Skagway & White Pass Summit Tour with Photo Stops

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Free cancellationTravelers' pick

1/6

Duration2h 30m

GroupUp to 40

LanguagesEN

PickupAt your hotel

Gold Rush echoes, misty falls and border peaks on Skagway’s wild edge

You’ll ride from Skagway’s quirky main street up through wild mountain passes to White Pass Summit, stopping for photos at roaring falls and border signs along the way. With a local guide sharing stories (and jokes), plus pickup right at your cruise ship, you’ll feel both welcome and awed by these rugged landscapes.

2h 30m

Step-by-step itinerary

Skagway tour and White Pass summit

Tour downtown Skagway highlights
View Pitchfork Falls from highway
Stop at Klondike Gold Rush sites
Photo stop at Welcome to Alaska sign
Enjoy panoramic Skagway overlook

The Experience

"If you look close, you can still see wagon ruts from 1898," our guide Tom said, half-grinning as we bumped along Broadway. I’d barely settled in when he started pointing out old saloons and weathered storefronts—somehow the whole street smelled faintly of spruce and coffee. It’s funny, I’d always pictured Alaska as just mountains and ice, but Skagway’s got this lived-in charm. There was a woman waving from her porch in a red raincoat; she called something to Tom that I didn’t catch. He just laughed and told us everyone knows everyone here.

The climb up the Klondike Highway felt unreal—like someone kept turning up the contrast outside. We stopped for photos at Pitchfork Falls (it roared louder than I expected), then at Moore Bridge where the wind whipped so hard my hat nearly took off for Canada. At the “Welcome to Alaska” sign, Tom offered to take our picture—he lined us up so the mountains looked almost fake behind us. The air was thin and sharp; I could taste cold metal on my tongue. Someone tried to pronounce Tormented Valley in Tlingit and totally botched it—Tom’s laugh echoed off the rocks.

I didn’t expect how quiet it would get near the summit. There were moments where nobody talked, just watched fog drift over snow patches and listened to water trickling somewhere below. On the way back down, we paused at a hillside overlook—you could see all of Skagway laid out like a toy town, cruise ships docked like giant white beetles. My hands were freezing but I couldn’t stop staring. It’s weird what sticks with you; sometimes it’s not even the big views but that feeling of being small in a place with so much story underneath.

What’s included

Your day includes round-trip land transport by van or touring bus with multiple scenic stops along Broadway and up to White Pass Summit, narrated by a local guide who’ll help with photos (even at that famous “Welcome to Alaska” sign), plus convenient pickup and drop-off right at your cruise ship dock before you head back onboard.

Good to know

Easy physical levelStroller friendlyPublic transport nearbyInfants must sit on laps

Operated by Skagway Tours