Skagway - Yukon Bus and Rail Tour

[dee66]

Hi,

 

 

We are thinking of doing the Bus and Rail tour to Emerald lake and caribou crossing. Does it make any difference whether you take the train segment first and then the bus or vice versa? Are the view better on the train going up or down or the same? Thanks.

[mark&lisa]

Hi,

 

 

We are thinking of doing the Bus and Rail tour to Emerald lake and caribou crossing. Does it make any difference whether you take the train segment first and then the bus or vice versa? Are the view better on the train going up or down or the same? Thanks.

if you go to Carcros/Yukon you won't have a choice- they alternate every other day- one day bus up and rail down- the next day it's rail up and bus down......the shorter trips have time to do both so you can have a choice

[Bucket Listed]

You have a choice with Chilkoot tours.

 

7:30am is rail then van

8:30am is van then rail

 

We opted for van first to sleep in a little later. :)

[vmom]

We went with Chilkoot charters and also did the bus first then the train. The morning we went out, the weather was overcast and cloudy and the afternoon was beautiful, but it could just as easily been the other way around. No way to know.

 

I don't think it makes much difference, except that if you do the train first, you might have a better chance of getting a seat on the train on the more preferred side. you want to sit on the left if doing the train first to Frasier and on the right side if you take the train back from Frasier to Skagway.

 

We had some people on our tour who were rather pokey when we stopped, so we did not get to the train early after our bus trip. We were the last people to get on the train car and had to take the last seats available. It was just lucky chance we got on the right side. If you do the train last, then make it clear to the tour operator that it is important to you to get to the train early enough to have a better choice of seating.

 

We saw 2 bear grazing by the side of the road eating dandelions. We were able to stop and watch for a few minutes. There was also a bear on the train tracks later in the day when we were on the train and the train had to stop till the bear moved off before being able to continue on.

[Budget Queen]

if you go to Carcros/Yukon you won't have a choice- they alternate every other day- one day bus up and rail down- the next day it's rail up and bus down......the shorter trips have time to do both so you can have a choice

 

This only pertains to the Lake Bennett excursion, of which they are not referring to.

 

Their chosen tour runs in both directions.

[Budget Queen]

Hi,

 

 

We are thinking of doing the Bus and Rail tour to Emerald lake and caribou crossing. Does it make any difference whether you take the train segment first and then the bus or vice versa? Are the view better on the train going up or down or the same? Thanks.

 

I have done both directions, and the views are different. It makes no difference in my opinion. Make your selection based on the best use of your time.

[Alaskanb]

So to have a better chance of getting the better train seats-- train first would be best?

[Budget Queen]

So to have a better chance of getting the better train seats-- train first would be best?

 

I don't agree.

[BIG_Steve]

So to have a better chance of getting the better train seats-- train first would be best?

 

We were told the train is less crowded coming back. Have no idea if that is accurate. But we went van first (less then half full) train back. The train car was about 75% full, I'd say.

[vmom]

When I called Chilkoot tours to book my tour, I asked which would have a less crowded train...train first then bus or bus first then train. The man at Chilkoot said there was no telling. Some days the early train is more crowded and some days the later train is more crowded.

 

We were on the afternoon train coming back from Frasier and it was packed. No empty seats. People were walking from car to car looking for seats. I am assuming there must have been some seats perhaps in one of the last cars, but we were assigned a specific car to go into when we arrived and had the last seats available.

[Abbiet33]

We did not have a choice and did the train up, then the bus tour because the train back was going to get to Skagway too late. Check the hours that you are in Port!