The Top Things To Do In Ketchikan, Alaska (2024)

Season: Late April-early October$139 per person3.5 hrs

Pad­dle all around ashim­mer­ing lake, look­ing for wildlife on the shore and rev­el­ing in the spec­tac­u­lar moun­tain views that sur­round you. Then stop off at ashore­line camp to enjoy asnack over an open fire. When you’re fin­ished, you’ll go on ashort walk through adra­mat­ic old-growth forest.

Season: May - Sept$350+ per person4 - 8 hrs

From cruise ship excur­sions to all-day fish­ing trips, Ketchikan’s Finest Fish­ing Char­ters pro­vides top-notch equip­ment and acus­tomized approach to make your trip an adven­ture to remem­ber. Keep your eyes peeled for wildlife and be ready for afish­ing expe­ri­ence like noother!

Season: May 01 to Sep 21 $1752.5 hrs

Explore the gor­geous, dynam­ic scenery and wildlife around Ketchikan by get­ting out on the water in alow-impact Zodi­ac — an authen­ti­cal­ly Alaskan way to trav­el! Every expe­di­tion is dif­fer­ent as there’s flex­i­bil­i­ty for some spon­tane­ity. You can spend extra time in aplace if there’s amag­i­cal, Nation­al Geo­graph­ic-type moment happening!

Season: Year Round$750+ per group (up to 11)3 - 4 hrs

Local­ly owned and oper­at­ed, Emer­ald For­est Tours spe­cial­izes in Pri­vate tours suit­able for all ages. Offer­ing ease, com­fort, flex­i­bil­i­ty, and arelaxed pace they bring guests to des­ti­na­tions to see bears, eagles, seals, and salmon, includ­ing loca­tions along the inner pas­sage for awide vari­a­tion of sea life! You’ll also see Totem poles, water­falls, and have access to The Her­ring Bay Lum­ber co Sawmill, which oper­at­ed from 1959 to2002....more

Season: May–September$390+ per personHalf & Full Day

Ketchikan — the salmon fish­ing cap­i­tal of the world — was made for fish­ing. And Salmon Falls Resort has made it easy to expe­ri­ence this icon­ic Alaskan activ­i­ty with afull or half-day of unfor­get­table angling. Whether you’re stop­ping for the day in Ketchikan on acruise ship or already in town and look­ing for agreat one-day out­ing, this is foryou.

Season: April—October$100+3-4 hrs

South­east Alas­ka is home to the Ton­gass Nation­al For­est, where near­ly 17 mil­lion acres of glac­i­ers, moun­tains, rivers, and fjords com­ple­ment old-growth forests of spruce, cedar, and hem­lock. Walk among these giant sen­tinels, some well over 500years old, and breathe in the pris­tine air that they pro­vide in one of North America’s largest car­bon sinks. Expe­ri­ence this world-renowned gem of arain­for­est on aguid­ed hike or an SUV tour when youstop...more

Season: Apr 28 - Sept 28$169.993 hrs

Don awet­suit, mask, fins and snorkel and get an up-close look at the unique sea crea­tures of the 49^th state: urchins, sea stars, crabs, sea cucum­bers, and…what’s that…a hump­back whale swim­ming near­by?! This is the mag­ic of snor­kel­ing in Alas­ka — a sin­gu­lar expe­ri­ence that you can only do in the waters around Ketchikan. No expe­ri­ence? No problem.

Season:May - September$359+ Day Trips5+ hrs

Bara­nof Fish­ing Excur­sions offers clas­sic Alas­ka fish­ing expe­ri­ences from their pri­vate mari­na in down­town Ketchikan. They pro­vide every­thing you need from rub­ber boots to expert guides, for an extra­or­di­nary fish­ing adventure!

Season: Late April-early October$189 per person4 hrs

Board arigid-hull inflat­able boat for a20-minute ride out to aseclud­ed island. Weave through aseries of small islands with mas­sive cliffs that rise hun­dreds of feet out of the ocean, check out active bald eagle nests and look for sea lions and seabird rook­eries along the way. Once at the island, you’ll climb out on the beach, break out into small­er groups, and set off on astun­ning hike on aboard­walk that snakes through the rainforest....more

Season: Late April-early October$229 per person4 hrs

Dri­ve your own jeep along pri­vate log­ging roads that wind up into the moun­tains, on your way to an alpine lake. Pad­dle across the shim­mer­ing lake to ashore­line camp for adeli­cious snack over an open fire. Enjoy some sto­ry­telling, then go on ashort nature walk through abeau­ti­ful old-growth forest.

Season: April 1 - Sept 30$190+ per person3+ hrs

Expe­ri­ence kayak­ing in Alas­ka the way it should be — away from the crowds — with these unique Ketchikan pad­dling tours that make you feel like atrue explor­er. Your small group (usu­al­ly just 4peo­ple) will board the company’s com­fort­able boat and set off from the Ketchikan cruise-ship dock, leav­ing the big ships and the crowds behind. Choose from a3‑hour tour, or 5‑hour kayak and hiketour.

Season: May 14 - Sept 16$250+ per person4-8 hrs

Ketchikan is known as the ​“salmon cap­i­tal of the world,” and this unique­ly per­son­al tour is your chance to angle for these icon­ic Alaskan fish — as well as huge hal­ibut. You’ll board an inti­mate fish­ing boat — com­plete with top-qual­i­ty fish­ing and rain gear, as well as heaters, snacks, and bev­er­ages — close to the Ketchikan cruise ter­mi­nal. And, since this is apri­vate char­ter, it will be only your group onboard!

Season: May 1 - September 1Custom Trips, Call for Quote3 - 21 Days

Dis­cov­er South­east Alaska’s nat­ur­al won­ders aboard achar­tered sail­boat with Sail­ing Alas­ka. Cus­tomize your pri­vate expe­di­tion with expe­ri­enced cap­tain John Joeright and enjoy all-inclu­sive meals, com­fort­able accom­mo­da­tions, and end­less adven­tures on the 46-foot S/V Sham­rock. Watch whales, hike, fish, vis­it local com­mu­ni­ties, and more — all at your ownpace.

Season: May 1–September 30$28,000 per week for up to 4 people7 days

Embark on an unfor­get­table, week-long Alaskan adven­ture through south­east Alas­ka aboard a58-foot char­ter yacht that departs from stun­ning Prince of Wales Island. Up to 6peo­ple can join this immer­sive wilder­ness expe­ri­ence, where you’ll see Alas­ka in aunique and authen­tic way by fish­ing, hik­ing, kayak­ing, see­ing wildlife, and learn­ing about local culture.

The three-hour trip starts with ashort flight over the Ton­gass Nation­al For­est to Trai­tors Cove. Access is lim­it­ed to afew vis­i­tors each year, so this is tru­ly aspe­cial oppor­tu­ni­ty. Atrained guide will escort you through the for­est to aview­ing plat­form, where you can take in bears feed­ing on salmon as eagles dive in and out for scraps.

You let Alas­ka Hum­mer Adven­tures know your pre­ferred sites in advance (there’s aform on their web­site) and they will cus­tomize your tour to fit. Choic­es range from des­ti­na­tions like the Sax­man Native Vil­lage and Totem Bight State Park to shop­ping, hik­ing, or wildlife view­ing. There’s also aprici­er 6‑hour tour if you want to take ahum­mer and achar­ter boat to try bear view­ing at Mar­garetCreek.

The Misty Fjords fleet is extreme­ly well-main­tained and boasts com­fort­able seats and panoram­ic view win­dows. Depend­ing on the num­ber of peo­ple in your flight­see­ing group, you’ll fly in the De Hav­il­land Otter (seats 10, the ​“cut­ting edge” in sea­planes), the De Hav­il­land Beaver (seats 6, com­fort­able and reli­able ​“work­horse”), or aCess­na 135 (seats 2 – 3, the ​“sports car” of seaplanes).

Explore the rich ocean waters off Ketchikan while watch­ing bald eagles and seals. Snap pho­tos of Totem Bight State Park and Guard Island Light­house while you cruise past rugged, remote islands. The com­pa­ny’s cus­tom-made ves­sels are per­fect for these waters: big, sta­ble, smooth, and pow­er­ful. Take in the views from the open-air obser­va­tion deck or the heat­edcabin.

Hop in and be sure your cam­era has ful­ly charged bat­ter­ies. Jeff’s DeHav­i­land Beaver – an award win­ning Alaskan float plane – is also athrill for those want­i­ng aquin­tes­sen­tial Alaskan adven­ture. With all those hours in the air, Jeff can tell you athing or two about what you’ll see upon land­ing too. He was born and raised in Ketchikan, and speaks with author­i­ty on those things he’s been doing all his life: fly­ing, fish­ing, and hunting.

Vis­i­tors enjoy an enter­tain­ing 90-minute tour of Ketchikan by land and by water while upon an amphibi­ous vehi­cle that can accom­mo­date up to 30 guests in roomy, com­fort­ableseats.

Explor­ing Ketchikan on foot is not only pos­si­ble, but is one of the best things you can do giv­en an hour and ahalf intown.

Difficulty: DifficultDistance: 10 milesElevation Gain: 1300 feet

If you want to get away and don’t have aboat or aplane, this is as far away north one can eas­i­ly get from Ketchikan. The trail ends at the head­wa­ters of Lunch Creek — the shores of Lake Emery Tobin, which is sur­round­ed by arim of steep moun­tain­sides often capped with snow ridges andpeaks.

Difficulty: DifficultDistance: 5 milesElevation Gain: 2600 feet

Deer Moun­tain is Ketchikan’s icon­ic back­drop. The path briefly threads between res­i­den­tial lots, then turns to arocky trail that quick­ly ascends. On the way up there are mul­ti­ple scenic overlooks.

Difficulty: EasyElevation Gain: 450 feet

This is apop­u­lar week­end hike if you want to spend two-to-four hours in the Ton­gass Nation­al For­est and is only about 15 – 20min­utes north of town. Though you gain ele­va­tion on the hike up to the lake, it is not unfor­giv­ing­ly steep. Per­se­ver­ance Lake is one of Ketchikan’s pic­turesque moun­tain-lake scenes.

Difficulty: EasyDistance: 3 milesElevation Gain: 150 feet

If you are look­ing for ashort­ish ​“in-town” trail, this trail begins at the back of aneigh­bor­hood and walks up aser­vice road to adam that over­looks amoun­tain-lake scene.

Difficulty: EasyDistance: 2 milesElevation Gain: 200 feet

This hike offers anice wide-open space expe­ri­ence and is not very long. Much like hik­ing the access road to Low­er Sil­vis Lake, the Whit­man Trail is anoth­er ser­vice road to two dams that gen­er­ate elec­tric­i­ty for Ketchikan res­i­dents and was recent­ly made avail­able for hik­ing and recre­ation; how­ev­er, no motor­ized vehi­cles are per­mit­ted. Infor­ma­tive signs are post­ed on afence gate up the road and on bothdams.

Difficulty: DifficultDistance: 3 milesElevation Gain: 1500 feet

The dri­ve out to the Dude Moun­tain trail­head is one of the most scenic dri­ves that Ketchikan has to offer. The trail begins wind­ing through lush rain­for­est. The last part is steep and can be mud­dy in wet weath­er or cov­ered in snow in spring andfall.

The Sal­vage Trail is an out-and-back trail that rolls up and down through the woods, par­al­lel­ing Revil­la Road. The trail is awide grav­el path where two-to-three peo­ple can walk beside eachother.

On one of the run-off creeks from Achilles Moun­tain or Twin Peaks Moun­tain above pours a100-foot or more water­fall right beside Ton­gass High­way towards the end of theroad

Difficulty: ModerateDistance: 5 milesElevation Gain: 100 feet

Locat­ed in the Ton­gass Nation­al For­est, Ward Creek is wide enough to dri­ve atruck down, though no vehi­cles are per­mit­ted, and is pop­u­lar with the locals for walk­ing dogs. Across the road from the Ward Lake Recre­ation Area park­ing lot, trail­head 1takes you north and fol­lows Ward Creek, which flows out of Con­nell Lake, by the Last Chance camp­ground, and through Ward Lake to even­tu­al­ly meet the ocean in WardCove.

Elevation Gain: 2600 feet

If you are alover of alpine, stun­ning views, and longer, more chal­leng­ing hikes, then this all-day, one-way moun­tain tra­verse between Car­lan­na Lake and Per­se­ver­ance Lake is the per­fect choice.

Refuge Cove State Recre­ation Site is asliv­er of land lin­ing part of an edge of aneigh­bor­hood and is apop­u­lar beach pic­nick­ing des­ti­na­tion with the locals. The site comes com­plete with pit toi­lets, shel­tered and unshel­tered pic­nic tables with fire grates, and aquar­ter-mile trail accom­pa­nied by inter­pre­tive signs that address the local nat­ur­al history.

Difficulty: EasyDistance: 1 mile

The most­ly-flat Ward Lake trail fol­lows the cir­cum­fer­ence of the lake’s shore in aswath of grav­el that is wide enough for two peo­ple to walk abreast. Ward Lake is tucked into the edge of the Ton­gass Nation­al For­est bound­ary. Its prox­im­i­ty to town makes the recre­ation area pop­u­lar with the locals.

Difficulty: Moderate

Run­ning just above and par­al­lel to Ketchikan’s Third Avenue Bypass, Rain­bird Trail is per­fect if you only have acou­ple hours but still want to expe­ri­ence asmall piece of South­east Alaska’s rain­for­est. The trail­head is only 20min­utes from down­town (a short dri­ve rel­a­tive to most oth­er trails), and the trail’s south­ern end — just beyond the top of the met­al stairs — offers great views of down­town Ketchikan, the Ton­gass Nar­rows, and the neighboring...more

Difficulty: DifficultDistance: 2 milesElevation Gain: 170 feet

The one-mile grav­el trail to Coast Guard Beach winds through Ketchikan Gate­way Bor­ough land and then cross­es into Alas­ka Men­tal Health Trust Land. Most­ly the trail descends to the beach; how­ev­er, afew hills do rise along the way. This beach is agood place for walk­ing, sun­bathing, beach­comb­ing, pho­tog­ra­phy, writ­ing, read­ing, med­i­ta­tion, tai-chi, just sit­ting, marine-life view­ing, and dog swimming.

Difficulty: EasyElevation Gain: 100 feet

Con­nell Lake is agood choice if you want atrail that is less pop­u­lar but just as close to town as the Per­se­ver­ance trail. The rocky, dirt path gen­tly climbs through the rain­for­est canopy and hugs the shore­line of the lake. On the oth­er side is anice flat area that the creek bows around, cre­at­ing asmall penin­su­la. Afire-pit indi­cates that this is apre­ferred spot to spend some time orcamp.

Leav­ing from the end of Ton­gass High­way, enter the Lunch Creek Trail and very soon take the trail to the left as this steps you quick­ly down to awater­fall view­ing plat­form and then the rest of the way down to where, to the right, you can also cross the Lunch Creek bridge, which pro­vides water­fall views as well as the ocean where the creek flowsinto.

Set­tlers Cove State Recre­ation Site offers two of the best sandy beach­es to be found in the Ketchikan area and pro­vides pit toi­lets and shel­tered and unshel­tered pic­nic tables with fire grates. Acamp­ground with eight camp­sites is avail­able as well and one pub­lic-use cab­in on the water that can be rented.

Hear shrieks and squeals of excite­ment as kids wade around in tide­pools with their buck­ets find­ing all man­ner of crit­ters – eels, bull­heads, snails, her­mit crabs, sea urchins, sea anemones, starfish, blim­mies (eel­type fish), small octo­pus, eel­grass, clams, mol­lusks, andkelps.