Skagway sits at the head of the Lynn Canal, the deepest fjord in North America, and it exists because of gold. In 1897, tens of thousands of prospectors poured through here on their way to the Klondike goldfields, turning a mudflat into a boomtown overnight. The gold rush lasted barely two years, but Skagway kept the buildings.
Today the town is part of the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park, and its seven-block downtown of restored wooden storefronts — including the driftwood-mosaic facade of the Arctic Brotherhood Hall — looks remarkably like it did in 1898. The park's visitor centre does an excellent job of telling the story of the stampeders, and the White Pass and Yukon Route railway — built during the rush — still runs scenic excursions up to the pass with views of glaciers and waterfalls.
Skagway is a major cruise ship port, which means the town swells enormously on days when ships are in. If you are arriving independently, the quieter hours of the evening are the best time to walk the boardwalks. The Chilkoot Trail, a 53-kilometre backcountry hike that retraces the prospectors' route over the mountains into Canada, starts nearby and is one of the great historic treks in North America. The Gold Rush Cemetery north of town is a pleasant walk with its own dose of local lore.