Sitka excursions or sites to see?

Hello,

Looking for suggestions on sightseeing recommendations for sitka. Or anything reputable with wildlife. Our cruise has a couple listed but not much descriscription so figure word of mouth is best.

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Most towns have a web site to support tourism and local vendors. Often the site includes a visitor guide to download, as well as maps, trail guides, activities, sights, etc

https://visitsitka.org/

There are more links in the Helpful Resources thread.

Fortress of the Bear is cool to visit along with the Raptor Center.

Fortress of the bear has grizzly and black bears.

The raptor center has tons of eagles and other raptors that you get an up close look at.

I recommend both.

You can find my pictures of visiting both in my photo review from 2016 here: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2529761

We rented a car for the day at Sitka. Sitka Car Rental will have the car sitting where it would be convenient for you to pick up. I liked the freedom of going exactly where we wanted and staying however long we liked. We went to the Fortress of the Bear - it's a few miles out of town at the remains of an old pulp mill. On the way back we stopped at the Raptor Center. These are both similar concepts except one is for bears and the other for eagles, hawks, owls, etc. There's a nice nature walking loop at the Raptor Center where you can get a good look at a piece of the local rain forest.

We parked at the large parking lot on the edge of town and walked around. There is the Russian Bishop's House looking right at the harbor. The coolest part of that was seeing how the building was constructed - from the outside it doesn't look like a log building but it is. I think the Russian past and history of Sitka is fascinating.

We found a food truck parked not far from St. Michael's Cathedral where we had lunch. The truck was called Ashmo's - very good food. I'd hope they are still around!

Sitka was my favorite stop! I'm ready to go back today.

Good luck!

In Sitka, we walked from where we were tendered in to the Raptor Center. It's a beautiful walk through a wooded area. The Center was quite interesting. We also enjoyed the history of the Russian Bishop's House. With its Russian heritage, there were a couple of shops selling Russian items that were different than most of the tourist souvenir shops you encounter.

Thanks everyone!

We walked the Sitka National Historical Park - Alaska's smallest national park. Saw totem poles, salmon and a bunch of eagles. Also stopped at the Russian Cemetery, St Michael's Cathedral, Sitka Sound Science Center and the Russian Bishop's House. Princess Matsoutoff's grave is also listed as a site to see but it really wasn't

Same comments as the others, Raptor Center is great and walkable from port. We hiked around the totem pole park across from the Raptor center and it was fabulous. This year we are aiming to go to Fortress of the Bear.

We'll be in Sitka soon, and I'm booked with Sitka Adventures (Gary Downie). Obviously I can't recommend him yet, as we haven't been out on the boat with him, but I certainly was happy with how promptly he answered my inquiry about availability and what we might be able to see. His tours are similar to Allen Marine Tours - some whale watching as well as (hopefully anyway) some puffin sightings. It's not the cheapest thing to do in Sitka, but I'm hoping it will be a great few hours on the water. I'm also planning to go to the Fortress of the Bear, as the price is right. It sounds like the place where hey reside isn't much to look at, but at least the bears are there and fairly easy to view!

We took a tour from Gary Downie of Sitka Adventures. He is a local and takes you out on his small boat to all the best places. We saw sea lions, puffins, humpback whales feeding and seals to name a few. He does his best to make sure that everyone has a great experience depending on the conditions. You can contact him at gary@sitkaadventures.com. You can see his website at http://www.sitkaadventures.com. I highly recommend his tours.

The raptor center was interesting and educational.

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