Klondike and Kluane via the Top of the World Highway - CanaDream

Nine nights and 1,368 kilometres in a loop from Whitehorse in a motorhome, up to Dawson City, into Alaska over the Top of the World Highway and back.

Dawson City is the first destination and gets a stay day, the centre of the 1898 gold rush, where the streets are still unpaved, the boardwalks are original, the claims along Bonanza Creek are still worked and visitors can pan for gold themselves.

The Top of the World Highway runs west from there, reached by a free ferry across the Yukon River, and follows the ridge lines rather than the valleys, which is where the name comes from: the road looks out over rolling tundra in every direction and crosses into Alaska at one of the smallest border posts in the system. The route then returns east to Haines Junction with another stay day, beside Kluane National Park, which holds the largest non-polar icefield in the world and the highest mountain in Canada.

The motorhome and the day-by-day plan come from CanaDream, and the hire is priced live per vehicle rather than per person; campsites, fuel, ferries, park fees and activities are all extra, with insurance options priced at booking. Ten days for 1,368 kilometres is a fair pace with three stay days. The Top of the World Highway is largely gravel, closes outside the summer months and has limited border post hours, all of which is worth checking against the hire terms and the schedule. The season is short, roughly June to early September. Crossing into Alaska needs cross-border cover confirmed at booking.