Why Ketchikan Alaska Beats Every Other Port

Most Alaska cruise passengers treat Ketchikan like a bathroom break between glaciers. They are making a massive mistake.

This town of 8,000 people sits on stilts above Tongass Narrows. It gets 150 inches of rain per year. The locals have learned to make the most of both facts.

Creek Street runs along Ketchikan Creek right through downtown. Former brothels from the 1900s now house art galleries and shops. The salmon still run up this creek every summer while tourists walk overhead on wooden boardwalks.

The real treasure is the Misty Fjords National Monument. Most people skip it because it requires a floatplane or boat excursion. The fjords have walls rising 3,000 feet straight from the water. On a clear day you can see ancient glacial scratches in the granite.

Here are two things your cruise director won’t mention. The Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show runs three times daily and features actual lumberjacks competing in speed climbing and axe throwing. Also, Dolly’s House Museum on Creek Street was the most famous brothel in Alaska. Dolly Arthur worked there for decades and kept meticulous records of her business operations.

If you want help planning Alaska excursions that go beyond the tourist traps, that is literally what we do.