We decided to rent a car and drive to the Yukon Territory from Skagway. We had never been to the Yukon Territory and thought when else are we going to have the chance to visit the Yukon Territory.
Driving to the Yukon Territory from Skagway on an Alaska Cruise
It was really easy to rent a car in Skagway. We set up reservations before we got into Skagway and walked to the rental car office. As soon as we picked up our car we were on our way north out of town.
The road to the Yukon Territory follows along the same path as the train for a while. It was really cool seeing the train across the way heading up the mountain.
It does not take long to reach the US Canadian Border.
The drive is absolutely beautiful. We stopped multiple times to take pictures and soak up the scenery.
There is a fantastic pull-off near the Yukon Territory sign. We were lucky enough to be there at the same time as a tour bus and had one of the people on the bus take our picture.
I never thought we would visit a desert in the middle of the Yukon Territory. The Carcross Desert is pretty cool. As an added bonus there are bathrooms that were a great surprise in the middle of nowhere.
There were gorgeous flowers blooming in the Carcross Desert.
We had lunch in Whitehorse and visited the Walmart and Yukon Brewery. It was really interesting being in Walmart and seeing that they had to ration out the supplies of bread and milk until the next delivery truck made it to town.
The only wildlife we saw on our drive was this not so soft and furry porcupine. We did talk to a few other ship passengers who said they saw a bear and cubs on their drive.
On our way back to Skagway we stopped and took a random goofy picture at the Welcome to Alaska sign. We had been in the car for quite a while and it felt so good to stretch our legs.
Make sure to have your camera ready as you drive in the main street of Skagway. You can see the cruise ships straight down the main street. The ships are so much taller than anything in town. Since we had picked up a few things in White Horse we parked the rental car and wandered into Skagway to explore. It is about a 25-minute walk from the rental car office to the ship so we just gave ourselves more than enough time to walk back with all of our purchases.
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Nancy Grove
Love your tips on Alaska. My husband and I are going on a cruise end of July - beginning Aug. It is my husband's dream vacation. We are doing land first then cruise. Is 14 day. I am really anxious about what to do where. DUH We want to pan for gold and definitely go on a dog sled and can't forget the train. Any suggestions? Are going to visit Fairbanks, Denali, Talkeetna, Anchorage, Seward, Hubbard Glacier(cruising), Juneau, Skagway, Icy Strait Point , Ketchikan, Inside Passage (Cruising) and wind up at Vancouver, B.C. Will we need boots? Thanks for reading this, I sound like a blubbering idiot. LOL
Beth
Hi! We are going on an Alaskan cruise in July! Can't wait! Thanks for all the information on your blog. It has been so helpful. A few questions...
1) Are you able to mention what car rental company you used in Skagway?
2) I'm currently looking at the "Golden Circle" route that starts in Skagway on the Klondike Highway. It is 435 miles from start to finish; I'm guessing you didn't drive the whole route! How much of it did you drive?
Thanks!
Dee Swistek
Love your tips and pictures! My husband and I are going on an Alaskan cruise in September and was wondering what time of year your Alaskan cruise was?
Tammilee
Hi Dee, We went in May on our cruise. I would love to go again in the late summer/Fall. You should see amazing fall colors during September. Which ports are you visiting?
Dee Swistek
Juneau, Skagway, Ketchikan, We r departing from Whittier Alaska and ending in Vancouver! I was a little concerned about how cold it might be in September, it looks like it would be smart to pack hats and gloves! 🙂
Tammilee
I would def pack hats and gloves. We visited the Kenai peninsula in Alaska during September a few years ago and it was gorgeous. The leaves and fall colors were amazing. I would pack more warm clothes than you think you need so you have them and then hope you don't need them.
We absolutely loved these ports. There is so much to do so close to where the boats dock. We ended up wandering on most of the towns and just exploring the areas.
I am not sure if you saw our Alaska section - https://www.tammileetips.com/alaska-travel/
All of our posts are there from our trips to Alaska.
Amanda
I should have kept reading before I asked how the drive was. It looks lovely!!
Ximena Guerrero
Hi! I really enjoyed reading about your trip to Alaska! I am going on a cruise to Alaska in a couple of weeks, I am ver excited! I was wondering something though... I am not an American citizen, therefore I need a canadian visa to enter Canada. So my question is, did you cross the canadian border when you drove to the Yukon territory?? I am not familiar with the area at all! I just wanted to know if they would ask for my passport/visa there?
Thank you very much!
Tammilee
Hi
We did cross the Canadian border to get to the Yukon Territory. There is a check station that you have to drive through. We had to show our passports in order to get through. I hope this helps.
Ximena Guerrero
Very helpful! Thank you... I will not be able to do it then since I don't have enough time to request the visa anymore! THANK YOU!
Laura O in AK
We didn't do any shopping, but were in Whitehorse just over a week ago. It's definitely a different feel up in the Yukon compared to most of the US. Someday soon I hope to visit Skagway.
Cheryl
This would be a dream vacation for my husband!