Ketchikan City Guide
Plan a Trip to Ketchikan
To plan a trip to Ketchikan you need four answers and the rest follows: which dock your ship uses, which month you come, how much of the day you are willing to give a booked trip, and whether you are walking or riding. Every page below answers one of those and carries the source it was read from. The guide itself starts on the Ketchikan city guide homepage.
Quick answer The four answers a Ketchikan plan actually needs
Start with the dock: four berths put you downtown, Ward Cove puts you 7 miles north and costs roughly an hour of the call. Then the month: June is the driest at 7.02 inches and October the wettest at 18.37. Then the money, where the sales tax runs 8% in summer and 5.5% in winter and the only two published attraction fees in town are both $5. Then the legs: a free downtown shuttle zone and a $2.00 bus reach most of it.
Key takeaways
- Read how the cruise port works before anything else, because the berth decides the shape of the day.
- The cheap months and the wet months are the same months: the weather page has the normals.
- A full day on foot costs about $10, which is the case Ketchikan without a tour makes.
- Only one trip here reliably needs booking ahead, and it is the floatplane.
Every planning page, grouped by the decision it answers
Sixteen pages, grouped by the question that sends a reader to them rather than by page type. Each one names the body that publishes the figures it uses, and says plainly where nobody publishes any.
Before you book
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Which dock your ship is on
Four berths downtown, or Ward Cove seven miles north
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Ward Cove
The shuttle costs about an hour of an eight-hour call
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Best time to visit
June is driest, August warmest, October wettest
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Weather and rain
149.54 inches a year across 232.6 days
Getting here and about
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Getting there
No road in. Airport on another island, $6 ferry
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Getting around
A free downtown zone, and a $2.00 bus for the rest
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The map
Fifteen places pinned and coloured by what they cost
Money
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What it costs
Sales tax 8% in summer, 5.5% in winter
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Without a tour
A full day for about $10
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Shore excursions
Whether the ship waits, and what that is worth
Who you are travelling as
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With kids
Only four of eighteen trips publish a minimum age
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Accessibility
What the operators actually publish, and what they do not
Days and nights
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One day in Ketchikan
The ship call, hour by hour, both berths
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Two days in Ketchikan
For people who sleep here
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Where to stay
Areas, not hotel rankings we cannot stand behind
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Where to eat
What the food is, and why we rank no restaurants
The trips those decisions are usually about
Four listings spanning the catalogue, from the cheapest structured half day to the one that needs booking ahead. Prices, ratings and durations are the platform’s own figures.
from $84
Free cancellation Ketchikan: Alaska Native Cultural and Scenic Shore Excursion
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.
Check Availability
from $85
Free cancellation Ketchikan: Totem Pole, Wildlife & City Trolley Tour
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.
Check Availability
from $109.95
Meal included From Ketchikan: Crab Feast Lunch at World-Famous Lodge
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.
Check Availability
from $389
Small group Ketchikan: Misty Fjords National Monument Floatplane Tour
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 AvailabilityPrices, ratings and details are the platform's own. dollar figures are the listed prices — the platform bills in your account's currency.
Next
Things to do
Sixteen places ranked, seven of them free: things to do in Ketchikan.
What the plan is forPlanning questions
How many days do you need in Ketchikan?
Most visitors get a ship call of four to ten hours and that is enough for the town on foot plus one booked trip, not two. If you are sleeping here, two days buys the town and one trip off the road system, and a week buys the whole road system plus a run to another island. One day in Ketchikan and two days in Ketchikan lay both out hour by hour.
What should I book before I arrive?
One thing, realistically: the Misty Fjords floatplane at $389, because the aircraft are small and a ship day puts several thousand people ashore at once. Everything else in the catalogue can usually be booked the week before, and the town itself needs no booking at all. Ketchikan shore excursions compares the six kinds of trip and says which are worth the premium.
Do I need a car in Ketchikan?
No, and it rarely pays. The road runs a short way north and a short way south and connects to nothing, no official source publishes its total length, and the borough bus covers the useful stretch at $2.00 a ride with a $5.00 day pass. There is also a free downtown shuttle zone in season. Getting around Ketchikan covers what the road actually reaches.
What is the cheapest month to visit Ketchikan?
Anything from October to March, because the sales tax drops from 8% to 5.5% on 1 October and the cruise season is over. The trade is weather: October is the wettest month of the year at 18.37 inches and December gives 7 hours 5 minutes of daylight. Best time to visit sets the two against each other month by month.
Is Ketchikan expensive?
The town is not, the excursions are. Two attractions publish a fee and both are $5, the bus is $2.00, and a full self-guided day runs about $10. The trips run $84 to $575 and dwarf everything else in a visitor's budget. What Ketchikan costs prices three versions of a day from published figures.
What is there to do in Ketchikan if it rains?
Assume it will: 232.6 days a year carry measurable rain. The dry stops are the Discovery Center at $5, the Totem Heritage Center, and the covered arena of the Lumberjack Show. Boat and coach trips run in rain, and only the aircraft cancel, and for cloud rather than for rain. Ketchikan weather covers what to wear.
Planning on video
Three films that answer the planning questions above faster than a page can.
Everything to Know Before You Cruise Ketchikan Alaska!
Covers the dock question and how a call is structured.
Video: Christine LozadaFirst Time To KETCHIKAN? Here's What To Do
A first visit end to end, at the pace a plan has to survive.
Video: Cruising with Kristie11 Amazing Things You MUST Do in Ketchikan, Alaska
The list a plan has to choose from.
Video: Art We There Yet?Linked as published on YouTube. We have no connection to these channels.
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