Visiting Ketchikan: Port Days, Hours and Tickets

Most visitors get one port day, so what matters first is where your ship docks and when you must be back aboard. Comparing tours in Ketchikan Alaska? Start with where each one meets, because that decides what fits your day.

A town you can walk from the ship

Ketchikan sits on Revillagigedo Island in Southeast Alaska, on the Tongass Narrows. The town stretches 31 miles along the water and is never more than ten blocks wide, so downtown is a strip you can walk end to end. The city had 8,192 people at the 2020 census, and more than a million cruise visitors come ashore in a season.

The Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian peoples have lived in the region for more than 10,000 years. The town itself grew from a salmon saltery in the mid-1880s and was incorporated in 1900. You see both histories within a few streets of the ship: the totem poles and the old cannery waterfront.

Where your ship docks

The port has four cruise berths on Front Street, numbered south to north, and a fifth dock at Ward Cove, about seven miles north of downtown. From Berths 1 to 4 you step straight into town. From Ward Cove you ride a free shuttle to Berth 4, about 20 minutes each way, or you book a tour that collects you there.

Most tours meet at Berth 2, beside The Rock statue across from the Ketchikan Visitors Bureau at 131 Front Street. Others board at Berth 3 on Water Street. Every berth, booth and meeting point is on the Ketchikan cruise port guide.

What is free, and what charges at the door

There is no ticket for the town itself. Creek Street, the waterfront and the salmon ladder cost nothing, and several sights charge only when you go inside. The hours below are the ones the Forest Service and the City publish for 2026.

There is no single Ketchikan ticket

Every excursion is its own booking, sold per person or, for the private vans, per group. You buy it ahead and show the confirmation at the meeting point. Fishing charters take six at most and the small-group tours about a dozen, so book those, and the floatplanes, before you sail.

What a fare covers varies. A few town tours include an admission, the bear tour to Neets Bay includes its permits, and the fishing charters leave out your licence. Each card says which, next to the price.

What each kind of tour gives you

• Town and totems. A Ketchikan city tour loops Creek Street, the salmon ladder and a totem park by van, trolley or on foot, in 2 to 4 hours.
• Bears and eagles. Ketchikan wildlife tours drive the road to Herring Cove, or go by boat to Neets Bay and by floatplane to Prince of Wales Island.
• On the water. Ketchikan whale watching tours go out in an enclosed boat or an open Zodiac, and the crab boat sails from Berth 3.
• From the air. Misty Fjords tours fly by floatplane over the national monument, one with a landing on a lake.
• Something active. Ketchikan adventure tours cover the ziplines, kayaks, an e-bike ride and a UTV on forest roads.
• Your own party. Ketchikan private tours are the vans that follow your list and the fishing charters that take only you.

Timing your port day

Your all-aboard time is fixed, so work back from it. Plan to be at the ship an hour before all-aboard on any tour that has no guarantee. The Misty Fjords flights include an all-aboard guarantee: if the flight runs late, the operator gets you back to your ship.

If your ship is at Ward Cove, add the shuttle. The crab boat asks Ward Cove passengers to allow 45 minutes to ride in and walk to Berth 3. The lodge tour and the Neets Bay bear tour meet Ward Cove passengers at the Welcome Center instead, and warn that if you ride into town you will miss them.

Rain, and what to wear

Ketchikan averages 149.54 inches of rain a year at the airport (NOAA, 1991-2020). June is the driest month at 7.02 inches and October the wettest at 18.37. Tours run rain or shine, so bring a waterproof shell, layers and closed shoes. Month-by-month figures are on Ketchikan weather.

Getting here, and getting around

If you fly in, it is about 90 minutes from Seattle. The airport is on Gravina Island across the Tongass Narrows, and the airport ferry costs $6 one way for adults. Beyond downtown, the sights spread along one road north and south: Totem Bight is about ten miles north, and Ward Cove seven. Routes, ferries and distances are on how to get to Ketchikan.

Access for wheelchair users

The crab boat, the Rainforest Sanctuary walk, the distillery tour and one salmon charter say they are wheelchair accessible. Most boats, trails and floatplanes are not, because you board over docks, ramps and floats. Tell the operator what you need when you book, and they can say what the day involves.

Frequently asked before you go