Haines or Skagway?

Our cruise stops in Haines from 6:30 am to 9 pm. I generally don’t take ship excursions. I either do tour through other companies or rent a car.

Should I take the ferry to Skagway or should I stay in Haines?

Suggestions as to what I can do in either port?

Thanks!

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I'm renting a car in Skagway and driving up the Yukon using Murray's Guide.

Haines doesn't seem to be as popular a stop as Skagway - depending on what your interests are, it's hard to say which of the two would have more to do. I've taken the Dyea Dave Emerald Lake tour and returned on the White Pass train at Skagway - it was awesome and I will be doing a repeat with a couple friends who have never been there this coming May. Dyea Dave is a top notch vendor.

In Haines is a great guy named Ron Malone who does salmon and trout fishing charters. The company is called 9 Fingers Charters. His specialty is showing the real Alaska and a great time. Another top notch outfit.

No matter what you do in either location you will have a fantastic time - simply having the spectacular Alaskan scenery in every direction makes everything great. Good luck!

Skagway is a lot better

Our cruise stops in Haines from 6:30 am to 9 pm. I generally don’t take ship excursions. I either do tour through other companies or rent a car.

Should I take the ferry to Skagway or should I stay in Haines?

Suggestions as to what I can do in either port?

Thanks!

 

 

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Since Haines is not visited on most itineraries, and Skagway is almost always visited, I would tend to say spend time in Haines. This is especially true if you think you will return to Alaska and can visit Skagway in the future. Both have beautiful scenery and options, but make sure to do more than just get off the ship and spend a few hours walking around town.

Our cruise in May stopped in both Haines and Skagway. We enjoyed both. In Haines we rented a car, went to Kroschel Wildlife Center, drove part of Haines Hwy and visited Chilkoot Lake and Chilkat State Park. In Skagway we took the bus / train combo tour to Emerald Lake with Chilkoot Tours and walked around town when we returned.

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Hi,

I visited Skagway and discovered the Yukon for the 1st time in September 2017 and I love it!

Unfortunately I didn’t go toHaines so I can’t compare. However my daytrip in Skagway & the Yukon was unbelievable,one of best part of my cruise.

I rented a car in Skagway and drove through the Yukon until Emerald Lake passing by Carcross and Carcross desert, the smallest desert in the world. An amazing and beautiful experience!

If you’re interested I wrote articles to describe my DIY daytrip.

For Skagway: daydreamunderthestars.com/2017/11/25/skagway/

For the Yukon: daydreamunderthestars.com/2017/11/20/the-yukon/

Let me know if you have any questions

Enjoy your trip!

Marie

Thank you so much for the advice. I will definitely look at both of the car trips that were taken and then decide.

One of my issues with Skagway is that I remember what it looked like before being "discovered" by the cruise industry. So I find Haines to be refreshing. I actually prefer Haines over Skagway. Just a comment from an Alaskan.

As one of the members in our party gets seasick, we’ll probably forgo Skagway and stay in Haines and rent a car.

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As one of the members in our party gets seasick, we’ll probably forgo Skagway and stay in Haines and rent a car.

 

 

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The ferry ride is generally not rough, but I think you will enjoy the scenery and exploring the Haines area. It is more of the traditional Alaska and not commercialized. The Haines Highway is a beautiful drive and you can actually go into Canada, just make sure to bring your passports.

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Totally agree with Northern Aurora - Haines for me every time. We've visited Skagway twice - once while on a cruise, and once last Aug. when we took the Fast Ferry from Haines (where we were staying for 12 nights) to take the train to Fraiser Meadows. I too find Skagway a little too commercialized for my tastes.

Haines on the other hand, is a refreshing slice of life in Southeast Alaska. What time of year are you going? If in August, I'd highly recommend staying in Haines, renting a car and driving out to Chilkoot Lake (about 10 miles, maybe north of town) to look for bears fishing in the lake and river. We specifically went to Haines at that time of year to see the Chilkoot bears and we were NOT disappointed! Each day we'd go out there, we'd see atleast one bear, but more often than not, we'd see about 5 different bears. All fishing for their breakfast, lunch and dinner - we found early morning - anytime before 8:30AM and in the evening, around 6PM to be the best for bear viewing and to have less people. The locals fish and boat at the lake, and often times we'd see folks fishing within 50 yards of a bear doing the same.

If you aren't going during the salmon run, then I would still rent a car - you could drive up the Haines Highway (if you cross over into Canada, you will of course need passports). One day while we were there, we drove up to Haines Junction - spectacular drive! We also drove out to John Schnable's mine, made famous by the Discovery TV show "Gold Rush" just outside of Haines at Porcupine Creek. We were even fortunate enough to see Parker's dad, Roger, who owns a road building company in Haines and was working on the bridge over to Porcupine. He was very friendly and let me take his photo while he was in his dozer.

We drove up to Steve's wildlife park for the tour - it was fun and we enjoyed it. I got to kiss a moose and we were able to pet the reindeer, and also a gray fox, but other than that, there wasn't a whole lot of interaction with the animals. My husband asked for (and got!) a porcupine quill while they were doing a demonstration with the animal. Steve's quirky and a little bit out there, but he was nothing but entertaining. He and his staff/family love what they do and it shows.

Other things to do in Haines include a visit to their very informative little museum, walk along the beach by where your cruise ship is docked, go to the Haines distillery and try some of their spirits, get a loaf of the best homemade bread ever at the Pilot House Restaurant/bakery, check out their award winning library, get fantastic homemade fudge at Alaska Rod's near Main Street, drive out to Chilkoot State Park or Chilkat Lake State Park and take in the gorgeous scenery and hike the trails, take the Takshanuk Trails 4X4 excursion which includes a delicious lunch at their wilderness lodge (the views are spectacular up there!), check out many of their artisan shops with lovely handcrafted items, go kayaking, have a delicious sandwich, soup or snack at the Mountain Market - be sure to try their fantastic coffee.

There is much to see and do in Haines if folks would just take the opportunity to research it. Hope these recommendations are of some help to you. Go, have fun and enjoy beautiful Alaska!

We are really excited to be visiting Haines after four visits to Skagway. We are doing the Glacier Point Wilderness Safari through HAL. Sounds pretty cool! https://skagwayshoretours.com/tour/glacier-point-wilderness-safari/

Thanks for all of the suggestions for Haines! I think it will be a great day for us!

I have been to Haines twice. The first time, I rented a car and drove into Canada as far as Million Dollar Falls, which was lovely. On my second visit, I visited the Hammer Museum and the Sheldon Jackson Museum and Cultural Center via the free town shuttle bus. Both were interesting and inexpensive. I also booked a ship tour that went to the American Bald Eagle Foundation Museum (the highlight), the Haines Packing Company (fish processing), and Fort Seward. No one wanted to get off the bus to walk around Fort Seward due to the rain. I was especially looking forward to my Glacier Bay flightseeing tour with Mountain Flying Service from Haines, but it was cancelled due to bad weather.

I was on b2b cruises, so really enjoyed the opportunity to visit Skagway, Juneau, Ketchikan, and Icy Strait Point twice, as well as Haines and Sitka on the northbound cruise. (Unfortunately, the weather wasn't cooperative in the latter two ports.) I had been on 4 previous Alaska cruises, but on the b2b I did the excursions I had always wanted to do - but never got around to!