Renting a car in Skagway and driving up to

[Bebet]

Emerald Lake and Carcross. Has anyone gone on to Whitehorse in the Youkon territory. It sounds like an interesting place. Wondering if we would have time. We are in port 6am to 8:15. We are to pick up the car at 9:00. Anything else on this route worth noting?

[InternetAgeTraveler]

There are quite a few things to see, check out Murray's guide (search the web), it is very useful in making the drive more enjoyable. We only went as far as Emerald Lake and with a stop for lunch and dog cart ride at Caribou Crossing, we were gone for about 7 hours. Per Murray's guide, the scenary after Emerald Lake is not as spectacular but I can't say first hand.

 

Our drive pictures are here.

[AnakeRose]

Make sure you leave yourself a LOT of time! I did a search on Google Maps for the drive time and it says 3 1/2 hours each way. We were going to do that, but driving for 7 hours of our stay was a deal breaker.

[Trailblazer99]

Make sure you leave yourself a LOT of time! I did a search on Google Maps for the drive time and it says 3 1/2 hours each way. We were going to do that, but driving for 7 hours of our stay was a deal breaker.

 

Google Maps is way off on that one - it's barely over 2 hours with no stops!

[EatPrayCruise]

Make sure you leave yourself a LOT of time! I did a search on Google Maps for the drive time and it says 3 1/2 hours each way. We were going to do that, but driving for 7 hours of our stay was a deal breaker.

 

Are you referring to the drive to Whitehorse or the drive to Emerald Lake? We just returned yesterday from our cruise. We did Emerald Lake and I think it was about 1.5 hours each way without many stops. We did stop in Carcross for a short while (under LOTS of construction) and not many of the few shops were open. We pulled off here and there for photo opps plenty of times. I think our overall time was about only about 4 hours, but we parked our car in the Avis lot when we got back but didn't turn it in. We walked around and shopped, but left our backpacks/coats/extra stuff in the car so we didn't have to lug it around.

 

Maybe you are saying that the 3.5 hours is to Whitehorse? That sounds about right from what the Avis reps told us.

 

I hope that this info helps you.

[Bebet]

So has anyone been to White Horse. Anything to there?

[bluejbird]

:) I took the Diamond Princess cruise from Whittier to Vancouver last May and had a fabulous time. Weather was great and scenery was beautiful.

We rented a car from Avis in Skagway and drove from Skagway to Emerald Lake. This was one of the highlights of my trip. Lots of great scenery, but not much was open when we went since we were on the first Princess Alaskan Cruise of the season. We ran out of time, otherwise we may have driven to Whitehorse.

 

I've posted a lot of beautiful pics and some video here

http://www.realliferealstories.com/TRAVEL-Topics-ESOs.html

if you want to take a look.

[justlaff69]

So has anyone been to White Horse. Anything to there?

 

We went to White Horse. Not much scenery past Emerald Lake.

We hit the Harley shop in White Cross for some t-shirts and then headed up to Tahkini Hot Springs and took a dip in the pool. We swam for about an hour and got back in plenty of time.

 

We were back in town by 5pm, b/c we took some trails for an hour, walked around the shops for an hour and still got back on the ship an hour early.

 

White Horse is a modern small sized city, not a lot to see.

 

Of course we had to grab a geocache while we were up there...

[oaktreerb]

Yes, I have been to Whitehorse on a Yukon Cruisetour and there are things to do and see in Whitehorse but you would need to spend a day or two to make it worthwhile. We have also driven with Murray's Guide as far as Carcross and just beyond. We started our trip by going around to Dyea to the beginning of the Chilkoot trail since it was a beautiful day. Might not do that on a rainy day. Get your Murray's Guide and plan your trip for stops along the way. You will make stops you did not intend to make (like if you see a bear or moose along he road). You will have a full day up and back without going to Whitehorse if you take time to enjoy the scenery. We picked up our car before their stated opening time and took it back at closing. Be sure to leave time to fill the gas tank as everybody who rents a car will be doing the same!

[sacway]

We drove to White Horse. It is a longish drive. We had a great time, planned on about 3-4 hours each way so we could stop at any interesting place we came across. (End of train line, Emerald Lake, etc.) We had a nice lunch at a cafe in White Horse, did some window shopping in a "real" town instead of a port. On our cruise, the weather hadn't been especially favorable, and we really enjoyed driving out of the cold and fog and inland where it was bright sunshine and very warm. Driving back to the ship, we saw a bear at the edge of Skagway. Got back in plenty of time to walk around town before reboarding.

 

Driving there sure gave us a sense of how big the Yukon Territory is.

[HappiestWhenCruising]

We just got back this past weekend. We picked up the car from Avis by about 8:30 am. We drove to Whitehorse. We stopped twice along the way to take scenery pictures and then to film the first bear.

We tried to stop at Carcross but the construction was so bad, we turned around. We went through the drive through at McDonald's in Whitehorse, even that was under construction so the restaurant wasn't available. It cost us $38 Canadian for 4 of us to get basic value meals.

On the way back we stopped at the Smallest Desert, Emerald Lake and for a long time, by the side of the road watching and filming a large black bear that was just sitting there eating grass. We saw one other bear for a short while on the way back, too.

We still had a few hours to shop in Skagway before sailing off. The weather was beautiful and so was all of the scenery. We were in port from 7 am to 4:30 pm.

[Traveller20074]

We rented a car from Avis in Skagway and drove to Carcross. Whitehorse is quite a bit further, and we didn't want to do that.

 

We saw bear and mountain goat and had hamburgers at the cafe in Carcross. was an awesome drive! Before we left, we drove to Dyea and was rewarded with a view of eagles RIGHT BY the road.

[wolfie11]

We went to Whitehorse a few years ago with a mountie who wanted to go but couldn't rent a car per Canadian law in Skagway. We drove to the Whitehorse rapids (now dammed and not as spectacular as in 1899), went to the Beringia museum and had lunch before driving back.

[lovingUT]

This past week we rented from Avis, drove to Carcross & Emerald Lake. I've driven from Whitehorse before so knew that the scenery beyond Emerald Lake wasn't what we wanted to spend time on this trip.

Even though the gravel roads in Carcross are now being paved (hence the construction) it doesn't at all interfere with parking & walking around. Carcross is a tiny community, but lots of interesting history, friendly people, Watsons General Store, old depot and brand new visitors center where they're eager to provide area info. and maps. They'll also give you the key to the town church just behind the visitor center.....another neat stop.

When I went to the little post office to mail cards the lady very nicely offered to buy the bundle of change I had.

The beach in Carcross is a lovely place to walk, as is the walking bridge across the river.

I was glad that we followed the recommendation of other cruise passengers to be in line at Avis before 8:00am when they open. Despite having a car reservation it still takes some time & the line was much longer when we got out of there at 8:20am.

Enjoy

[kansasdj]

We just got back Saturday from our Alaska cruise. We rented a car from Avis (do this in advance as they were sold out and many people were turned away the day we had reserved ours). We drove as far as Emerald Lake, Carcross had a lot of construction. The sights are spectacular and if you enjoy photography you will not know where to focus to take a picture because every shot is so beautiful. We saw a big black bear eating grass on the side of the road and got some great photos of him in his natural habitat. We both were really glad we did it and consider it one of the highlights of our cruise. Refill of gas and rental car - $125. We picked up the car about 9am and returned it about 4:15, we did not hurry...many stops along the way to get out and look at the scenery.

[mkringen]

Refill of gas and rental car - $125. We picked up the car about 9am and returned it about 4:15, we did not hurry...many stops along the way to get out and look at the scenery.

 

How much of that total was the gas if you don't mind me asking. Is it easy to find a place to refill? Also, if we wait until 9am will the early people in line all be gone? I don't want them to give away my car though.

[CRUZBUDS]

I don't know about Avis - they are already gone for the season when we get there on the Century in September. We booked a car with Sourdough Car Rentals -- they have a credit card deposit. If we don't show, they will charge us a fee. If the ship doesn't make port for some reason, there is no fee.

 

The good part about this is they will hold the car all day for us.

[Jenbo57]

How much of that total was the gas if you don't mind me asking. Is it easy to find a place to refill? Also, if we wait until 9am will the early people in line all be gone? I don't want them to give away my car though.

 

We were there last week (Wednesday). Reserved our car for 8:00 a.m. Got there are about 7:55 and were the 5th in line. When we got out of there at about 8:15, there were maybe another 8 or so people in line behind us. If you have a reservation, and you get there at 9:00, you should be fine; they have more cars than you'd think.

 

There is only one gas station(/laundromat!) in Skagway, with two pumps. We paid $4.64/gallon for regular unleaded.

 

This was my third cruise to Alaska, my brother's fifth. First time either of us had rented a car and driven the Klondike Highway. So incredibly beautiful; definitely the high point of our cruise!

[Budget Queen]

Murray's Guide is "necessary" in my opinion. Allow 5 hours for the round trip drive to Emerald Lake.

 

The scenery drops off significantly past Emerald Lake. Whitehorse does have several points of interest, but on a day trip from Skagway, not enough time to do much. I've been up there several times, on a Harley run. :)

[happylady]

Murray's Guide is "necessary" in my opinion. Allow 5 hours for the round trip drive to Emerald Lake.

 

The scenery drops off significantly past Emerald Lake. Whitehorse does have several points of interest, but on a day trip from Skagway, not enough time to do much. I've been up there several times, on a Harley run. :)

 

As usual, listen to what Budget Queen says!! We loved using Murray's Guide and took turns being the "tour guide". We had a blast!!!:D