Broadway Street is the "historic area" with restored old buildings that are occupied with a mind numbing number of jewelry stores all hawking tanzanite jewelry. When the cruise ships are in the street is awash in tourists, so if you want to see the area, wait until the cruisers have retreated to their ships. State street is one block north of Broadway and parallels it. Not as tourist infested, but still has some heavy traffic.
We had fun and saw quite a few items that interested us; but, as a whole it seemed very touristy. I do understand the town has only a few months for commerce before winter arrives. If I lived there I would be doing the same thing.
It's a pretty view. The stores sell mostly jewelry and souvenirs. Takes a couple of hours to go through the main part of town but that's only if you plan on going through each store. Didn't like the pushy salesmen that attack you to buy jewelry as soon as you step into their store, so after a bit I just stopped entering and just slowly walked by.
I really enjoyed walking around Skagway and looking at the historical buildings some dating back to the late 1800"s. Skagway is a pretty samll place but packed with beauty. Take you time and enjoy it. There are plenty of restaraunts and tons of shopping. The historic town is beautiful and the surrounding mountains are georgous.
The National Park Service owns many buildings and gives a narrated tour with a ranger. Neat twist for a tourist trap with real charm. Most all buildings are rented out for commercial purposes (to get the ship passengers' money) BUT we bought souvenirs here for the best price of the entire trip. I came 2000 miles to buy an Alaska hat in Skagway made in China for $6! There is a grocery store one short block off main street that sells soda pop for .89 cents. Everywhere else it is $2.50 and up. Neat to see ship passengers getting a carton of pop and taking it back aboard the ship. Unlike booze, the pop is not confiscated until the cruise is over. Our friends bought nice a diamond necklace for her birthday at a shop NOT affiliated with the cruise lines and paid what I thought was reasonable at $750 for a 1/2 carat TCW piece. They were treated well and were give a small piece of attendant jewelry as a bonus. We would have bought a diamond ring ourselves for $1000, but the wife was too frugal to leap, even though she loved it. The sales rep was VERY courteous and works the rest of the year in Cozumel Mexico. I should have sneaked back and got it for her for Christmas. Great little hole in the wall shop named Glacier Gem. Without any doubt, Skagway was the top stop of the tour. Cutesy and charming. Nothing here to dislike.
Stopped here as part of cruise. Was within walking distance of the ships. Has lots of character, like back in the Gold Rush days. There are several free museums, a really neat old snow-clearing train outside and of course, lots of tourist shops!
Definitely worth a walk throughout the town. Something out of a Wild West movie. Has wooden boardwalks and some of the old buildings are original. Such a beautiful little place. Not a lot to do there but it is so quaint you really should see it. Plenty of shops to browse in if you are that way inclined. gorgeous scenery surrounding this town.We stopped there on our cruise.
We picked up a map to do a walking tour along Broadway, State, Spring Sts and along 4th to 8th Aves from the national park service visitor center next door to the railroad depot. It was interesting seeing the original buildings withe the wooden boardwalks like you'd see in the old western movies and reading about their history. Sad part was they were now mostly housing jewellery stores and souvenir shops. Skagway is just one big souvenir shop. We loved the Whitehorse & Yukon Route rail journey but were happy to leave Skagway.
Just for the Cruise Ship Tourists ! , it's amusing and some a little quaint, it all closes down when Summer and the Cruise Ships finish. Jewellery stores, so over these and tacky Tourist souvenirs . We took a trip to the Yukon, visited the local Cemetery, before taking the stroll through the streets.
Yeah, Skagway is a tourist trap, what with all the cruise ships coming in, but it's still a great place to visit. There is so much history here-several buildings date back to 1898. The Klondike Gold Rush NHP is here and tells the story of the 1898 gold rush. There are several activities to choose from: museums, the train, trails, flightseeing, horseback riding, ziplining, dog mushing, etc. The scenery is beautiful, wildlife abounds, and there are several great restaurants to choose from.