5 walks to do in Ketchikan (cheap + easy walking!) on your own from a cruise ship 🏔 Alaska cruise port tips

Hi there!

Most cruise ships basically dock in downtown Ketchikan, so if you’re on one of these ships, you can walk directly off the cruise ship and straight to downtown. This will be you if you are on the major cruise lines of Princess, Holland America, Royal Caribbean, Carnival, and Celebrity.

Even if you’re docked in downtown Ketchikan, the exact berth location of your cruise ship may be closer or further to the main area. You might be on a cruise ship that is literally right in front of downtown! Or, you might have to walk 10-15 minutes to get to the main spot.

If you’re on NCL, your Norwegian cruise ship will dock at Ward Cove which requires a paid boat ride or free shuttle to get to downtown.

 

I have been to Ketchikan by cruise ship 5 times (mostly on Princess but also NCL), and these are my picks for easy walks to do!

You can walk around downtown Ketchikan, and there are also easy walks to do by taking a free shuttle or cheap bus to get to do a walk surrounded by nature and/or totem poles.

 

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There is plenty of walking you can do on your own. But here are some walks people have loved if you are looking for a guided tour with more background local information:

• Cheap(er) and easy Ketchikan walking: Town highlights walking tour with Alaskan huskies
• Off-the-beaten-path Ketchikan: 3 hour photo safari with city highlights and hidden gems
• Ride to the end of Ketchkan’s road to nowhere: electric bike + rainforest hike ecotour
• Local small group tour: Alaska rainforest walk + totem park walk (2 of the top things Ketchikan is known for!)

 

 

And now… walks you can do on your own!

 

1. Creek Street and Salmon Walk

If you’ve looked up anything about Ketchikan, you’ll have read about Creek Street.

So yes, you need to walk to Creek Street, the historic and iconic boardwalk of Alaska. 🤪

Creek Street is in fact an easy walk from the cruise ship.

Depending on where you’re docked downtown, it might be a 5 minute walk or a 15 minute walk. So this is something easy you can do if you have an hour to spare before your back-on-board time.

 

 

The first time I went to Creek Street, I did it at the end of the day as the last thing I did before I got back on the cruise ship, and there was hardly anyone around. I did a morning activity (totem poles!) and an afternoon activity (seaplane tour!), and then since I still had a little bit of time before I had to be back on the cruise ship, I quickly made my way to Creek Street.

If you want to make a downtown walk one of your main activities when you’re in Ketchikan, then you’ll want to do the “salmon walk,” especially if you will be in Ketchikan during salmon season!

I have also seen seals 2 times when I went to Creek Street, so look for wildlife when you are there too!

Salmon season generally starts in mid-July and you can see salmon swimming in the creek around Ketchikan. You might continue to see salmon in the creek through early September, which is when I saw them. People have even seen bears by the creek in the summer. (Where there’s salmon, there may be bears!)

The salmon walk is a walking route around downtown Ketchikan that can take you to Creek Street, and then onward walking to the Married Man’s Trail that it connects to. At the end of the Married Man’s Trail is the “salmon ladder“! This is where you can watch salmon “climbing” (jumping!) up the “ladder” at the observation platform!

Then once you’ve gotten enough excitement watching the salmon jumping, you can continue walking on Park Street to the Harris Street Bridge. From here, if you look down at the creek you’ll see a spot that you can walk to directly along the creek, so you can head that way. Then from that spot, you can see more salmon swimming! (map)

You can continue more of your downtown Ketchikan walk by following the salmon walk map, or a downtown Ketchikan map that you pick up at the Ketchikan visitor center!

 

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👆 Potential Ketchikan walking route to see salmon in July, August, and September: cruise port to Creek Street to Married Man’s Trail to salmon ladder to Harris Street bridge. Explore the map.

 

👆 Continue the Salmon Walk.

 

If you like paper maps, make the Ketchikan visitor center your first stop after you get off the cruise ship! It’s located right in front of the cruise ship at berth 2, next to the liquid sunshine gauge!

If you find yourself walking further than you’d like to walk back, there is even a free downtown Ketchikan shuttle that goes for a loop around town! It’s on a 20 minute loop, so you’ll never wait more than 20 minutes for it.

Walking around downtown Ketchikan, you’ll see directions for the top attractions.

 

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You can go walking in downtown Ketchikan with Alaskan huskies through the husky walking tour!

 

 

2. Totem Bight State Historical Park

There are a lot of places to see totem poles in Ketchikan (including a walk around downtown!), and one of the best things to do for a nice easy nature walk to see totem poles is Totem Bight State Historical Park!

You can go to Totem Bight State Park on your own by bus, which is what I did. There’s a bus stop near a coffee shop in downtown Ketchikan a few minutes walk from the cruise ship. This is a direct bus to Totem Bight! Lots of cruise passengers do this. (map)

You’ll want to be prepared with $2 cash per person each way, or prepare ahead of time to pay the bus fare through the token transit app.

Google maps is very helpful for navigating the bus timings in Ketchikan! Look for the public transit icon!

 

You can experience 2 big parts of Ketchikan by doing a rainforest and totem tour!

 

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👆 For the most updated bus timings to get from the cruise port to Totem Bight State Park, check google maps.

 

Read more about how to see totem poles in Ketchikan.

 

 

3. Rainbird Trail

The Rainbird Trail can be a good walk to do if you want an easy way to see a rainforest in Ketchkan on your own! (There are also rainforest hiking tours in Ketchikan.)

This can turn into a more difficult walk if you want to walk the whole length of the Rainbird Trail. The difficulty isn’t so much in the trail itself, but more from the part that it will turn into a longer walk.

 

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The first time I did the Rainbird Trail was in the rain… and there were parts of the trail that was pretty much a stream.

If it’s raining, you can still do the Rainbird Trial, you just may not want to go far, or you’ll just want to make sure you have waterproof shoes so it won’t prevent you from wanting to go further! (The rain made me turn around!)

There are 3 spots that you can start your walk into the rainforest. I think starting at the university trailhead is best. From here, you can make it a short peep into the rainforest, even if you only want to spend 10-15 minutes walking around. Or, you can continue further to make it a one-way hike.

I took the free downtown shuttle to the stop near Safeway (which is outside of downtown), and then from there walked 15 minutes to the university campus and trailhead.

I recommend that you stop by the Ketchikan Visitors Bureau located in front of the cruise ships downtown (map) before you go to ask about trail conditions.

 

 

If you’re interested in this walk, see more about the Rainbird Trail, including the app to download that will make it easy to find the 3 different starting locations for this trail!

 

Late summer 2024 NOTE: Before doing this walk in Ketchikan, please go to the visitor center located in front of the cruise ships in downtown Ketchikan (map) to find out the safety of this walking trail around the university trailhead. You can’t do the whole trail as of late summer, and it’s best to get local real-time updates for other parts of the trail. There was a major landslide in Ketchikan on August 25. I have marked on the Ketchikan cruise port map (an interactive google map that I made) where I believe the impacted area is based on media reporting.

 

 

4. Saxman Park

Another spot that you can see totem poles in Ketchikan is at Saxman Park. This is a pretty small area, so your walk around to see totem poles will be over before you know it. (Literally it can take like 5 minutes.)

But it’s a good spot to see a collection of totem poles that’s closer to downtown Ketchikan, although it will require a 2.5 mile walk or bus ride to get there. (map)

 

👆 For the most updated bus timings to get from the cruise port to Saxman Totem Park, check google maps.

 

The walk is not anything particularly special, as you’re walking alongside a regular road, but you can walk if you want to. I met some people at the park who said they walked to Saxman Park, and then they took the bus back.

 

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5. Rotary Beach / Buggy Beach

This one is on my to-do list as I haven’t done it yet.

I recently saw pictures someone posted in a cruise facebook group from their time at Buggy Beach, and I’m excited to go there myself for a chance to see starfish along the shoreline! (I would also like to go to Refuge Cove!)

I would imagine that this is similar to an experience that you can have at the beach of Icy Strait Point if you go looking for marine line along the shoreline there!

The pictures of the starfish also reminded me of the snorkeling in Ketchikan that I did, only you don’t need to get wet in order to see (maybe!) the orange and purple starfish!

To increase your chances of seeing more marine life at the beach, you’ll want to go at low tide. (Southeast Alaska is known for having major tidal swings, which is something you can also witness by doing an easy Skagway walk to the footbridge!)

You can know when low tide is by doing a simple internet search for something like “Ketchikan tide times.” The closer you can go to low tide is better, but you can still go beachcombing at any time.

After looking up where this was located on google maps, what may have actually made me excited was that walking along Buggy Beach is something you can do on your own!

There’s a bus that goes out to Rotary Park where Buggy Beach is located. Or, if you prefer, this same facebook post said that a taxi will be around $20 for a 10 minute ride. I think that was one-way. You can call your taxi driver when you’re ready for a pick-up.

You can combine Buggy Beach and Saxman Park. You can go to Buggy Beach by bus (map), then after you’ve had a walk around the beach, you can walk a mile to Saxman Park (map), and then from there you can take a bus back to downtown Ketchikan and the cruise ships (map).

 

👆 For the most updated bus timings to get from the cruise port to Rotary Beach and Buggy Beach, check google maps.

 

 

You can also do a beachcombing type thing as an excursion to learn more about the marine life of Alaska through the low tide excursion with a beach bonfire.

 

 

To better plan your day of walking, see my post with the Ketchikan cruise port map with where cruise ships dock. This also includes how to find out where your specific cruise ship will dock.

 

👆 How long you need to walk to get to Creek Street or any part of downtown Ketchikan will depend on where your cruise ship is docked.

 

 

More easy walks: Juneau | Skagway | Icy Strait Point | Sitka | Victoria | Vancouver

More walking: Hiking in Alaska cruise ports

More for your cruise ship visit: All things Ketchikan on the blog

 

HAPPY WALKING IN KETCHIKAN!

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