Last summer, my husband and I spent 6 weeks traveling through Alaska's interior and the Kenai Peninsula in a camper van. We fell in love with Alaska-the people, the land, the wildlife and the natural beauty. This summer we would like to return to explore the Inside Passage by ferry. (We are not interested in cruising.) We enjoy hiking and being on the water, learning about other cultures and immersing ourselves in nature, including wildlife viewing. We would appreciate your advice on our tentative plan. We have searched sailing times and have come up with this possible itinerary:
June 26: Fly to Ketchikan, stay 4 nights
June 30: 11:30 ferry to Wrangell, (6 hours) stay 2 nights
July 2: 3:00 ferry to Petersburg,(3 hours) stay 4 nights
July 6: 3:45 ferry to Sitka, (almost 13 hours) reserve cabin because ferry arrives in Sitka at 4:30 am, stay 3 nights
July 9: fly from Sitka to Juneau, stay 4 nights
July 13: fly from Juneau to Gustavus (part of a multi city flight using miles), stay 4 nights
July 17: 2:00 pm ferry to Juneau, 1 night
July 18: fly home from Juneau
Does this seem reasonable? Are we staying too long in Ketchikan and Juneau? Are we spending too long on the ferry? We considered flying from Petersburg to Juneau, but Sitka sounds fascinating. Would it be better to fly from Petersburg to Sitka? (The flight on Alaska air goes through Ketchikan.) The other towns are close enough that we don't need to sleep on the ferry. Are the towns different enough to warrant visiting them all, or should we cut something out? We will not have a car so we will need to rely on public transportation. Are there certain towns where you would suggest renting a car? We plan to stay in b and b's, small apartments or inns, not hotels. Your expertise is very much appreciated!

Our experience on the ferry was mostly getting from Bellingham to Skagway and then departing by car (2 nights in Skagway) for long drive to Anchorage area. You should book a cabin ASAP. They are spartan but serviceable. I enjoyed listening to daily lectures as well as just sitting and enjoying the passing scenery.
Although I don't have experience visiting the towns on your list, I explored info about Petersburg. You will be there for their 4th of July celebration which looks like a lot of fun. (We did 4th of July in Kenai.) If you have some special interests, it might be possible to get a closer look. They even have a roller derby team and an art group that specializes in Rosemaling. In Skagway I enjoyed a visit to the local quilt shop and chat with the owner and another time attended a quilt festival in Kenai. Due to 4th of July celebrations, some of the town's businesses might be closed during your visit so it could be great or bad timing depending on whether you want to take part in the celebration. Looks like a lot of great hiking opportunities and perhaps a nature cruise. I would spend time at the library, too. You can do additional research by checking out Petersburg YouTube videos. There's also a past 4th of July schedule to view.

I would come at it from a slightly different angle, I suppose; specifically, what do you plan to do with the days you've allocated to the various places?

A couple of things to comment on. First both Ketchikan and Juneau are major ports of call on the cruise routes, so during the days - from early morning to dinner time - you're going to be in the company of thousands of cruise passengers who will all be doing various excursions and activities, or at least walking around. This isn't completely a bad thing; because of the demand, the range of activities that you could piggy-back on is immense. And by the early evening they've all sailed, leaving both towns in a very different state - room in restaurants, locals doing local things, etc. But if you're trying to get away from crowds, it's going to take extra effort in those two towns. Use CLIA's calendar - Port schedule - CLIA AlaskaCLIA Alaska - to see which and how many ships will be in your target towns on the days you're there.

Gustavus is very small, and I was thinking about how I'd spend four days there. Same for Petersburg and Wrangell; these are very small towns and unless you're willing to shell out big bucks for excursions to wildlife sighting locations, you might find yourselves enduring some "forced" relaxation, if you get my drift. SE Alaska can have rainy and misty days at any time; it's part of the appeal. However, flightseeing or hiking through rain forest can be... challenging... in the rain or pea soup.

I probably would fly to and from Sitka; round trip from Juneau is only a little more expensive than on the ferry, and lots faster. You're going to have gobs of ferry time as it is, so avoiding all-day sailings, or arriving at OMG o'clock, might be advisable. Also note the ferry doesn't sail from downtown Juneau, it goes from Auke Bay, around 10 miles from downtown, requiring taxi access; combined with middle-of-the-night arrivals or departures, it's not a lot of fun. I suspect you'll enjoy Sitka as much or more as the other places.

As a thought experiment I'd have a look at hitting a small village off the mainline ferry runs, specifically Tenakee Springs or Pelican. Tenakee is a very quirky (rather hippy-ish) little town accessed from Juneau, but for someone looking for "off the beaten path" in SE Alaska it's a gem. Pelican is very oriented to fishing, but also a fun little place. Pay attention to ferry schedules; you might find it better to ferry in one direction and fly (float plane) in the other. The small towns are not served by daily ferries.

But either way, I guess I'd say that assigning a number of days to these communities begs the question about what to do with those days.

As an aside, could you recount what you did with six weeks in Alaska last year? That's a very long time.

Thank you for your input! We are very excited about 4th of July in Petersburg!

Thank you for your input. You mention several of my concerns. After many, many hours working with the ferry schedule, this was the only feasible itinerary I could come up with. Apparently, the ferries don't run as often as they used to. I envisioned getting on and off as we wished-not so. I can easily shorten the time in Ketchikan and Juneau and it sounds like I should. The cruise crowds in Skagway last summer were a bit too much for me. We camped on the Dyea flats outside of Skagway and loved that! The time allowed in Petersburg and Wrangell is dictated by the ferry schedule, but we could leave Petersburg sooner by plane. Perhaps we could also fly back from Gustavus to shorten that stay. We are people who tend to travel more slowly, usually allowing more time in each stop than the average tourist. However, hiking (which we do a lot of) in the rain is only fun for a bit! We don't spend much time just relaxing, but prefer to be exploring. We do plan to take boat trips and other excursions but have not looked into that yet. I will go back over the schedule and see what I can do.

Last summer we took a 10 week road trip, 6 weeks of which were in Alaska. We drove our camper van from San Jose north towards BC. and the Yukon and into Alaska near Chicken (on a very rainy day!). We continued on to Fairbanks, south to Denali (we spent a week there), onto Talkeetna, then camped outside of Anchorage. We passed through Anchorage (only getting groceries, etc.) and spent the next 2 weeks on the Kenai peninsula, hiking, fishing, and enjoying the beauty of the area. From there we headed towards Haines and Skagway, and back into the Yukon. Our last stop in Alaska was Hyder. Truly, the trip of a lifetime. We definitely could have stayed longer, but I had to get back to start school! Now we can't wait to go back!

Thank you very much!

Well I'll be frank and just say that if it were me (and it is NOT) I'd be thinking about a 2-region trip this year, since you won't be constrained by a car. I think SE Alaska is terrific, but Alaska is so big that it becomes a complicated choice as to where to spend a lot of your time. So let me just throw out some other ideas for you to consider as you plan further.

By any chance are these Alaska Airlines miles? If so, why not think about a fairly radical addition/substitution to your plans, and fly up to the arctic or out to the Bering Sea? On virtually any day during your visit you can fly from Juneau to Nome or Kotzebue for 7500 Alaska Airlines miles and $6 one way, and back to Juneau or Anchorage - any combination also on most every day. (You'd change planes in Anchorage of course.) That would give you a completely different face of the state than the one you've already obtained, and if you rented a vehicle for a couple of days in Nome, you could explore the road system that radiates out from that historic gold mining town into the Seward peninsula, where there's all sorts of wildlife and birds, as well as fascinating history and big landscapes to behold. Look at Nome Scenic Drives | Driving The Nome Road System and Wildlife Viewing on the Seward Peninsula, Alaska Department of Fish and Game . Nome is a hoot, full of daft gold miners who will be diving to the Bering seabed to suck up gold.

Kotzebue is an Inupiat Eskimo town above the arctic circle, so you'd have midnight sun, and it's on an arm of the Arctic Ocean. There's a comfortable Native-owned hotel across from the beach, you could visit the local Native heritage center and/or a nearby fish camp, and see what life is like in this unique environment.

So what if you knocked back your SE Alaska itinerary by a few days and reallocated those days to the northwest of the state? If it was me, I'd limit the number of days in Juneau, Gustavus, Wrangell and Ketchikan, keep the days in Sitka and Petersburg, then backfill the gaps with some days up north. I think you'd still have a terrific picture of Southeast, but would also get a deeper appreciation for the bush. Just a thought, anyway.

Another thought, along the same lines, would be Kodiak. Kodiak's a real sleeper on the tourism front, but it's a fascinating and beautiful place, with terrific access to major scenery, wildlife, and history. It would be well worth your time to spend a day or two on the island.


Not trying to be disruptive, just some ideas.

No disruption to me! I like hearing your ideas...that's why I posted! Actually, Kodiak has been on my mind and the arctic sounds fascinating,too. So many places....so little time!
Thank you again for all of the information!