Ketchikan on Your Own

[carlsbadguy]

For our Ketchikan stop which is from 7:00 AM to 4:00 PM thinking of seeing sites on our own after a leisurely breakfast. I was wondering what is within walking distance of the ship?

[kathyemma]

I need to know about this too! My dh and dd are going on a canopy tour. I am not. I have about four hours to myself. I heard there was a lot of great shopping.

[SuperCrewBear]

Downtown Ketchikan is practically across the street from the docks. There are a good number of cool little mom & pop type shops plus several large stores with all kinds of Alaska souvenirs. Creek Street is maybe 5-6 blocks away and an easy walk - several nice shops. My favorite is called Fish Creek Company - they have some unique items but are not cheap. I don't think you'll get lost. If you decide you're hungry and want a good old fashioned hamburger, Burger Queen is right outside the street tunnel on the far side from the main part of downtown - also a very easy walk. The BIG shop is Tongass Trading and it's huge - if you can't find it there you probably don't need it. ;p It's on the same side of the street as the ships and about in the middle of the dock area.

[Keith1010]

Ketchikan is very easy to do on your own if you just want to stay in town.

 

Some photos from walking around.

 

[Keith1010]

 

 

[Keith1010]

 

 

[Keith1010]

After several visits we decided to visit Dolly House.

 

 

Totem Park. Not too far a walk.

 

[Keith1010]

Beautiful scenery.

 

This was in April so very early.

 

 

[Keith1010]

 

 

[Keith1010]

A few photos from a more recent visit.

 

Totem Poles

 

 

Lots of beautiful scenery.

 

[Keith1010]

 

 

[Keith1010]

Salmon Hatchery.

 

[Keith1010]

Never get tired of revisiting places such as the Heritage Totem Pole Center.

 

 

[Keith1010]

Of course there is also lots of shopping in town and I would visit local stores that sell local crafts although all of those Caribbean types of jewelry stores are there too.

 

 

So this is a street we don't shop on but there are other more remote streets that we would to purchase one local craft to remember our trip.

 

Keith

[carlsbadguy]

How far a walk is the Totem Pole Center from the ship.

[Keith1010]

How far a walk is the Totem Pole Center from the ship.

 

I think it was around 30 minutes from where we were docked.

Keith

[shadowmeboy]

The southeast Alaska Discovery Center is a nice place to visit, especially if the “liquid sunshine” is especially heavy that day!

[roothy123]

There is also bus service from port to both Totem Bight Park/Potlatch Park north of city as well as bus going to Saxman Village south. There's Lumberjack Show not far from port but it sounds kind of hokey to me. At Creek St you can sometimes take a funicular up to top of town and back.

[roothy123]

Totem Bight is different from Totem Center mentioned above, but there are totems in both places, plus Saxman. Potlatch is right next to Totem Bight and has Clan House, small antique car museum, etc.

[roothy123]

A good source is tomsportguides.com. He has a good free guide for Ketckikan that will help you figure out what to do.

[roothy123]

Enjoyed those pictures, Keith!

[wolfie11]

For our Ketchikan stop which is from 7:00 AM to 4:00 PM thinking of seeing sites on our own after a leisurely breakfast. I was wondering what is within walking distance of the ship?

 

There is a free shuttle bus that runs in a loop from cruise ship docks to Creek Street/Totem Heritage Center/ Lumberjack show/SE AK Discovery Center./Safeway Mall

[roothy123]

Yes, good point. Just check frequency and time of last service, as I think bus only runs hourly. But walking from Creek Street back to the ship isn't bad for most people, although I guess it depends a bit on which berth you dock at.

[Northern Aurora]

How far a walk is the Totem Pole Center from the ship.

 

I've never timed the walk, but we generally take the funicular from Creek Street up to Cape Fox Lodge. The funicular is shown in Keith's post #10 (the first of his photos). Very inexpensive to purchase a ticket. Also we generally enjoy a coffee in the coffee shop at Cape Fox. If you don't have a general tourist type map then the folks at Cape Fox would give you directions to the Totem Heritage Center.

 

I also enjoyed Keith's photo of Soho Coho (the second photo in his post #5). Love Ray Troll's dry sense of fish humor, and we always stop at his shop.

[wolfie11]

Yes, good point. Just check frequency and time of last service, as I think bus only runs hourly. But walking from Creek Street back to the ship isn't bad for most people, although I guess it depends a bit on which berth you dock at.

 

The shuttle bus is a free bus service for the cruise ships and runs about every 15 minutes. They usually use the buses with salmon painted on them. I'm not sure what time they stop in the evening but I think they run until at least 6pm unless the ships are gone by then.