Haines–Skagway ferry: the state boats that cover the winter after the fast ferry stops

The summer boat stopped on September 30, 2026. The Haines Skagway Fast Ferry normally works the inlet from May 1 to September 30, and its booking calendar has no departures left for October or November. Until it returns, every scheduled crossing between the two towns is an Alaska Marine Highway sailing.

That changes the trip more than the calendar suggests. The fast ferry is a passenger-only catamaran that takes about 45 minutes and runs several times a day in season. The state ferry takes cars, needs about an hour, and in winter sails only on listed dates: the LeConte day boat until January 1, then the Hubbard until the end of April, both leaving Haines at 12:30 p.m. (12:45 p.m. in April) and starting back from Skagway in the early afternoon.

Between those day-boat dates, the larger mainline ships Columbia and Kennicott make occasional calls, a few of them after midnight. All times below come from the state's own sailing calendar, cross-checked with its schedule grids.

Day-boat dates through April, and the mainline calls in between

Alaska Marine Highway sailings October 13, 2026 – April 30, 2027, read on October 13, 2026 from the AMHS Sailing Calendar for Haines and Skagway and checked against the Colored Schedule Grids. Fast ferry: no sailings in the operator's booking calendar after September 30, 2026; 2027 dates not yet posted.   AMHS — Sailing Calendar, Haines and Skagway · 2026-10-13

Prices that only appear at the moment of booking

Neither operator gives a winter fare you can copy into a table. The state system prices each journey inside its Sailing Search tool, according to the date, who is traveling and what vehicle goes aboard, so a car and two adults will be quoted differently from a foot passenger. Online booking for a sailing from a staffed terminal shuts four hours before departure; after that, call the terminal.

The Fast Ferry still shows its 2026 adult and child prices on its homepage, but that season is over and it has not announced prices for 2027. Over the summer the company also charges per item for bicycles, kayaks and freight, and freight needs a call to the office a full day ahead.

AMHS fares page and the Fast Ferry's site, read October 13, 2026   AMHS — Vehicle & Passenger Fares · 2026-10-13

Four landings for two services, two in each town

Know which boat you are catching before you set off: in both towns the state ferry and the fast ferry use separate docks, and in Haines they are miles apart.

Thirteen nautical miles up Taiya Inlet

From Haines the boats head north into Taiya Inlet, the narrow upper arm of Lynn Canal that dead-ends at Skagway. On the fast ferry a naturalist points out the three big waterfalls on the way, Long Falls, Twin Falls and Sawmill Falls. The state ships make the same run as part of a longer trip that begins in Juneau, with Haines as the middle stop.

Planning a Lynn Canal hop between October and April

• No daily boat in winter

  The state day boat sails on about three days a week, and not on the same weekdays from one week to the next. Pick your date from the list, not the other way round.

• Cars go on the state ferry

  Only the Alaska Marine Highway takes vehicles. The fast ferry is foot passengers only, with no room for motorized wheelchairs or scooters.

• The road alternative is long

  By highway the two towns are about 350 miles apart, through Canada. Skagway is 108 road miles from Whitehorse on the Klondike Highway, and Haines reaches the Alaska Highway via Haines Junction.

• Wind can cancel a stop

  Weather sometimes keeps a ship from docking at Skagway, and the system lists any cancellation among its service notices, of which there were none on October 13. Keep a spare day if a flight or a border crossing depends on the boat.

• Book state sailings early

  The Sailing Search both quotes and books. Within four hours of departure from a staffed terminal, online sales stop and you deal with the terminal directly.

Two towns at the top of the Inside Passage that the road barely connects

Haines and Skagway face each other across the head of Lynn Canal, the deepest and longest fjord in North America by the state's reckoning, yet by road they are about 350 miles apart, by way of Canada. Skagway grew up in the Klondike gold rush of 1898 and is where the Chilkoot Trail and the White Pass routes begin. Haines, which AMHS places 90 nautical miles up the canal from Juneau, gathers what the state calls the world's largest concentration of bald eagles every autumn, when they come to feed on spawning salmon in the Chilkat River.

For anyone traveling between the two by car, the state ferry is the only option on the water, and in winter it is effectively a commuter service run by the same day boat that links both towns to the capital. Not every Alaska route keeps going through the winter: in Prince William Sound, the state ferry between Whittier and Cordova puts no boats on the water at all from mid-October until the first week of March. The longer leg of that trip, from Auke Bay, has its own page on the Juneau–Haines ferry, where the same LeConte and Hubbard dates continue south.

Day boats, mainliners and a passenger-only catamaran

Haines and Skagway by boat: what changes with the season