Alaska's Inside Passage: Juneau, Sitka and Skagway by Ferry

Arrive in Juneau

Juneau International Airport to your hotel downtown

• Welcome dinner
• Nuit : Juneau
• Environ 18 min de route

Après-midi

Fly into Juneau International Airport (JNU), about 15 km from downtown, by mid-afternoon if you can. No road links Juneau to the rest of North America: everything and everyone arrives by sea or air, which is why this trip moves by ferry and small plane. A driver meets you and takes you to a central hotel near the waterfront, under the steep slopes of Mount Juneau and Mount Roberts.

Soir

In the early evening your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a short briefing: how the ferry timetable shapes the week, what to wear on the boats, and what to expect from the weather, which can change several times in a day. Then we walk to a welcome dinner together, with local seafood in season. If you arrive early, the Alaska State Museum and the Sealaska Heritage Institute's Walter Soboleff Building, with its Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian art, are both a short walk from the hotel.

Compris

• Pick-up at Juneau International Airport (JNU)
• Welcome briefing with your guide
• Welcome dinner

Activités en option

• Alaska State Museum
• Walter Soboleff Building (Sealaska Heritage Institute)

Mendenhall Glacier and the whales of Auke Bay

Juneau to Mendenhall Glacier, then Auke Bay and back

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Juneau
• Environ 1 h de route

Matin

Several thousand cruise passengers can be in Juneau on a summer day, and most of them reach Mendenhall Glacier by mid-morning. So we leave right after breakfast and are at the visitor centre when it opens, with the lake, the blue ice and Nugget Falls still quiet. Walk the short Photo Point trail with the guide, or the flat path of about 1.3 km to the foot of Nugget Falls, where the glacier is right beside you. Late morning we drive to Auke Bay, a few minutes away, and board a small whale-watching boat for about three hours in the channels where humpback whales feed through the summer. The crew also look out for orcas, Steller sea lions, harbour seals and bald eagles.

Soir

Lunch together back in town, then the afternoon and evening are free: ride the Mount Roberts Tramway, walk the boardwalk along the cruise docks once the ships leave, or rest before tomorrow's long day on the water.

Compris

• Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center at opening, with the Photo Point trail
• Walk to Nugget Falls with your guide
• Whale-watching boat from Auke Bay, about 3 hours
• Lunch in Juneau

Activités en option

• Mount Roberts Tramway
• Juneau Icefield flightseeing, with or without a glacier landing (weather dependent)

A full day up Tracy Arm

Juneau by boat to Tracy Arm and the Sawyer glaciers, and back

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Juneau
• En bateau

Après-midi

Lunch is on board.

Soir

We are back in Juneau late in the afternoon, and the evening is free.

Compris

• Tracy Arm full-day boat to the Sawyer glaciers (Endicott Arm and Dawes Glacier when ice blocks Tracy Arm)
• Lunch on board

The Alaska ferry to Sitka

Juneau (Auke Bay terminal) by Alaska Marine Highway ferry to Sitka

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Sitka
• Environ 45 min de route

Matin

After breakfast we drive to the Auke Bay terminal, about 22 km north of downtown, and board as foot passengers. The crossing takes most of the day: down Chatham Strait, then into Peril Strait, a winding passage between forested islands where whales, eagles and sea lions are often close to the ship. Find a seat in the forward lounge or the covered solarium on the top deck, with the guide pointing things out.

Après-midi

Lunch is in the ship's cafeteria.

Soir

A short drive takes us from the Sitka terminal into town, where the evening is free on the harbour.

Compris

• Transfer to the Auke Bay ferry terminal
• Alaska Marine Highway ferry from Juneau to Sitka through Peril Strait
• Lunch on board
• Transfer from the Sitka ferry terminal to your hotel

Sitka: Tlingit and Russian history, raptors and sea otters

Around Sitka, then a small boat on Sitka Sound

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Sitka
• Environ 30 min de route

Après-midi

After lunch in town we visit the Alaska Raptor Center, which treats injured bald eagles, owls and hawks. Late afternoon a small boat takes us out on Sitka Sound to find sea otters, which raft up in the kelp beds, along with whales and sea birds.

Soir

The evening is free.

Compris

• Sitka National Historical Park and the totem trail with your guide
• Sheldon Jackson Museum
• Russian Bishop's House
• St Michael's Cathedral (outside) and Castle Hill
• Lunch in Sitka
• Alaska Raptor Center
• Sea otter and wildlife boat on Sitka Sound, about 2 to 3 hours

Activités en option

• A Tlingit dance performance in Sitka, on the days one runs

Fly to Skagway over Lynn Canal

Sitka by air to Juneau, then by small plane up Lynn Canal to Skagway

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Skagway
• Environ 18 min de route

Après-midi

After lunch the guide walks you down Broadway, where the false-fronted wooden buildings of the gold rush are kept by Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park, and into the park's visitor centre in the old railway depot.

Soir

The evening is free.

Compris

• Flight from Sitka to Juneau
• Small-plane flight from Juneau to Skagway
• Lunch in Skagway
• Walk through Skagway's historic district and the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park visitor centre

The White Pass railway and the Chilkoot Trail

Skagway by train to White Pass summit and back, then Dyea and the Chilkoot Trail

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Skagway
• Environ 1 h de route

Matin

In the morning we ride the White Pass and Yukon Route, a narrow-gauge railway built in 1898 to carry the gold rush over the Coast Mountains. It climbs about 870 m in roughly 30 km from the sea, on ledges blasted from the rock, over trestles and through tunnels, past Bridal Veil Falls and Dead Horse Gulch over the Canada border to the summit of White Pass in British Columbia, then comes back down. Because the train enters Canada, everyone needs a passport on board. The round trip takes about three and a half hours. The train timetable follows the cruise ships, so ops choose the departure with the most room.

Après-midi

After lunch we drive about 15 km to Dyea, the old rival town, and walk the first miles of the Chilkoot Trail, the stampeders' other route north, through mossy rainforest beside the Taiya River. Ship passengers are back on board by then, so the trail is quiet.

Soir

Farewell dinner in Skagway.

Compris

• White Pass and Yukon Route summit train, about 3.5 hours round trip, crossing briefly into Canada (passport required)
• Packed lunch
• Chilkoot Trail walk from Dyea with your guide and a local guide
• Farewell dinner in Skagway

Fly back to Juneau and home

Skagway by small plane to Juneau International Airport

• Petit-déjeuner
• Environ 18 min de route

Matin

A slow breakfast in Skagway, with time for a last walk to the harbour or the Gold Rush Cemetery, where Soapy Smith and Frank Reid, who shot each other in 1898, are buried. Late morning a small plane takes us back down Lynn Canal to Juneau, about 45 minutes, for a last look at the glaciers above the fjord on a clear day. If weather grounds the small planes, we travel by the Lynn Canal ferry instead and the guide adjusts the plan and your onward connections. Your guide sees you to the check-in desk at Juneau International Airport before saying goodbye. Most flights south leave for Seattle or north for Anchorage. Book a flight from Juneau leaving after about 3 pm, so a weather delay on the small plane does not cost you your connection.

Soir

If you want to stay longer in Juneau, we can book an extra night for you.

Compris

• Small-plane flight from Skagway to Juneau
• Drop-off at Juneau International Airport (JNU)