Juneau, the Inside Passage, and Southeast Alaska
We’ve compiled the best of the best in Juneau, the Inside Passage, and Southeast Alaska - browse our top choices for the top things to see or do during your stay.
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1. Totem Bight State Historical Park
About a quarter of the Ketchikan bus tours include this park that contains many totem poles and has a hand-hewn Native clan house. Totem Bight sits on a scenic spit of land facing the waters of Tongass Narrows. Master Native carvers crafted the first replica poles here as part of a U.S. Forest Service program that began in the late 1930s. The tools the carvers used were handmade in the Native style, and modern paints were employed to re-create colors originally made using natural substances from clamshells to lichen. The clan house, open daily in summer, was built to resemble a type that might have held several related families. Note the raven painting on the front: each eye contains a small face. Try to save time for a stop at nearby Potlatch Totem Park as well.
View Tours and ActivitiesKetchikan, Alaska, 99901, USA907-247–8574-Ketchikan Ranger StationSight Details
Rate Includes: Free -
2. Alaska Rainforest Sanctuary
The word "rainforest" may not immediately spring to mind when you picture Southeast Alaska, but as you walk amidst the giant cedars, hemlocks, and spruces at the Alaska Rainforest Sanctuary, the term will come into vivid focus, encompassing not just the trees but the interconnected web of plants and animals that live with them. The only way to experience the sanctuary is via a short, easy hike led by a naturalist guide; while on the trail, you'll keep an eye out for wildflowers, berries, bears, eagles, deer, and Herring Creek salmon. Located 8 miles outside Ketchikan, the tour is offered in all weather; sturdy shoes and a waterproof jacket are highly recommended.
116 Wood Rd, Ketchikan, Alaska, USA907-225–8400Sight Details
Rate Includes: From $106 for guided naturalist tour -
3. Creek Street
This was once Ketchikan's red-light district. During Prohibition, Creek Street was home to numerous speakeasies, and in the early 1900s more than 30 houses of prostitution operated here. Today the small, colorful houses, built on stilts over the creek waters, have been restored as interesting shops. When the fish are running, the Creek Street footbridge makes a stellar viewing platform for salmon and trout, as well as the sea lions and other animals that eat them.
Ketchikan, Alaska, USA -
4. Potlatch Totem Park
Walk along the waterfront and several forested paths to view striking examples of the monumental art form of totem pole carving, which is indigenous to Northwest Coast tribes. In addition to the totems, highlights include a carving shed where you can watch artists continue the work of their ancestors, a tribal house, and a large gift shop showcasing a wide range of authentic Native art. Also on the property are an antique car museum and antique firearm museum. Located adjacent to Totem Bight State Historical Park, Potlatch Park is 10 minutes north of town.
9809 Totem Bight Rd., Ketchikan, Alaska, USA907-225–4445Sight Details
Rate Includes: Free -
5. Salmon Ladder
Get out your camera and set it for high speed at the fish ladder, a series of pools arranged like steps that allow fish to travel upstream around a dam or falls. When the salmon start running, from June onward, thousands of fish leap the falls or take the easier fish-ladder route. They spawn in Ketchikan Creek's waters farther upstream. Many can also be seen in the creek's eddies above and below the falls. The falls, fish ladder, and a large carving of a jumping salmon are just off Park Avenue on Married Man's Trail. The trail was once used by married men for discreet access to the red-light district on Creek Street.
Ketchikan, Alaska, 99901, USA -
Recommended Fodor’s Video
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6. Saxman Totem Park
A 2½-mile paved walking path and bike trail parallels the road from Ketchikan to Saxman Native Village, named for a missionary who drowned while helping Native Alaskans establish a new settlement in the area in 1886. A totem park dominates the center of Saxman, with poles representing human- and animal-inspired figures, including bears, ravens, whales, and eagles. Saxman's Beaver Clan tribal house, which features a painted house screen by master carvers Nathan Jackson and Lee Wallace, is said to be the largest in Alaska. Carvers still create totem poles and totemic art objects in the adjacent carver's shed. You can visit the totem park on your own (on foot or by taxi, bicycle, or city bus), but to visit the tribal house and theater you must take a tour; book through Cape Fox Lodge.
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7. Southeast Alaska Discovery Center
This impressive public lands interpretive center contains exhibits—including one on the rain forest—that focus on the resources, Native cultures, and ecosystems of Southeast. The U.S. Forest Service and other federal agencies provide information on Alaska's public lands, and a large gift shop sells natural-history books, maps, and videos about the region's sights. America the Beautiful–National Park and Federal Recreational Land Passes are accepted and sold.
50 Main St., Ketchikan, Alaska, 99901, USA907-228–6220Sight Details
Rate Includes: $5 May–Sept., free Oct.–Apr., Closed Sat.–Thurs. in Oct.–Apr. -
8. St. John's Episcopal Church
Completed in 1904 and Ketchikan's oldest house of worship, St. John's has an interior constructed of red cedar cut in the Native-operated sawmill in nearby Saxman. When cruise ships are in town, a docent is on hand to answer questions.
503 Mission St., Ketchikan, Alaska, 99901, USA907-225–3680 -
9. The Rock
Ketchikan is known for its public art, and this bronze monument by local artist Dave Rubin provides a striking introduction. The Rock (2010) depicts seven life-size figures representative of Ketchikan's history: a Tlingit drummer, a logger, a miner, a fisherman, an aviator, a pioneer woman, and Tlingit chief George Johnson (the sculpture's only specific portrayal). The piece is located on the waterfront next to the Ketchikan Visitors Bureau. For a complete listing of Ketchikan's public art, galleries, museums, and cultural organizations, pick up a copy of Art Lives Here, the bureau's free guide.
Front and Mill Sts., Ketchikan, Alaska, 99901, USA -
10. Tongass Historical Museum
Native artifacts and pioneer relics revisit the mining and fishing eras at this museum in the same building as the library. Exhibits include a big, brilliantly polished lens from Tree Point Lighthouse, well-presented Native tools and artwork, and photography collections. Other exhibits are temporary, but always include Tlingit items.
629 Dock St., Ketchikan, Alaska, 99901, USA907-225–5600Sight Details
Rate Includes: $6, Closed Oct.–Apr. -
11. Totem Heritage Center
Gathered from Tlingit and Haida village sites, many of the Native totems in the center's collection are well over a century old—a rare age for cedar carvings, which are eventually lost to decay in Southeast's exceedingly wet climate. Other work by Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian artists is also on display inside the facility, and outside stand several more poles carved in the three decades since it opened. The center offers guided tours and hosts classes, workshops, and seminars related to Northwest Coast Native art and culture.
601 Deermount St., Ketchikan, Alaska, 99901, USA907-225–5900Sight Details
Rate Includes: $6, Closed Sun. and Mon. -
12. Whale Park
This small park on a traffic island across from St. John's Episcopal Church is the site of the Chief Kyan totem pole, now in its third incarnation. The current replica was erected in 1993 and then restored and re-raised in 2005. The original was carved in the 1890s, but over the decades it deteriorated and it was replaced in the 1960s. The 1960s edition is housed in the Totem Heritage Center.
Mission and Bawden Sts., Ketchikan, Alaska, 99901, USA
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Recommended Fodor’s Video
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