einavido

Will be in Yukon this summer and spend couple of days in whitehorse and Skagway. Did not plan on going to Juneau, but I see there are flights from Skagway and return which can leave around 8-9 free hours in Juneau and return the same evening. Is it worth the hassle or is it trying to pack to much in one day ? Would appreciate your opinion.

BudgetQueen

Juneau is certainly a great city to see. But your time is short, do you have any priority plans??

jtrandolph

Well, Juneau IS the capital. You can take a $6 shuttle to Mendenhall Glacier. No need to buy a tour, the visitor's center is interactive, educational, and very well done. Without a tour you can stay as long or short as you want and just catch a shuttle back when you are ready.

The tram ride up Mt. Roberts gives you great views. There are two very good museums. The restaurants in the Merchants building (the blue one) are good. The building was the Juneau airport when the only flights in and out were seaplanes.

There is a lot of tourist shopping, of course. We wandered into the Capitol building and were offered a tour by a nice young man. He did a nice job giving us the history of the building and we had a thank you note when we returned home.

When you are in Skagway, go to the forest ranger visitor center and watch the video.

Have a great trip.

einavido

Thanks for your replies so far. I think first priority is to visit mendenhall glacier and then the rest as much as we can. We've been to Exit Glacier 3 years ago. Any comparison between 2 glaciers ?

BudgetQueen

Exit and Mendenhall are similar in my opinion, nothing like the bigger more impressive glaciers, but enjoyable to see.

For clairfication it isn't the forest service that runs the walking tours in Skagway, it's the Park Service- located at Broadway and Second in the old train depot. http://www.nps.gov/archive/klgo/schedule.htm much more than video here, small museum, free walking tours, ranger talks.

There also is a $3 admission to the Mendenhall visitor center- definately worthwhile. Several excellent hiking trails if you have time. http://www.fs.fed.us/r10/tongass/dis...all/index.html

starrsville

Well, I don't know if there's a problem with getting socked in Ithe Juneau airport) during the summer, but we had a problem with that in winter.

Have you considered taking the ferry? It was a WONDERFUL experience. We took the ferry from Juneau to Haines and then drove up to Whitehorse to spend the night.

If you were willing to spend the night in Juneau, I think you'd enjoy taking the ferry. BEAUTIFUL scenery (the poor man's cruise line) and you'd have your car with you in Juneau.

Haines was incredible in November. Bald eagles just hanging out at the Chilkat river - in trees and on the ground. As plentiful as oranges in the tree.

einavido

Thanks again ! Each answer pops another question - would it be a more dramatic experience taking a glacier sightseeing flight out of Skagway ? Is there a good one day boat trip from either Skagway or Haines, in terms of Glacier and wildlife ?

BudgetQueen

A glacier flightseeing go to similar areas out of both Skagway and Juneau. There are no boat tours out of Skagway or Haines that have glaciers and wildlife. - just not the area.