Fifteen sights in town, along the road and out in the wilderness — with how far each is from the ship.
Ketchikan divides neatly into three. Downtown is compact and walkable from the cruise berths: Creek Street, the salmon ladder, the lumberjack show and two good museums. The totem parks lie a short ride north and south along the only highway. And the wilderness — fjords, bears, rainforest lakes — begins where the road ends.
We have grouped the sights below the same way. Each page explains what you will see, how to get there with or without a tour, insider tips and a short FAQ.
Downtown, on foot from the ship Ketchikan’s famous boardwalk on stilts — once the red-light district, now its prettiest street.
A wooden boardwalk built on pilings over Ketchikan Creek, lined with brightly painted houses that were brothels until 1954. Today it holds galleries, shops and the Dolly’s House museum, with salmon and sometimes seals in the water below.
Downtown, on foot from the ship Axes, saws, log rolling and a 50-foot speed climb — an hour of timber sports by the docks.
A fast, funny, family-friendly show in which two teams of lumberjack athletes compete in chopping, sawing, axe throwing, tree climbing and log rolling. It takes place in a covered grandstand on the site of the old Ketchikan Spruce Mill, minutes from the ships.
Downtown, on foot from the ship Watch salmon fight their way up Ketchikan Creek, then take the discreet path above Creek Street.
Just upstream of Creek Street, a concrete fish ladder helps salmon past the creek’s falls, with a viewing platform above. The wooded Married Man’s Trail beside it was once the back way into the red-light district.
Downtown, on foot from the ship The welcome arch, Thomas Basin, the Tongass Historical Museum and a rain gauge taller than you.
Ketchikan’s compact centre is a sight in itself: a waterfront promenade busy with floatplanes and fishing boats, the “Welcome to Alaska’s 1st City” arch, historic Stedman and Thomas streets on pilings, public totem poles and a good small history museum.
Downtown, on foot from the ship The Forest Service’s excellent introduction to the Tongass rainforest, a block from the docks.
A public-lands visitor centre with a walk-through rainforest, exhibits on Native cultures, salmon, timber and wildlife, a film and rangers who can advise on trails and cabins in the 17-million-acre Tongass National Forest.
Totem poles & Native culture Fourteen totem poles and a clan house in the forest by the sea, 10 miles north of town.
A state park on the shore of the Tongass Narrows where Tlingit and Haida carvers recreated poles and a traditional clan house from 1938 onwards. A short forest trail leads to one of the most photogenic totem sites in Alaska.
Totem poles & Native culture A living Tlingit community with one of the world’s largest collections of totem poles.
Two and a half miles south of downtown, Saxman’s totem park holds around two dozen poles, a clan house and a carving shed where master carvers work. Guided visits include traditional dance; you can also walk the park on your own for a small fee.
Totem poles & Native culture Original 19th-century totem poles, preserved indoors and unrestored.
A small city museum holding one of the world’s largest collections of original, unrestored totem poles, brought in the 1970s from the abandoned Tlingit villages on Tongass and Village islands and the Haida village of Old Kasaan. Quiet, serious and moving.
Totem poles & Native culture A privately run totem park with clan houses and a carving centre, next door to Totem Bight.
On the shore beside Totem Bight, Potlatch Park has totem poles, a large clan house and smaller tribal houses built in traditional style, a carving shed, and — unexpectedly — collections of antique cars and firearms.
Wilderness & wildlife Sheer granite walls, waterfalls and silent lakes — by floatplane or boat from Ketchikan.
A 2.3-million-acre wilderness of glacier-carved fjords east of Ketchikan, with cliffs rising some 3,000 feet from the sea. There are no roads: you visit on a floatplane flight of about two hours or a boat cruise of four to five.
Wilderness & wildlife Black bears fishing for salmon at Neets Bay, Traitors Cove, Herring Cove and Anan.
From late July to mid-September bears gather at salmon streams around Ketchikan. You can reach viewing sites by floatplane, by boat and trail, or — at Herring Cove — by road. Sightings are never guaranteed, but in peak season the odds are good.
Wilderness & wildlife The easiest place to look for bears near Ketchikan, eight miles south of town.
A sheltered cove where a salmon stream meets the sea beside a hatchery. In late summer black bears, eagles and seals come for the fish. A private forest reserve here offers guided boardwalk walks, and the ziplines are close by.
Wilderness & wildlife Ketchikan’s backdrop peak — a steep climb to huge views — and a gentler forest walk above town.
Deer Mountain rises about 3,000 feet directly behind downtown. Its trail climbs through rainforest to viewpoints over the Tongass Narrows and the islands beyond. The much shorter Rainbird Trail gives a taste of the forest with views over the town.
Wilderness & wildlife A calm lake ringed by old-growth forest, with an easy loop trail — close to Ward Cove.
A Forest Service recreation area about eight miles north of downtown, with a level 1.3-mile nature trail around the lake, picnic shelters, a campground and longer trails into the Tongass. The best easy rainforest walk near Ketchikan.
Wilderness & wildlife A quiet fjord south of town, known for crab feasts, a historic cannery and calm-water cruising.
A long, sheltered inlet reached by the South Tongass Highway. Excursions here combine a boat trip to haul crab pots with a Dungeness crab meal at a lodge that began life as a cannery bunkhouse, near the old George Inlet Cannery.
On a single port day, pick one sight outside town and combine it with the downtown walk. With two or three days you can do the floatplane to Misty Fjords, both big totem parks, a bear-viewing trip in season and a hike on Deer Mountain or around Ward Lake. Our travel guide has ready-made plans, and our hotel picks cover where to sleep.
Seats on floatplanes, crab boats and bear-viewing trips are limited and sell out on busy ship days. Compare the best Ketchikan excursions and book in a couple of taps.
