Ketchikan, Alaska is a town of about 8,000 people that up to five cruise ships reach on the same day, and which berth yours uses decides the shape of your hours ashore. Four berths sit on the downtown waterfront. One dock sits at Ward Cove, seven miles north.
Ketchikan is a compact town of about 8,000 people that hosts up to five cruise ships in a single day. Most of it can be seen on foot from the four downtown berths, I through IV, but Ward Cove dock lies about seven miles north, and a free shuttle to downtown takes roughly 20 minutes each way. A day in town costs little on its own: Creek Street is a free public boardwalk, the Southeast Alaska Discovery Center charges $5 per person in season, and the city bus is $2.00 a ride. What most people actually spend is on tours, where a floatplane flight to Misty Fjords lists at $389. Half a day covers the town's core. A full day adds a totem park, a hike, or the water.
Key takeaways
Six pages carry the decisions a visit here turns on. Each one is built from the official source that publishes the figure, and says plainly where no figure is published.
Four berths downtown or Ward Cove seven miles north, and the difference decides the shape of the day: how the Ketchikan cruise port works.
Every place in town ranked, with the official adult price and whether anybody publishes one: things to do in Ketchikan.
Every excursion on the platform compared on price, rating and what they actually include: Ketchikan tours and shore excursions.
The road system ends after a few miles in each direction, so everything beyond it is a boat or a plane: day trips from Ketchikan.
Money, weather, transport and the things that catch people out: plan a trip to Ketchikan.
What the food here actually is, the tax that lands on every bill, and why we rank no restaurants: where to eat in Ketchikan.
Six places, in the order a first visit reaches them. The distances are from the downtown berths, and the chip on each card says when in the day it belongs.
The boardwalk on pilings over Ketchikan Creek, built as the red-light district and now the most photographed street in Southeast Alaska. It is a public street, so walking it costs nothing.
A converted pulp mill seven miles north of town, now a two-ship cruise pier. If your ship docks here you are not downtown, and the shuttle is the whole difference.
Ten miles north, the road runs along the water to Totem Bight, where a clan house and a stand of poles sit in the spruce above a small cove.
On the south road out of town, a Tlingit village with the largest standing collection of totem poles anywhere. Entry is run by the City of Saxman and guided by Cape Fox Tours.
Where the south road ends. Salmon stack up under the bridge in late summer, which is why the bears and the eagles are there, and why every wildlife tour comes this way.
Two million acres of granite and rain east of town, reachable only by boat or floatplane up Behm Canal. It is the one thing here that is genuinely unlike anywhere else.
Almost everything people come to Ketchikan for sits within about a mile of the downtown berths. Start at Creek Street and work uphill toward the Totem Heritage Center and the Deer Mountain trailhead. The Port of Ketchikan does not publish a walking time to Creek Street, so the walking minutes and the time-to-allow figures below are ours, read off the map and the opening hours rather than off an official page.
Creek Street is a public boardwalk of old buildings on pilings over Ketchikan Creek, a few minutes' walk from any downtown berth. It costs nothing to walk. The street was the town's red-light district for the first half of the last century, and the houses now hold shops and small museums.
Salmon pass under the boardwalk in season. Start here because it connects to the next two stops. Read the full guide to Creek Street.
Dolly's House is the preserved former home of Dolly Arthur, the best known of the women who worked Creek Street, and it is the one paid door on the boardwalk. Admission is about $10 per adult according to the Ketchikan Visitors Bureau listing, a secondary source, and no official venue site exists to confirm it. Summer hours of roughly 10am-6pm also come from secondary sources and shift with cruise ship calls.
Plan 20 minutes. See our Dolly's House page.
Married Man's Trail is the steep wooden staircase and boardwalk climbing the hillside beside Ketchikan Creek, named, in the version the town tells, for the route men took from Creek Street back to their wives. It is free, public, and the shortest way up to the Totem Heritage Center from the boardwalk. It is stairs the whole way, so it is not for anyone with mobility limits, and there is no accessible alternative published for this route.
It takes a few minutes at a steady pace. Details on Married Man's Trail.
The Totem Heritage Center at 601 Deermount Street houses 19th-century totem poles recovered from abandoned village sites, preserved indoors rather than restored outdoors. Hours are 8:00am to 5:00pm daily May through September, and 1:00pm to 5:00pm Monday through Friday October through April. The City of Ketchikan does not confirm the current admission price on an official page, though third-party sources report about $7 adult and free for children.
Allow 45 minutes to an hour. More on the Totem Heritage Center.
The Discovery Center at 50 Main Street is the US Forest Service's downtown visitor center and the best single introduction to the Tongass National Forest. Admission is $5 per person May through September, free October through April, and children 15 and under enter free with an adult. Hours in season are 9:00am to 5:00pm daily, closed federal holidays.
The center also runs a live underwater camera on spawning salmon in Ketchikan Creek. Allow an hour. See the Discovery Center page.
The Deer Mountain National Recreation Trail starts off Ketchikan Lakes Road and climbs hard. The Forest Service describes about 2,000 feet of gain in the first two miles, a maximum elevation of 3,350 feet, and a total length of 10.7 miles to Upper Silvis Lake. Most day visitors turn around at a viewpoint well short of that.
This is a real hike with real gradient, not a stroll, so bring layers and start early. It is free. Details on Deer Mountain.
The two places a cruise ship ties up in Ketchikan are not variations on the same day. The berth numbers and the downtown waterfront layout come from the Port of Ketchikan, the Ward Cove figures from the dock operator’s own schedule page.
| Where you land | To downtown | How you get in | Each way | What it does to your day |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Berths I to IV, downtown | Already in it | On foot | None | Everything in the town core is walkable. No shuttle queue at either end of the call. |
| Ward Cove | 7 miles north | Free shuttle to Berth IV | 20 min, allow 30 | Roughly an hour of the call goes to the road, and the queue is longest right after arrival and right before all aboard. |
The Port of Ketchikan does not publish a walking time from the berths to Creek Street, so we do not print one. The city publishes the daily ship schedule with passenger capacities, which is the better number to look at: it tells you how many people you are sharing the boardwalk with.
Six from the catalogue, picked because each one answers a different question: the flight, the bears, the crab, the culture, the totems and the town itself. Prices, ratings and durations below are the platform’s own figures, not ours.
from $389
Small group A six-passenger floatplane lifts off from Ketchikan for a low flight over Misty Fjords National Monument, with the pilot narrating the route by headset. Good for travelers who want an aerial view of the fjords and forest without a long day on the water.
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from $399
Free cancellation A van and speedboat combination carries small groups to Neets Bay, where forest trails lead to platforms overlooking a salmon stream favored by black bears. Suited to visitors comfortable with a five-hour outing that mixes a boat ride with walking on uneven trails.
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from $109.95
Meal included A coach ride south of town leads to George Inlet Lodge for a three-course lunch built around steamed Dungeness crab, with a host sharing stories about the old cannery building. Best for visitors who want a sit-down meal rather than a wildlife excursion.
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from $84
Free cancellation A Native-guided van tour run by Clan House Tours stops at four wildlife viewpoints and Totem Bight State Historical Park to cover Haida, Tlingit and Tsimshian history and craft. Fits travelers who want cultural context alongside a chance at spotting bears, salmon and eagles.
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from $85
Free cancellation An open-sided San Francisco style trolley tours Saxman Native Village's carved totem poles and carving shed, then continues to Herring Cove for a chance at eagles, seals and bears. A shorter option for travelers who mainly want the totem poles and a quick wildlife stop.
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from $275
Free cancellation Guests drive their own 2024 Polaris RZR through logged mountain trails above Ketchikan, with views of the Behm Canal and Tongass National Forest along the route. Meant for travelers who want an active, hands-on ride rather than a seated van or boat tour.
Check AvailabilityPrices, ratings and details are the platform's own. dollar figures are the listed prices — the platform bills in your account's currency.
What each length of stay actually buys, measured against the opening hours and the tour durations in the catalogue rather than against a wish list.
| You have | What it buys | What you give up | Book ahead? |
|---|---|---|---|
| A four-hour call | Creek Street, the Discovery Center and one museum, all on foot | Anything past the town core | No |
| A full ship day, eight to ten hours | One booked trip plus the town: the floatplane, the bears or a totem park | The second booked trip. They overlap. | Yes, for the flight |
| Two days | A flight and a boat, or a flight and the whole road system by bus | Prince of Wales and Metlakatla, which are their own trips | Yes |
| A week | The road system, Misty Fjords by water, and a run out to another island | Nothing, at this point you are living here | Only the flight |
Figures current for Q3 2026.
The National Weather Service climate normal for Ketchikan is 149.54 inches (3,798 mm) of precipitation a year. That is roughly 12 and a half feet of water on the same square foot of ground. This is not a town where rain is a chance of showers. It is the default condition, and how to dress and plan around it is the single most useful packing decision you will make.
The wettest month is October, not November and not a summer month as most people assume. October averages 18.37 inches (467 mm). November is close behind at 17.07 inches. The driest month is June at 7.02 inches (178 mm), with July close at 7.33 inches, and even those two months would count as a wet month almost anywhere else. If you want the lowest odds of a drenched day, aim for early summer. Read more on the best time to visit.
What 149 inches means on the ground is this. The rain is rarely heavy and it rarely stops. It is a fine steady drizzle or light rain for hours at a stretch, with the occasional downpour. The town is built for it. Downtown streets have covered sections, Creek Street's shops shelter the boardwalk, and the Discovery Center and the museums are dry stops within a few minutes of the docks. Nobody here waits for it to stop. Bring a real rain jacket with a hood, quick-drying footwear, and leave the umbrella at the ship. Wind often accompanies the rain, which is the other reason umbrellas fail here.
One thing worth flagging. Tourism writing often mentions a downtown "Liquid Sunshine Gauge," a public rain gauge that tallies the town's rainfall. We could not find any official City of Ketchikan, Borough, National Weather Service, or Visit Ketchikan page that publishes such a gauge. The name circulates in marketing and blog contexts only. So we do not print it as a sight. If somebody tells you to go and find it, that is where the idea came from.
Precipitation and mean temperature are the 1991-2020 NOAA climate normals for the Ketchikan airport station, USW00025325. The right-hand column is what the month means for a visitor, from the season dates and the tax table rather than from opinion.
| Month | Rain | Mean temp | What the month means |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 16.17 in (411 mm) | 2.0°C (35.6°F) | Town only. Sales tax is at the 5.5% winter rate. |
| February | 11.80 in (300 mm) | 2.3°C (36.2°F) | Town only. Totem Bight is open, the Discovery Center is free. |
| March | 10.98 in (279 mm) | 3.3°C (38.0°F) | Town only. Last month of the 5.5% rate. |
| April | 10.25 in (260 mm) | 6.4°C (43.5°F) | Tax rises to 8% on the first. First ships late in the month. |
| May | 8.68 in (220 mm) | 10.1°C (50.1°F) | Season opens. The Discovery Center starts charging $5 and runs seven days. |
| June | 7.02 in (178 mm) | 12.9°C (55.3°F) | Driest month of the year, and long daylight. |
| July | 7.33 in (186 mm) | 14.9°C (58.8°F) | Peak. Salmon in Ketchikan Creek, up to five ships a day. |
| August | 11.30 in (287 mm) | 15.0°C (59.0°F) | Peak and the warmest month, with the rain already climbing. |
| September | 14.30 in (363 mm) | 12.0°C (53.6°F) | Ships thin out through the month. Rain back over 14 inches. |
| October | 18.37 in (467 mm) | 7.9°C (46.2°F) | Wettest month of the year. Tax drops to 5.5% on the first. |
| November | 17.07 in (434 mm) | 4.3°C (39.7°F) | Second wettest. Town only. |
| December | 16.27 in (413 mm) | 2.4°C (36.4°F) | Town only, dark and wet. |
Mean daily temperature by month from the NOAA 1991-2020 normals for the Ketchikan airport station, in Celsius with the Fahrenheit reading underneath. The bands come from the cruise calendar and the sales-tax table, not from opinion.
Sales tax runs at 8% from April to September and 5.5% from October to March, so the cheap months and the wet months are the same months.
Ketchikan has no road connection to anywhere. The town sits on Revillagigedo Island at the southern end of Alaska's Inside Passage, and the local road system never links to the continental highway network. How many miles of road the community actually has is not published on the Borough's Roads page or on any other official source we found. You arrive by air or by water, and there is no third option.
Most visitors arrive by cruise ship at one of the four downtown berths or at Ward Cove, about seven miles north of downtown. If your ship uses Ward Cove, a complimentary shuttle runs continuously to Berth IV downtown. The ride takes about 20 minutes each way, and the operator suggests allowing 30 minutes to be safe.
By air, Ketchikan International Airport sits on Gravina Island, directly across the Tongass Narrows. There is no bridge. The crossing is the borough airport ferry from a terminal at 4171 Tongass Avenue. The one-way fare is $6.00 per adult passenger and $7.00 for a standard vehicle. The ferry leaves the Ketchikan side on the quarter hours and the airport side on the hour and half hour, running from 6:15am to 9:30pm. In summer a second ferry adds 15-minute weekday service between 9:30am and 5:30pm.
Alaska Airlines is the scheduled jet carrier, linking Ketchikan with Seattle and Anchorage and with the other Southeast towns, Juneau, Sitka, Petersburg and Wrangell. The airline's own airport page did not load its route detail when we checked it, so treat the frequencies you read elsewhere as secondary.
Long-distance ferry travelers use the Alaska Marine Highway System, whose Ketchikan terminal sits at 3501 Tongass Avenue, about 2 miles north-west of downtown and next door to the airport ferry. The Alaska Marine Highway publishes no flat fare. Every fare is quoted per sailing and varies by route, season, passenger age and vehicle size, so look yours up in the system's own fare tool rather than trusting any number you see elsewhere. Once you are in town, getting around is by foot, bus or tour bus.
Start with the tax, because nobody in travel media publishes it and it applies to nearly everything you buy. The City of Ketchikan levies a seasonal sales tax. From April 1 through September 30 the combined city and borough rate is 8.0 percent. From October 1 through March 31 it drops to 5.5 percent. Residential rent is taxed at 5.5 percent year-round. Areas of the borough outside city limits pay 2.5 percent, and neighboring Saxman charges 6.5 percent. Alaska has no state sales tax, so this local tax is the whole story. Budget with 8 percent on top of sticker prices in the cruise season.
The fixed fees are few and small. Totem Bight State Historical Park charges $5 per person for day use, with free parking and year-round hours of 7:00am to 6:00pm. The Southeast Alaska Discovery Center charges $5 per person May through September, with children 15 and under free, and is free from October through April. Walking Creek Street, the Married Man's Trail and the downtown waterfront costs nothing. Misty Fjords National Monument itself charges no entrance fee, so every dollar of a flightseeing price goes to the operator.
Getting around cheaply is possible. The borough bus charges $2.00 per adult ride, with a $5.00 digital day pass, so the outlying sights are reachable without a tour if you have the time.
The honest part is this. The tours are the large number on any Ketchikan day. Flightseeing, bear viewing and combined excursions run from roughly $84 to $575 in our catalogue, and they dwarf every other line in a visitor's budget. Compare them side by side in the tour catalogue before you book.
Ketchikan Creek runs straight through downtown, under Creek Street, and the fish come back to it every year within sight of the cruise berths. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game's fish-viewing page for downtown Ketchikan names two species for this creek, Chinook (king) and coho (silver) salmon. Not five. Pink, chum and sockeye are not called out for Ketchikan Creek on that page, and no official month-by-month table covering all five species for this creek was published where we could find it. Peak viewing is July and August, within a general window of May through September.
Where you stand is easy. ADFG describes no formal fish ladder at the creek. Viewing is from the Creek Street bridges over the water, and on the Married Man's Trail stairs beside the falls. In peak weeks the spawning fish fill the creek below the boardwalk.
If you want a closer look than the bridges give, the US Forest Service runs a live underwater camera on the spawning salmon in Ketchikan Creek, broadcast at the Southeast Alaska Discovery Center on Main Street. The Deer Mountain Tribal Hatchery also offers daily summer tours, which show the run's other half, the rearing side.
A note on honesty. Many sources describe five salmon species in Ketchikan's waters, and that is true of the wider area and other local creeks. For this specific creek, the official state page confirms two. The wider picture is on the fishing and salmon page.
The road ends after a few miles in each direction. Everything below starts with a boat or a plane, which is why these are the expensive half of the catalogue and the half worth planning around.
from $389
Small group A six-passenger floatplane lifts off from Ketchikan for a low flight over Misty Fjords National Monument, with the pilot narrating the route by headset. Good for travelers who want an aerial view of the fjords and forest without a long day on the water.
Check Availability
from $399
Free cancellation A van and speedboat combination carries small groups to Neets Bay, where forest trails lead to platforms overlooking a salmon stream favored by black bears. Suited to visitors comfortable with a five-hour outing that mixes a boat ride with walking on uneven trails.
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from $249
Free cancellation Retired Bering Sea crab boat captains run this three-hour cruise past Annette Bay, pulling crab and prawn pots while eagles dive for scraps off the water. A calm-water option for families who want a working boat story told by the people who lived it.
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from $124
Pickup available A heated tour boat departs Ward Cove for a wildlife cruise past Totem Bight State Park and the century-old Guard Island Lighthouse, with binoculars and a snack plate provided. A good fit for guests who want reliable eagle sightings from the water, not on foot.
Check AvailabilityPrices, ratings and details are the platform's own. dollar figures are the listed prices — the platform bills in your account's currency.
Two facts decide where to sleep in Ketchikan. The first is the dock. If you are arriving by cruise ship you have no choice about lodging, but if you are staying overnight before or after a sailing, downtown puts you within walking distance of Creek Street, the museums and the berths. Ward Cove, seven miles north, is a dock and a converted mill, not a place to stay.
The second fact is the road system. Ketchikan's roads are short and do not connect to anywhere, so nowhere in town is more than a short drive from downtown. That said, the borough bus runs limited routes, and taxi and ride-share availability is not documented on any official source we found, so a hotel without a downtown address means planning your transport in advance.
Our where to stay guide breaks down the neighborhoods and what each one costs, and our costs page covers the seasonal sales tax that applies to your room.
The questions we see most, each answered from an official source and linked to the page that covers it in full.
The airport is on Gravina Island with no bridge to Ketchikan. The Ketchikan Gateway Borough runs the airport ferry, which costs $6.00 one way per adult and $7.00 for a standard vehicle. It departs the Ketchikan terminal on the quarter hours and runs from 6:15am to 9:30pm daily. Airport ferry schedules and fares
Ward Cove is about seven miles north of downtown. A complimentary shuttle runs continuously from the Welcome Center to Berth IV downtown, taking about 20 minutes each direction, and the operator recommends allowing 30 minutes. That travel time is the single biggest planning difference between the two docks. The Ward Cove dock guide
June is the driest month at 7.02 inches on the 1991-2020 climate normal, and July is nearly as dry at 7.33 inches. October is the wettest at 18.37 inches. The cruise season of May through September sits mostly on the dry side of the year, so a summer visit is already the best odds. Choosing your month
The Totem Heritage Center downtown holds original 19th-century poles and is reachable on foot from the berths. Totem Bight State Historical Park, at milepost 10 on the north road, charges $5 per person and has free parking. Saxman village also maintains a totem park, though its self-guided admission fee is not published on any official page. Totem poles in and around Ketchikan
The Monument charges no entrance fee, so the cost is entirely transport. It is reachable only by boat or floatplane through Behm Canal, and the listed floatplane tours start at $389 in our catalogue. The honest answer is that a day trip there is the largest single expense most visitors take on. Visiting Misty Fjords
Yes, and several of the anchors cost little. Children 15 and under enter the Southeast Alaska Discovery Center free with an adult, Creek Street is free to walk, and the Lumberjack Show runs up to six one-hour shows daily with child tickets reported around $23 by secondary sources. Read the full family guide for age-by-age advice. Ketchikan with kids
Three things. It calls itself the salmon capital of the world, and Chinook and coho return to the creek that runs under Creek Street in July and August. It holds one of the largest collections of standing totem poles anywhere, in parks and at the Totem Heritage Center. And it is the first major Alaska stop for cruise ships, with up to five ships a day in peak summer. It also holds a National Weather Service climate normal of 149.54 inches of precipitation a year, which shapes every visit. The Misty Fjords floatplane flight is the signature excursion.
From the four downtown berths, yes. Berths I through IV sit along the downtown waterfront, and Creek Street, the museums, shops and restaurants are all within walking distance. The Port of Ketchikan does not publish a walking time to Creek Street, but the geography is compact. From Ward Cove, about seven miles north, you cannot walk into town in practical terms, so use the free shuttle to Berth IV, which runs continuously and takes about 20 minutes each way. Our port guide covers both docks in detail.
Yes. Ketchikan Public Utilities' water division states its drinking water is potable and meets all state and federal drinking water requirements. The utility operates under a Limited Alternative to Filtration approved by the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation with EPA concurrence, which keeps it in compliance with federal health-based standards without building a filtration plant. Bring a refillable bottle, and read our practical planning page for the rest of the everyday details.
We do not publish a cost-of-living figure, because no official source in the materials we work from gives one. What is published is the tax: the city charges a seasonal sales tax of 8.0 percent combined from April through September and 5.5 percent from October through March, with residential rent taxed at 5.5 percent year-round. Alaska has no state sales tax. For visitor costs, including the $5 park fees and tour prices, see our Ketchikan costs page.
Up to five in the peak months of June through August, which is a very large number for a town of about 8,000 people. The City of Ketchikan publishes the daily ship schedule with passenger capacities as a PDF, and the visitors bureau publishes a cruise calendar, so you can look up your exact day before you travel. On heavy days the downtown berths I through IV are full and overflow ships berth at Ward Cove, seven miles north, served by a free 20-minute shuttle. Our shore excursions page explains how ship volume affects booking.
For the flightseeing, yes. The Misty Fjords floatplane is the town's signature trip, it runs on a small aircraft, and a ship day puts several thousand people ashore at once, so book it before you arrive. Walking the town needs no booking at all. The middle ground is shows and wildlife trips, such as the Lumberjack Show, which runs up to six one-hour performances daily at two locations including Ward Cove. Our independent comparison of the tours sold here lists prices and review scores so you can judge before you commit.
Downtown, unless an early flight says otherwise. The road system is short, so nowhere in town is far, and the question is transport rather than distance: downtown puts the free things and the Free Downtown Shuttle Zone on your doorstep, the north road puts Totem Bight on it instead, and the only reason to sleep near the airport ferry is a dawn departure, because the ferry runs 6:15am to 9:30pm and the airport is on a different island. The three areas compared has the trade-offs. We rank no hotels, because we have stayed in none.
Three filmed walk-throughs of a port day, chosen because they show the distances and the weather that a written page cannot.
A full port day at walking pace, which is the best way to judge the distances from the berths.
Video: Art We There Yet?Covers the dock question and what a ship day actually allows.
Video: Christine LozadaThe town core and the totem parks, filmed in the weather you should expect.
Video: Take2TravelLinked as published on YouTube. We have no connection to these channels.
The office, phone and email above belong to the city's own visitor service, published on the official tourism site and checked on 2026-09-15 — they are not this site's contact details. To reach us, use the contact page.
Ketchikan City Guide