Ketchikan what to do ?

[Nick2000]

Hi

 

Any ideas what to do in Ketchikan ? We booked scenic flight at 12 pm , our ship will be at 7 am . Help please

 

 

 

Nick

[Haboob]

First advice is watch the Ketchikan Lumberjack Show video on YouTube before deciding.

Great for 12yo boys, beyond that? Your call.

[JT1962]

We took a kayaking tour with Southeast Kayaks, then walked Creek Street, went to the Fish Ladder and did some shopping.

 

If you are interested in souvenirs / gifts for others, this may be your best option. Not all of it is made in Alaska, but the prices and selection was the best we saw of any port.

 

 

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[olya1972]

Hi

 

Any ideas what to do in Ketchikan ? We booked scenic flight at 12 pm , our ship will be at 7 am . Help please

 

 

 

Nick

Since you already booked the scenic flight which people on this boards called excellent and not to be missed experience, I would spent the rest of the afternoon strolling through town.It's a very easily walkable town and ships ( at least on both occasions we have been there) dock right there, ten minutes walk from famous Creek street. On a way you pass through small park with blooming trees and flowers and benches to sit ( I think it's called Whale Park but may be mistaken). When you walk along Creek street, you encounter glass elevator. For $2 or $3 it takes you up to what is called Fox Lodge. It's a quick ride with beautiful views of port with ships below. In a lodge there is small but informative exhibition on Native People, outside is a small circular lawn with 7 or so Totem poles and the view down to port. It's all free, of course. In the lobby there is coffee shop and when we got our coffees ( and good ones, too) they gave us access to free WI FI. So we sat in their comfy chairs sipping coffee, checking our emails etc. Once you take elevator down, you proceed down the Married Men Trail to Salmon lader ( no Salmon there in May, but a nice pretty platform to observe the creek). You just continue on down and around to the area where all the souvenir and artisan shops are. I liked browsing the shops, tried some salmon samples on crackers (bought prepacked Salmon there, it wasn't really good, second time got Ulu knives in the same shop for souvenirs). At you leasure it's couple of hours of easy exploring through pretty town. On a way back to the ship right outside of shopping area and before you hit the small park I mentioned above, there are (or is?) more Totem poles at the entrance to museum. We went inside only to use bathrooms, but it appeared like a nice place to visit if you have time and desire. We are contemplating to book Misty Fjords plane tour and then do as above. If we will end up not booking a tour, we might take city bus to one of the Totem parks and do above on return. On our first visit we took tour van offered outside the ship on a pier for about $50 per person. They drove us around the area with visit to Totem park (which was the best part of that tour, our guide wasn't very enthusiastic and was quiet sarcastic). I have read around here that it's easy to hop on a city bus for couple of dollars near the pier and it will take you to Totem park (there are different bus routes to two different Totem parks in the area. Someone on this boards suggested to take the first bus that comes around unless one has a strong preference on which park to go to). Out of all the stops we did in AK over our two previous cruises, I think Ketchikan is the most interesting and easy stop to explore on ones own. Sitka too, actually.

Edited April 29, 2018 by olya1972
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[mapleleaves]

Look under Things to Do. There are also maps for self guided walking tours, totem locations, trails,

 

http://www.experienceketchikan.com/

[Cruise_More_Often]

Look under Things to Do. There are also maps for self guided walking tours, totem locations, trails,

 

http://www.experienceketchikan.com/

That is a terrific website. It even has webcams. Thanks, mapleleaves.

[mapleleaves]

That is a terrific website. It even has webcams. Thanks, mapleleaves.

 

You're welcome ! Glad you find it useful.

 

Every town (port) has a web site that helps promote tourism and local vendors. Many of them have visitor guides you can download or send for, plus maps, trails, activities, suggested things to do, etc.

There are also web sites for National Parks (like Glacier Bay), National Forests (Tongass where Mendenhall Glacier is located, areas like Kenai Peninsula, and the Alaska Tourism Dept (https://www.travelalaska.com/ ). There is a wealth of information on-line. I included as many as I could think of in the Helpful Resources thread, which is probably at the bottom of this page or on pg 2.

 

Have a great trip !

 

p.s. somewhere in that thread there's a link for web cams at all the ports

[snowmc]

Check out https://zest4travel.wordpress.com/2017/02/23/fun-in-ketchikan/....some good ideas here.