Alternative Tours in Skagway Alaska

The Legends & Lies Gold Rush Saloon Experience & City Tour is one of the alternative tours in Skagway Alaska to go on when on an Alaskan cruise. The tour has only been running for a few years and this is an alternative tour in Skagway Alaska to go on if you fancy something different, but lots of fun.

Skagway is a small town in Alaska, USA and was the like the wild west in the 1890s. How do you experience the port of Skagway today? Go back in time and experience the legends and lies of this crazy town they call Skagway or as I like to call it ‘Skaggy Skagway’!

In the depression of the 1890s in the USA, people flocked to Skagway to find their fortune in the gold rush. Skagway was the last town before they started their long trail to the Klondike in the hope to find gold. This small town at the time had 80 brothels, in the space of ten blocks!

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Alternative Tours in Skagway Alaska

Legends & Lies: Gold Rush Saloon Experience & City Tour

This is a fun alternative tour in Skagway Alaska for adults that like to make and drink cocktails while learning about the history of Skagway in Alaska’s gold rush period of 1896 – 1918. This tour has only been running a few years, so if you are looking for something new to do in Skagway this is the tour for you.

This short tour (2.5 hours) is a relaxing way to see Skagway and have an enjoyable afternoon. The guide was dressed in a costume of 1898 and drives around the town giving the history of the town and takes you up the mountain to a viewpoint to look down over Skagway and the port. After the city tour it time to go to the Skagway Inn to start the real fun!

The Skagway Inn

The Skagway Inn was originally a bar and brothel, today it is a bar, restaurant and hotel and now home to the Legends & Lies: Gold Rush Saloon Experience & City Tour. If you stay in one of the hotel rooms they are named after the ladies of the night as I said this is an alternative tour in Skagway Alaska!

The tour is held in the saloon room and is set up with tables ready for your mixology lesson for making Alaskan cocktails. The saloon has a bar and the room is decorated like it would have been in the 1890s.

The guides are dressed in costumes from the 1890s and tell you stories from goldrush era, women of the gold rush, gambling and card playing through stories, songs and poems.

They showed tricks that were common from the time as it was a con man city. The history was very interesting, and they kept it entertaining.

Cocktail Making

In between the storytelling, we were shown how to pour 1.5oz of liquor shots and how to make an Alice’s Gold Digger and Birdies’ Bucking Caribou cocktail.

All the cocktails have a name of one of the girls that worked in the brothel. When the girls came up to Skagway they changed their names to suit their new profession. As you can see from the cocktail names.

Alice’s Gold Digger was made with bourbon, lemon juice, maple syrup and rosemary. I’m not a bourbon fan, but this cocktail was delicious. The second cocktail we made was Birdies’ Bucking Caribou which was made with tequila, chocolate bitters, ginger syrup and lemon. I wasn’t sure how this was going to taste, but again I was surprised, and it was very tasty.

To see how to make these cocktails you will just have to go on the tour yourself! We were not left hungry either we were given a snack of a salmon quesadilla, a cheese quesadilla, a halibut cake, salsa and pigs in blankets all mini sized and a small glass of Alaskan beer.

Alternative Tours in Skagway Alaska Roundup

This alternative tour of Skagway Alaska was so much fun and is a great way to learn about the history of this crazy town in the 1890s. Making the cocktails was an education and an enjoyable afternoon drink. We were given a booklet with cocktail recipes in a pint glass to take home which was a lovely memento of the tour.

In the port of Skagway on an Alaskan cruise, you can just do this tour or add it to your day with another morning tour, if you would like to make the most of your day in Skagway Alaska. Here are some more ideas what to do in Skagway:

THINGS TO DO IN SKAGWAY ALASKA

HOW TO MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR DAY IN SKAGWAY ALASKA

What to Wear in Skagway Alaska

The weather in Skagway between May and September can vary you can be very lucky and have sunny skies or the usual rain and wind. The temperate is normally between 7*C – 18*C.

The best way is to always be prepared and bring layers and then dress an accordingly to the weather of the day. I bring a backpack out with me for the day with gloves, a hat, scarf and an umbrella inside and if it is too hot I have somewhere to put my jacket.

Other essentials I always bring are a water bottle and a portable phone charger. We use our phones for so many things now, a camera, internet, apps, torch and maybe even a phone sometimes! My favourite charger is by Anker and it is a lifesaver when out and about.

You may also enjoy reading about other tours to go on in Alaska:

ALASKA SCENIC CRUISING IN GLACIER BAY

KETCHIKAN ALASKA CRUISE EXCURSIONS – THE GREAT ALASKAN LUMBERJACK SHOW

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW BEFORE YOU BOOK AN ALASKAN CRUISE

TOP 23 PACKING TIPS FOR A COLDER CRUISE

TOP 10 PACKING TIPS FOR AN ALASKAN CRUISE

WHAT YOU MUST SEE IN KETCHIKAN ALASKA

HOW TO GET UP CLOSE TO THE SAWYER GLACIER IN ALASKA

Cruise Essentials

Here are some cruising products from Amazon you may find useful on your next cruise. To see more, have look at my Amazon shop page click here.

Have you been to Skagway in Alaska? What was your favourite tour there?

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Happy Cruising!