3+ walks to do in Ketchikan (cheap + easy walking!) from a cruise ship on your own 🏔 DIY Ketchikan 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.

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.

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.

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There are partner websites that are included below.

First here are the quick tips for activities you need to know about when it comes to walking in Ketchikan straight off the cruise ship!

The most famous street in Ketchikan is the historic Creek Street, and this is something you can walk to directly from the cruise ship if you are docked downtown. If you’re going to be in Alaska during salmon season, then do not miss the fun salmon ladder which is a few minutes walk from Creek Street!

To save you some walking around town, you can take the (free) downtown shuttle or the (paid) Tongass Trolley to see some of the top sights of Ketchikan.

You can also learn about Ketchikan’s history through a Ketchikan pub crawl.

For more walking to see Southeast Alaska’s unique landscape, you must consider doing the rainforest walk + totem park combo tour. The rainforest and totem poles are 2 things that Ketchikan is known for!

If you are on a cruise ship that docks at Ward Cove (NCL cruise ships), then be sure to see about the Ward Cove shuttle.

👆 One of the most famous walks in Ketchikan is Creek Street.

👆 You can walk in a rainforest in Ketchikan too! There are rainforest combo tours that you can do.

👆 Walking to see totem poles is another very Ketchikan thing to do. There are plenty of totem combo tours you can do, and you can go see them on your own too.

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!

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.

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.

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. 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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4. 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.

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.

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

More walking: Hiking in Alaska cruise ports

HAPPY WALKING IN KETCHIKAN!