Ketchikan Day Tours & Attractions

From cruise ship excur­sions to all-day fish­ing trips, Ketchikan’s Finest Fish­ing Char­ters pro­vides top-notch equip­ment and a cus­tomized approach to make your trip an adven­ture to remem­ber. Keep your eyes peeled for wildlife and be ready for a fish­ing expe­ri­ence like no other!

Ketchikan — the salmon fish­ing cap­i­tal of the world — was made for fish­ing. And Salmon Falls Resort has made it easy to expe­ri­ence this icon­ic Alaskan activ­i­ty with a full or half-day of unfor­get­table angling. Whether you’re stop­ping for the day in Ketchikan on a cruise ship or already in town and look­ing for a great one-day out­ing, this is for you.

Bara­nof Fish­ing Excur­sions offers clas­sic Alas­ka fish­ing expe­ri­ences from their pri­vate mari­na in down­town Ketchikan. They pro­vide every­thing you need from rub­ber boots to expert guides, for an extra­or­di­nary fish­ing adventure!

Ketchikan is known as the ​“salmon cap­i­tal of the world,” and this unique­ly per­son­al tour is your chance to angle for these icon­ic Alaskan fish — as well as huge hal­ibut. You’ll board an inti­mate fish­ing boat — com­plete with top-qual­i­ty fish­ing and rain gear, as well as heaters, snacks, and bev­er­ages — close to the Ketchikan cruise ter­mi­nal. And, since this is a pri­vate char­ter, it will be only your group on board!

Dri­ve your own jeep along pri­vate log­ging roads that wind up into the moun­tains, on your way to an alpine lake. Pad­dle across the shim­mer­ing lake to a shore­line camp for a deli­cious snack over an open fire. Enjoy some sto­ry­telling, then go on a short nature walk through a beau­ti­ful old-growth forest.

Step aboard a lux­u­ry char­ter boat in Ketchikan for an unfor­get­table small-group wildlife adven­ture. Cruise the rain­for­est coast­line in search of whales, sea lions, por­pois­es, and bald eagles — plus enjoy an up-close eagle-feed­ing expe­ri­ence. On the extend­ed tour, savor local­ly sourced snacks in a scenic cove and explore fas­ci­nat­ing inter­tidal life. Per­fect for fam­i­lies, pho­tog­ra­phers, and nature lovers seek­ing an authen­tic Alaskan experience.   ...more

Explore the gor­geous, dynam­ic scenery and wildlife around Ketchikan by get­ting out on the water in a low-impact Zodi­ac — an authen­ti­cal­ly Alaskan way to trav­el! Every expe­di­tion is dif­fer­ent as there’s flex­i­bil­i­ty for some spon­tane­ity. You can spend extra time in a place if there’s a mag­i­cal, Nation­al Geo­graph­ic-type moment happening!

Board a rigid-hull inflat­able boat for a 20-minute ride out to a seclud­ed island. Weave through a series of small islands with mas­sive cliffs that rise hun­dreds of feet out of the ocean, check out active bald eagle nests and look for sea lions and seabird rook­eries along the way. Once at the island, you’ll climb out on the beach, break out into small­er groups, and set off on a stun­ning hike on a board­walk that snakes through the rainforest.  ...more

Dri­ve your own jeep along pri­vate log­ging roads that wind up into the moun­tains, on your way to an alpine lake. Pad­dle across the shim­mer­ing lake to a shore­line camp for a deli­cious snack over an open fire. Enjoy some sto­ry­telling, then go on a short nature walk through a beau­ti­ful old-growth forest.

Pad­dle all around a shim­mer­ing lake, look­ing for wildlife on the shore and rev­el­ing in the spec­tac­u­lar moun­tain views that sur­round you. Then stop off at a shore­line camp to enjoy a snack over an open fire. When you’re fin­ished, you’ll go on a short walk through a dra­mat­ic old-growth forest.

South­east Alas­ka is home to the Ton­gass Nation­al For­est, where near­ly 17 mil­lion acres of glac­i­ers, moun­tains, rivers, and fjords com­ple­ment old-growth forests of spruce, cedar, and hem­lock. Walk among these giant sen­tinels, some well over 500 years old, and breathe in the pris­tine air that they pro­vide in one of North America’s largest car­bon sinks. Expe­ri­ence this world-renowned gem of a rain­for­est on a guid­ed hike or an SUV tour when you stop  ...more

Board a rigid-hull inflat­able boat for a 20-minute ride out to a seclud­ed island. Weave through a series of small islands with mas­sive cliffs that rise hun­dreds of feet out of the ocean, check out active bald eagle nests and look for sea lions and seabird rook­eries along the way. Once at the island, you’ll climb out on the beach, break out into small­er groups, and set off on a stun­ning hike on a board­walk that snakes through the rainforest.  ...more

Don a wet­suit, mask, fins and snorkel and get an up-close look at the unique sea crea­tures of the 49^th state: urchins, sea stars, crabs, sea cucum­bers, and…what’s that…a hump­back whale swim­ming near­by?! This is the mag­ic of snor­kel­ing in Alas­ka — a sin­gu­lar expe­ri­ence that you can only do in the waters around Ketchikan. No expe­ri­ence? No problem.

Local­ly owned and oper­at­ed, Emer­ald For­est Tours spe­cial­izes in Pri­vate tours suit­able for all ages. Offer­ing ease, com­fort, flex­i­bil­i­ty, and a relaxed pace they bring guests to des­ti­na­tions to see bears, eagles, seals, and salmon, includ­ing loca­tions along the inner pas­sage for a wide vari­a­tion of sea life! You’ll also see Totem poles, water­falls, and have access to The Her­ring Bay Lum­ber co Sawmill, which oper­at­ed from 1959 to 2002.   ...more

South­east Alas­ka is home to the Ton­gass Nation­al For­est, where near­ly 17 mil­lion acres of glac­i­ers, moun­tains, rivers, and fjords com­ple­ment old-growth forests of spruce, cedar, and hem­lock. Walk among these giant sen­tinels, some well over 500 years old, and breathe in the pris­tine air that they pro­vide in one of North America’s largest car­bon sinks. Expe­ri­ence this world-renowned gem of a rain­for­est on a guid­ed hike or an SUV tour when you stop  ...more

Built on the old fish­ing grounds of Tlin­git Natives, the park hosts some of the finest native art in the world!

As part of the New Deal dur­ing the 1930s, the Civil­ian Con­ser­va­tion Corps came to this area and hired skilled Native artists who could recre­ate old crum­bling poles and train appren­tices, to keep the art form alive. You can wan­der the grounds at this state park, and learn about how to inter­pret the sym­bols on poles, or check out the large, carved trib­al house. Was named to the Nation­al Reg­is­ter of His­toric Places in 1970. 10 miles out of town on  ...more

Expe­ri­ence world-class exhibits and audio­vi­su­al pro­grams. Dis­cov­er Tsimshi­an, Hai­da and Tlin­git totem poles, the rain­for­est room, a Native fish camp scene, and exhibits on South­east Alaska’s ecosys­tems, fish­ing, min­ing, tim­ber and tourism. Locat­ed one block from the cruise ship dock in down­town Ketchikan. Accepts Amer­i­ca-the-Beau­ti­ful passes.

The art of totem pole carv­ing was a lux­u­ry that expe­ri­enced its hey­day in the mid-1700s to the late 1800s. The fur trade had pro­vid­ed the Tlin­git, Hai­da and Tsimshi­an peo­ples a new­found sense of wealth – and time to focus on the artistry of the totem

In the muse­um are artifacts,text and pho­tos telling of Alaska’s spir­it­ed First City as a Native fish camp, min­ing hub, salmon can­ning cap­i­tal, fish­ing port and tim­ber town. The Cen­ten­ni­al Build­ing com­mem­o­rates the pur­chase of Alas­ka from Rus­sia in 1867. In front is the Raven Steal­ing the Sun pole, carved by Dempsey Bob and raised in 1983.

List­ed on the Nation­al Reg­is­ter of His­toric Places, this col­lec­tion of 19^th cen­tu­ry totem poles is the biggest in the world. Sal­vaged from aban­doned Hai­da and Tlin­git vil­lages, some are as old as 160 years — no small feat, since totem poles usu­al­ly dete­ri­o­rate in less than a cen­tu­ry. You can take a quick, free tour, or check out the cur­rent exhibits of con­tem­po­rary Tlin­git art.

If you want a chance to sit back and enjoy an icon­ic view of Alas­ka, catch up on your work, or peruse a large col­lec­tion of Alaskana, there’s no more per­fect place than the new Ketchikan library.

The art of totem pole carv­ing was a lux­u­ry that expe­ri­enced its hey­day in the mid-1700s to the late 1800s. The fur trade had pro­vid­ed the Tlin­git, Hai­da and Tsimshi­an peo­ples a new­found sense of wealth – and time to focus on the artistry of the totem

Near­ly a cen­tu­ry ago in 1903, this was the small min­ing and fish­ing town’s red-light dis­trict but today the board­walk street, propped up over Ketchikan Creek on wood­en pil­ings, teems with gift shops, muse­ums and well-pre­served homes.

Per­fect­ly timed for the approach­ing hol­i­day sea­son, the Ketchikan Arts & Human­i­ties Council’s Win­ter Arts Faire show­cas­es the cre­ations of local artists, which make for great gifts. More than 80 artists exhib­it their work here, so you could eas­i­ly fill all of your hol­i­day wish lists with local, hand­made gifts.

With almost 30 years under its belt, the Ketchikan Wear­able Arts Show is an event you don’t want to miss. Described as the ​“orig­i­nal run­way per­for­mance,” this show has inspired imi­ta­tions in neigh­bor­ing com­mu­ni­ties and around the world. If you’d like to see a show that most clear­ly rep­re­sents pure artis­tic tal­ent, this is it.

Sum­mers are busy in Ketchikan, with up to five cruise ships mak­ing port every day, but the locals also know how to play hard — espe­cial­ly at the huge Blue­ber­ry Arts Fes­ti­val, host­ed every August by the Ketchikan Arts and Human­i­ties Coun­cil. In a town of 14,000, you’re like­ly to see as many as 8,000 peo­ple come out to this fam­i­ly-friend­ly event that cel­e­brates the South­east Alaskan blueberry.

Her­ring Cove, at the right time of year, is a won­der­ful place to view wildlife, and in par­tic­u­lar, black bears. Mid-June through ear­ly Sep­tem­ber, when the salmon are run­ning, is prob­a­bly the best time for a chance to see black bears here.

On one of the run-off creeks from Achilles Moun­tain or Twin Peaks Moun­tain above pours a 100-foot or more water­fall right beside Ton­gass High­way towards the end of the road

Refuge Cove State Recre­ation Site is a sliv­er of land lin­ing part of an edge of a neigh­bor­hood and is a pop­u­lar beach pic­nick­ing des­ti­na­tion with the locals. The site comes com­plete with pit toi­lets, shel­tered and unshel­tered pic­nic tables with fire grates, and a quar­ter-mile trail accom­pa­nied by inter­pre­tive signs that address the local nat­ur­al history.

Want to expe­ri­ence a lit­tle piece of rus­tic, old-timey Ketchikan? Head to the Main Street Gallery at 7 p.m. every sec­ond Fri­day of the month for a night of square danc­ing. Pop­u­lar year-round (but espe­cial­ly in the sum­mer), this is a great way to social­ize like the pio­neers did 100 years ago. Nev­er square danced before? No wor­ries. The reg­u­lar dancers are a friend­ly, inclu­sive crew, ready to teach you how it’s done.

Ketchikan Arts & Human­i­ties Coun­cil (KAAHC) is the pow­er­house of Ketchikan’s arts com­mu­ni­ty; if there’s an arts event in Ketchikan, this orga­ni­za­tion is on it! Locat­ed at the Main Street Gallery, KAAHC pro­duces dozens of art events annu­al­ly, such as summer’s Blue­ber­ry Arts Fes­ti­val and February’s famous Wear­able Arts Show.

This may be the most well-known bridge to have nev­er been built. The idea was to replace the fer­ry con­nect­ing Ketchikan with Grav­ina Island, where the Ketchikan Air­port is.

When she’s not carv­ing linoleum or wood, you may find Evon on one of her many teach­ing gigs around the state. She’s one of Alaska’s favorite artists-in-res­i­dence, which allows her to share her pas­sion for print­mak­ing with stu­dents from Kinder­garten on up.