100% customisable travel idea
Yukon and Alaska Summertime on the last frontier
Canada - Yukon - United States - Alaska
100% customisable travel idea
Canada - Yukon - United States - Alaska
100% customisable for you
On arrival, collect your hire car and check in for a central two-night stay. Behind the large blue façade lies a classic American interior, featuring wood tones, as well as rust, cocoa, greys and whites. Rooms are flawless - well equipped and comfortable - with historical photographs displayed with restraint. In the saloon-style restaurant, the atmosphere is warm, with craft beers and steaks. This isn't about fine dining, it's about honouring the traditions of the North. The gym and spa services provide some welcome relaxation after the flight.
In your itinerary - Canoeing on the Yukon River. Set on the Yukon River, just downstream from Schwatka Lake, Whitehorse immediately immerses you in legendary names and landscapes. With an English-speaking instructor, you paddle for around 12 miles (20 km) - a double win: a gentle way of moving that still demands energy, and a chance to follow the peaceful banks of a river usually tied to feverish, turbulent history. A superb way to begin the nature-led journey ahead.
Drive north to reach Mayo, on the Dawson River. Gold was discovered here in the 1880s, silver soon after, resulting in massive upheaval in the lives of the Na-Cho Nyäk Dun, a Northern Tutchone First Nation. Today, administrative and commercial agreements aim to balance mining with local interests. Mayo has only been accessible by road since the mid-20th century.
Not to be missed - Follow the Silver Trail to the small mining town of Keno, a hamlet frozen in time, dotted with abandoned houses. Even the old petrol station, also long since abandoned, has been reclaimed by vegetation - making for a highly photogenic stop. The bar/restaurant/bric-a-brac run by the mayor (son of an Italian family who came to work the mines) is a living piece of history. You can also visit the little museum. The Silver Trail tells the region’s mining story and brings you close to First Nations cultures.
Overnight stay among the spruce trees, in a northern motel that stays true to the classic style: modern, simple and practical. You are well received and comfortably accommodated, with excellent bedding, in particular. A microwave and fridge are far from superfluous, given the lack of restaurants in the village. This is no longer the heroic era, of course, but the Yukon still asks that you travel with a little foresight.
Drive to Dawson City, the first capital of Yukon Territory. Settle in for two nights in the heart of town, in a hotel that still carries something of the atmosphere of the gold rush era, with a colourful façade perfectly aligned with the preserved local architecture. The rooms are among the best you can find in the region.
Dawson was the logistical and nerve centre of the Klondike Gold Rush in 1896. Here too, the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in First Nation had to adapt. At its peak, the boomtown swelled to around 40,000 inhabitants. Prospectors, adventurers, trappers and money men jostled in bustling chaos, in harsh conditions that showed no mercy to would-be fortune seekers. Jack London wrote striking pages about this monumental adventure, and Charlie Chaplin turned it into a masterpiece of melancholic humour. Silent films, miraculously rediscovered, show what the city was like up until the late 1920s. Dawson is now a modern, orderly city - but it still remembers and cherishes its epic past.
See and do - Explore downtown on foot; pass the Commissioner’s Residence and the Palace Grand Theatre, once the gathering place for Dawson’s elite, and continue on to Jack London’s cabin; visit the Dänojà Zho Cultural Centre to learn about the region’s first inhabitants; head out to Tombstone Territorial Park, criss-crossed with superb hiking trails (with or without a guide), for full immersion in the local wilderness and perhaps a chance to spot some wildlife.
Drive to Tok. The village perfectly illustrates the idea that towns grow from roads. An old Athabaskan settlement, it only developed into a town with the construction of the Alaska Highway in the 1940s and 50s.
Overnight stay in a log cabin , typical of these northern regions. With moss and grasses, the roofs look a little wild, but the cabin - rustic though it may be - is comfortable, and inspiring. Your cabin in Canada. In the morning, a homemade breakfast hamper is left at your door. At the entrance to the small property, blue, white and red petunias look more like the American flag than the French one. And all of it sits right in the middle of Tok.
Drive to Haines Junction, where the Alaska Highway meets the Haines Highway. Check in for two nights at a motel-style hotel, geared towards the outdoors (hardly a drawback in this setting - the surroundings are spectacular). Inside, the décor is simple yet refined, with balanced aesthetics and harmonious colours. This attention to detail adds an unexpected charm to the setting. Breakfast is served on site. The Kluane Park visitor centre is close by.
Not to be missed - Kluane National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, criss-crossed with excellent hiking trails of varying levels, all leading to breathtaking panoramic views.
Optional - A guided hike in Kluane National Park; sightseeing by plane over the park.
Drive to Haines.
Not to be missed - Less than a kilometre from Haines, Chilkoot Barracks, a US military base built in 1902-1904, stands as testament to the border negotiations once held between the United States and Canada; the former Tlingit village and its totems; the Chilkat bird reserve, where you can spot bald eagles; a walk along the riverbank beyond the port - where you might be lucky enough to see a bear fishing.
Overnight stay on Main Street, which leads to the small harbour. You park outside the hotel - you’ll recognise the motel vibe - and can expect a no-frills, practical interior typical of this kind of place. Rooms include a well-equipped kitchenette.
Ferry to Skagway through the Lynn Canal fjord. Check in for two nights in a historic hotel, that mirrors the town’s evolution: since 1897 it has successively been a brothel, a private home, and a boarding house. Today’s owners have kept the original layout and period character. Rooms are not large (authenticity comes first) but they are charming, with patterned wallpaper, floral quilts and polished wooden furniture. The in-house restaurant serves carefully prepared dishes, with many ingredients sourced from the sea.
It was at Skagway that most would-be miners - the cheechakos - arrived for the gold adventure, with others coming via Haines and the Chilkoot Trail. The town was quickly packed with swindlers determined to extract as much cash as possible before prospectors set off via the gruelling and unforgiving White Pass Trail towards the Klondike goldfields. In 1898, Skagway was Alaska’s largest settlement - a frontier town where the absurd idea of legality simply didn’t apply. That lasted as long as the rush. Today, tourism has become Skagway’s new mine, fuelled by literary memory and by fascination with an undertaking on an extraordinary scale. From the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park to restored heritage buildings, there is plenty to rekindle the thrill.
Must-see - Dyea, a former port town with shallower waters than Skagway. Abandoned when the White Pass and Yukon Route railway was built, Dyea is now part of the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park. Walking among its ruins and around a small cemetery - where those who dreamed of tackling the Chilkoot Trail now rest - is a powerful journey back in time.
Drive to Tagish. Check in for two nights at a former ranch and road stop overlooking Tagish Lake. Through the windows, the view is breathtaking: water and conifers stretch as far as the eye can see. These same trees supplied the timber for the cosy, well-designed cabins where you'll stay. At lunchtime and at dinner, the restaurant serves refined cuisine.
Not to be missed - Get to grips with the region’s past at the Caribou Crossing Trading Post; visit Skookum Jim’s house on the Chilkoot Trail, where exhibitions offer a helpful overview of the trail’s former role as a major transport route; and stop by the Carcross/Tagish First Nation Learning Centre, a meeting place of cultures housed in a building filled with totems and colour, with large windows offering impressive views of the surrounding landscapes.
Drive to Whitehorse.
See and do - The 1937 steamship Klondike II (built partly with machinery from a similar vessel that ran aground), which used to carry freight with its great paddlewheel up until the 1950s; the MacBride Museum of Yukon History, excellent for grounding your admiration in facts; the Copperbelt Railway and Mining Museum, focused on the history of copper mining; the Yukon Transportation Museum, dedicated to the various transport solutions used (and invented) here - where the terrain, extreme climate and isolation have challenged ingenuity and skill, sometimes resulting in some surprising solutions; hiking or cycling around the basalt formations of Miles Canyon, a spectacular geological site on the Yukon River; a walk near the Whitehorse dam and Schwatka Lake, where it’s common to see bears, otters, beavers, cliff swallows and bald eagles.
Final night in a hotel that holds a few surprises behind its classic appearance. Guest rooms draw inspiration from the nature around the Yukon and the spirit of traditional lodges, blending soft colours with the wood. The restaurant’s dining room is slightly retro, and the food is simple yet generous.
Return the hire car at the airport and take your return flight. Night on board, arrival the next day.
This suggested itinerary can be customisable down to the smallest detail, including duration, stops and content. An à la carte menu of experiences is also available to create a journey that reflects who you are.
Every day, our travel specialists craft bespoke experiences shaped around each traveller's profile, desires and budget. These passionate experts design experiences delivered on the ground by a local network of Concierges and trusted contacts. These fully customisable, made-to-measure trips are complemented by a wide range of high-end services (lounges, 24/7 assistance, travel booklet, app, Wi-Fi, restaurant booking, etc.)
Let us create your trip
Every day, our travel specialists craft bespoke experiences shaped around each traveller's profile, desires and budget. These passionate experts design experiences delivered on the ground by a local network of Concierges and trusted contacts. These fully customisable, made-to-measure trips are complemented by a wide range of high-end services (lounges, 24/7 assistance, travel booklet, app, Wi-Fi, restaurant booking, etc.)
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