Discover the Beauty of Skagway on the White Summit Train
We recently visited Skagway on our Royal Princess cruise to Alaska. Our must-do at this stop was the White Summit Train. We booked the almost 3-hour train ride directly with the cruise line. Thanks to onboard credit, my parents were able to get one of their tickets for free. The train ride takes you through Canada, but your passport is not needed since you are not leaving the train. The train cars are heated, and they have free water on board.
Skagway port
The Skagway Port had a landslide a few years ago. For our Princess Cruise, we had to tender to the port. They used the same tenders attached to the side of the cruise ship for this process. I was pleased we had booked a later in the day train, so we did not have to stand in long lines to exit the ship. Be warned, the tenders are small and packed, but the ride is quick. If you’re prone to motion sickness, I recommend getting near a window or being close enough to look out. This helped me tremendously.
As you can see in the picture below, the walkway is still being repaired.
After you tendered the walk to the start of our excursion was relatively close. However, we didn’t know how long it would take to tender over etc. We left way too early. So we walked to town and explored before our train ride.
The walk to town is about 1/4 of a mile, flat and paved. They have a few museums you can walk in and lots of shops. We are not big shoppers, so we finished the town fairly quickly. We did get some yummy kettle corn at one of the shops. It is made fresh!
To kill time, my son and I stopped at Lucy’s and got a yummy cinnamon roll and a chocolate chip cookie to go. I am still thinking about that cinnamon roll a week later!
Main event
After killing time in town, we headed back to board the train. We arrived about 20 minutes early, and people were already lining up. Our tour guide, Tom from Juneau, had told us to sit on the left side of the train going up. He was correct, it was the better side of the train to sit on. It’s a round trip, so the other side gets the view going down.
The train was fantastic. Again, we were traveling with my parents and my 17-year-old. We all enjoyed the train. The views were amazing. Once the train gets going you are allowed to stand outside between the cars. You are not allowed to change cars but you can stand outside and enjoy the view. It was wonderful!
My dad and son riding the rails
The train ride round trip was right under 3 hours. The time flew by! It was a day well spent.
My parents enjoying the ride
After we return to town, you can be dropped off in town or back at the cruise port. Again, these are only 1/4 mile apart. My son and I got off and walked by while my parents stayed on.
My cute parents
Overall, I would highly recommend this train ride in Skagway. Everyone in our group enjoyed it. It was nice to sit back and relax and enjoy the beauty of Alaska.
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How I saved big on our Alaska Cruise
What I wore in Alaska - shopping guide
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