Ports and Walking

[Theresa04]

My mom and I will be traveling in August. Our ports are Juneau, Sitka, Ketchikan, and Victoria, BC. Are most of these towns "walking cities" where it is easy to get around by foot in order to explore on our own?

 

I assume that most are near the shore where we port or the ship will provide a shuttle back and forth?

 

Thanks for any advice you may have to offer!!

[Happy ks]

It's titled "Inside Passage Walking Tours" by Julianne Chase. Here's a link for the book http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-form/103-6640562-8860626 . It's a small, packable walking guide for each of your ports, with the exception of Victoria. It gives a short overview of the history of each port, a sort of guided tours of the highlights and a small map of each port.

 

I'm also sure that you will be able to pick up area maps either upon embarkation, or at each individual port. Have a great trip!

 

I'm sorry if the link doesn't work for you, I had a problem with it after I posted this. You can easily find it by going to amazon.com

[1drifter]

We bought the same book (try http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1570611327/qid=1090885624/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-8613226-0813639?v=glance&s=books )

We did not use it in Juneau because it was raining. We caught an inexpensive tour at the docks and it was very nice. We wanted to take the bus to the glacier anyway so that was all covered in the trip.

We did walk in Sitka & Ketchican, and followed the book. I thought it was very thorough and we had a great time. Ketchican is hilly and I would say you need to be in fairly good shape to do the whole tour in both towns. But the book does offer ways to cut out some spots and make the walks shorter. We're used to walking so it was not a problem.

If you decide not to do the walking tours, but just want to walk around the shopping areas of town, they are all very walkable. We shuttled into town in Juneau, and there was also a shuttle in Victoria, but it depends on the dock your ship is at. Have a great walking time! Shari

[Budget Queen]

There are also free walking tour maps at the visitor centers in each port. But do consider getting out of town on some of the excellent touring opportunities as well- just superior tours in Alaska. All ports are walkable to town- without mobility limitations.

[Theresa04]

We are definitely doing shore excursions at the various ports. I was just trying to determine whether we'd be able to explore the towns on foot during our free time on those days.

 

Thanks for all of your advice. I'm definitely going to look up that book. Sounds like it would be really helpful!

[Budget Queen]

For even more comprehensive info, request each city's visitor guide. Loaded with info for seeing the areas.

[TJ O'Pootertoot]

I'm not going until next week but I've also found some good walking tours in Frommer's Alaska 2004 book.

 

If you go to http://www.frommers.com they have it online - I think they even have JPGS of the maps...

 

TJ

[Theresa04]

I just looked at Frommers online. That's a great site with lots of helpful info. Thanks for the tip!

[robbinsca]

In Ketchikan everything was right in front of you at the port. The best places in town were only a matter of 3 bloks away, and there were plenty of shops to stop in along the way.

 

In Juneau there is really only one main artery that you go up. Maybe it was just too commericalized for us, but we finally took a bus tour through MGT Tours instead and got out of the commecial area. It was one of the best decisions we made. They take you all around town- and then out to the Mendenhall Glacier and out to Auke Lake.

[me@sea]

My only suggestion is that you read the entire walking tour before you begin your trek as I did the entire Ketchikan walking tour with one detour. Imagine my surprise when I read 'climb 65 stairs'. WOW! However the view was amazing.

 

Then near the end of the walking tour, 'walk down 116 stairs'. Well, at least they advise you of how many stairs there are. :D

 

Lisa

[Treven]

I did a Google search and it popped right up. Looks like interesting reading.

You might also look into Alaska, Ports of Call by Fodors. It's a small paperback that will fit in either your purse or back pocket of your jeans. I have a copy of that and it's pretty good.

[geoherb]

We also walked up the stairs from Creek Street in Ketchikan. It's a wonderful view of the ship from up there. The stairs I remember most were in Juneau. We walked from the ship up to the capitol and then down to the Alaska State Museum. They looked really close on the map. I'm glad we were going down the steps instead of up. They were very steep.

 

Here's the link to the walking tour of Juneau on the Frommer's website.

[me@sea]

Geoherb,

 

You mean I missed some stairs :::gasp::: Lately, all my vacations tend to have sites that are either on the top of a hill/mountain or have numerous stairs to climb.

 

I wish I had followed the walking tour for Juneau but did enjoy my hike around the Mt Roberts tram.

 

Lisa

[geoherb]

Here's someone's photo of some Juneau steps. I counted 55 steps to the person's head. The ones above the person are too close together and blurry to county, but I bet there's just as many.