Emerald Lake (Yukon) Tours and Tickets

There are plenty of ways to experience Emerald Lake (Yukon). Looking at ratings and reviews previously given by customers, these are the best tours available right now:

• Yukon Gold Experience Feat. Emerald Lake & Carcross

• Caribou Crossing Adventure Tour

• Day Trip to Skagway - Gateway to the Klondike Goldrush

It’s free to visit Emerald Lake on your own, but there are also plenty of tours exploring this scenic lake on the Klondike Highway. Full-day tours generally start around US$186. Longer journeys—which may start earlier in the day to fit in more sightseeing—cost a little more, starting at US$281.

Yes, visiting Emerald Lake is worth it. The bright blue and green colored lake near Carcross is one of the Yukon’s most photographed places for a reason—it’s gorgeous, with a backdrop of evergreen forest and distant, snow-wreathed peaks. While the setting is wonderfully remote-feeling, it’s also just steps away from the Klondike Highway.

Yes, you can swim in Emerald Lake—but the tropical-hued water is likely to be extremely cold, even during the warmest summer months. (Local swimmers wear wetsuits to avoid hypothermia.) If you decide to take a dip, stay close to shore and make sure you have a towel and dry clothes to change into afterward.

Yes, there is free parking at Emerald Lake. The free lot often fills to capacity during busy months, however. Arrive early in the day to increase your chances of finding parking. When the parking lot does fill up, visitors tend to park along the highway and walk to the lake.

Morning and evening hours are especially beautiful at Emerald Lake—in particular, the “golden hour” that softens the surrounding peaks. It’s at midday, though, that the lake’s color really pops: Natural silt in the water reflects sunlight, lending the lake the brilliant, aquamarine hue that draws avid photographers from around the globe to its shores.