are more than enough trails right around town to occupy and challenge even the most ambitious and strenuous hiker as well as the aforementioned stroll out to The Point.

DD

If you check in at the NPS building which is at Second & Broadway, they will not only give you a free map of all of the trails around here, but they will size up your group and probably steer you to the right fit for your group at that time!

From what I have read here, I would probably recommend the trail out to Yak Pt, for your group, for starters.

Then when you return to town anyone of the more ambitious set can have a go at Lower Lake!

There are more than enough trails right around town to occupy and challenge even the most ambitious and strenuous hiker as well as the aforementioned stroll out to The Point.

DD

Thanks that's a great idea! It sounds like we won't have any trouble finding a great trail to hike while in Skagway! I can't wait!

The hike out to Yakutania Point and Smuggler's Cove in Skagway is more a walk in the park, it’s not very challenging at all. We did it a couple of years ago with the ships naturalist. He tagged along with us or we tagged along with him, it was an interesting afternoon.

to the OP, If you do rent the car and go into the YUkon, you might consider putting any of your party who hasn't experienced the train, onto the train, at Fraser, and then meeting them "at the station" when they get back into Skagway, just under two hours later. Remember to check departure time of your ship if you decide on this option.

This is a good way to fulfill any fancy of trains by any member of the group, and "on the cheap" as well:)

DD

Here's our cheap version of seeing Skagway. We purchased a day pass on the local smart bus. Got off at the railroad terminus. Walked less than a mile to the Gold Rush cemetery (fascinating). From there it was just a short hike to the beautiful Lower Reid Falls. Had the whole place to ourselves for awhile too. Took the bus back to town and signed up for the next walking tour at the Nat. Park Gold Rush Museum. Checked out the exhibits for half an hour and then enjoyed the hour walking tour given by a park ranger. Meanwhile, our cousins had taken the ship's pricey White Pass Train excursion. According to them it was crowded, too long and too foggy to see much of anything.

We could have definitely spent our whole day wondering the town by foot. We actually took a train up to the Yukon and I was really bummed that we didn't just skip the excursion. It was pricey and the views were obscured most of the rather long ride in uncomfortable seats.

Took the bus back to town and signed up for the next walking tour at the Nat. Park Gold Rush Museum. Checked out the exhibits for half an hour and then enjoyed the hour walking tour given by a park ranger. .

These tour tickets often go first thing in the morning - so waiting until mid day to get tour tickets will often leave one tour less.