klondike gold rush national historic park

Marliroo

The visitor center shows a great movie on the gold rush every hour on the hour, mostly. great exhibits. You can get a Junior Ranger Badge if you fill out the booklet, which takes a couple of hours. They also offer free walking tours of the downtown area. The park also includes the famous Chilkoot Trail located 10 miles out of town, so accessible by bike or tour or rental car only.

dbinhou7511

Understand about Skagway in the Gold Rush days, why people came, and how they lived by visiting the park exhibits. Good, informative exhibits. Don't forget to also visit the other end of this park in Seattle.

1MarkM1

Drive from Skagway around to the old Dyea townsite where thousands mustered with all their belongings before tackling the dreaded Chilkoot Trail. The Town is completely gone and the entire area is overgrown but you can walk around where the old streets used to run and wonder at the obsession that drove people onto these muddy flats to seek their fortunes in the north.

711lynnw

There are several places to see in this park, all are free. There is a small museum in the visitor center that also used to be the old depot for the White Pass & Yukon Route Railroad, several historic buildings (some of which house businesses or personal residences) and the Chilkoot Trail in Dyea. The museum tells the story of the gold rush in 1898 and has a few artifacts found along the trail. We printed off a walking tour map of the historic buildings and walked around on our own. Although we only walked about 100 yards on the Chilkoot Trail, it was great just knowing we were standing on history. I love the history of this place. This is definitely a must for any visitor, especially history buffs.

Old-Socialist

Skip the high-priced tours. When you disembark from your cruise ship in Skagway, walk straight to the National Park office, which is the first down-town building on the right as you approach from the docks. Then, sign-up for a FREE tour of Skagway (your tax-dollars prepaid this tour for you). The national park's interpretive center in Skagway is not that impressive (very small and limited information); so, make sure to visit the park's "southern unit" in Seattle where the main collection is housed.

979leed

We took the free tour offered from the visitor center. It's a nice way to see the town and learn its history. We also went to a few places that it seems most visitors were missing. They happened to be interesting -- and free!

mini

We enjoyed walking through Skagway and the various Gold Rush museums. We also watched the movies that was in the visitor center building of the park. Some of our highlights we liked included:1) The restoration of the mascot saloon2) The various historic buildings - they have plaques on the houses and let you know a bit about the history.3) Skagway Centennial Statue

JessicaL361

When your cruise ship is stopping in Skagway, definitely make your way to the visitors center and sign up for a free downtown walking tour. Our park ranger (Olive!!) was such a delight - she clearly enjoyed giving tours and was very animated in her story telling which made it that much better. I would still recommend doing an excursion (my family did the train) but you'll still have plenty of extra time left. There's honestly nothing else in the town and it's free so why not? I believe iit's just as good (if not better) than a paid walking tour.Don't waste your money and take the free tour!

dder_10

If you go, take the free downtown walking tour. Takes an hour. We had 2 friends that had been here several times, had not heard some of the stories before. A great no cost thing to do on a cruise.

BlueFalconRidge

Movie about goldrush was good and enjoyed this. Rangers were nice but gift shop attendant was rude and acted like it was a chore to tear away from the book she was reading to ring up our purchase.....gave you a sour taste...

lestroyens

The Park Service has done a great job restoring some of the historic buildings in Skagway, and the free walking tours are very interesting (shout out to our favorite guide, Olive!). Do not miss this, even if you are a compulsive shopper!

tomhT5173KG

Run by the National Park Service, it has a number of buildings restored to the time of the Yukon gold rush when Scagway hit its prime. Some of the buildings are rented to private vendors, so you have a plethora of touristy businesses. The Visitors Center is good though, and has displays and short movies about the Gold Rush era.

31437Hawkeye

Yes, there is one in the town center and the Park Service tells the story of the gold rush period. See the video to begin with and then take a guide tour, If you have time. But,so much shopping and so little time.

LucyLou54

The Park Rangers offer free walking tours multiple times per day to learn about the gold rush coming through Skagway. The movie in the main building was interesting and each guided tour is a bit different depending on who leads the tour. We had a young lady who was very interesting and you could tell she made a lot of effort to educate herself about the period and the people to make the tour much more interesting. The museum is also quite good.

stein525

The National Park Service operates several exhibits and museums in Skagway. The NPS facilities are intermixed with the other buildings in the town. Walking tours, lectures, and films are all provided by the National Park Service. There was no charge for any of the exhibits museums or films. This is a great opportunity to get an excellent understanding for the history of the goldrush in The Klondike during the late 19th century.