Seattle to Ketchikan: Flying, the Ferry from Bellingham and What Awaits on Arrival

Somewhere in the gray of a Seattle morning, a traveler looks at a map of Southeast Alaska and sees that Ketchikan sits on an island with no road to the rest of the continent. The question comes quickly: how do you actually get there? The short answer is that you fly from Seattle–Tacoma International, or you take an Alaska Marine Highway ferry that leaves from Bellingham, a different starting point than Seattle.

How do you get from Seattle to Ketchikan?

You get there by air from Seattle–Tacoma International Airport, or by ferry on a route that begins in Bellingham, Washington, and reaches Ketchikan as its first Alaska stop. Ketchikan is an island community surrounded by rainforest and sea, so the choice is between the sky and the water. The two journeys feel very different, and which one suits you depends on how much of the trip you want to be part of the trip.

The air route from Sea-Tac

Seattle–Tacoma International Airport is the primary hub of Alaska Airlines, which is headquartered in SeaTac, within the Seattle metropolitan area. The airline was founded in 1932 as McGee Airways and began with a service between Anchorage and Bristol Bay, so a carrier with Alaska in its roots is a natural thread to follow north. Its network centers on the West Coast, and its other hubs include Anchorage, Portland, San Francisco, San Diego and Los Angeles.

On the Alaska end, you arrive at Ketchikan International Airport, which opened in 1973. It has an asphalt runway for wheeled aircraft and a separate water runway for seaplanes, which tells you something about how people move around this part of the state. Frequent flyers with Alaska Airlines earn miles through its Atmos Rewards program, and the airline belongs to the Oneworld alliance.

The ferry from Bellingham

The Alaska Marine Highway mainline route runs from Bellingham to Ketchikan, then on to Wrangell, Petersburg, Juneau, Haines, Skagway and Sitka. Bellingham is a separate city from Seattle, so a ferry trip means getting yourself to that port first. The system as a whole covers a long stretch of coastline and serves more than thirty communities, all the way out to Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Chain.

Choosing the ferry turns the journey into a slow passage along the coast rather than a flight over it. Ketchikan is also one of the regional hubs from which riders continue to other communities, using one or more vessels to reach their final destination. That makes it a convenient place to begin if the plan extends beyond Ketchikan itself.

Which options are there?

There are two options: a flight that starts at Seattle–Tacoma International, and a ferry that starts at Bellingham. Each has its own starting point and its own feel, and the table sets out where each one begins and ends.

Choosing the flight

Flying keeps you in Seattle until the moment you leave. The city sits on an isthmus between Puget Sound and Lake Washington, and it is famously overcast, with a great many cloudy days in an average year. If your hotel is downtown, you can spend your last morning at Pike Place Market, where the first Starbucks opened, before heading to the airport.

The flight suits travelers who would rather spend their time in Ketchikan than on the way. On arrival you are in a town shaped by Alaska Native culture, fishing traditions and rainforest, and the visits worth planning are close at hand: the Totem Heritage Center, Totem Bight State Historical Park, the Tongass Historical Museum and the Southeast Alaska Discovery Center.

Choosing the ferry

The ferry suits travelers who see the passage as part of the vacation, and those who want to keep going after Ketchikan toward Juneau, Skagway or Sitka on the same mainline route. Most communities in Southeast Alaska receive year-round ferry service, with mainline vessels serving the larger ones and day boats running regularly scheduled service to the smaller ones.

One point concerns Prince Rupert, the Canadian port that sometimes appears on ferry maps. During the proposed winter 2026/27 schedule, the Alaska Marine Highway System will not travel to Prince Rupert. A route that leaves from Bellingham does not depend on that stop.

Combining the two

Nothing stops you from mixing them. Some travelers go north by one means and return by the other, so that each leg shows a different side of the Inside Passage country. Ketchikan works well as the pivot, since it is a regional hub and the first Alaska community on the Bellingham mainline route.

If you plan to continue beyond Ketchikan, the scheduled routes of Southeast Alaska link smaller communities to Juneau, including Angoon, Haines, Kake, Pelican, Tenakee and Skagway, with Gustavus linked to Hoonah. Those routes start from Juneau rather than from Ketchikan, so they matter for a longer trip rather than for the first stop.

What should you know before you travel from Seattle to Ketchikan?

Know first that the two journeys do not leave from the same place, and that Ketchikan is an island town where water shapes daily life. Seattle lies about 100 miles south of the Canadian border, and that border sits between you and Alaska on any route that follows the coast, which is why the ferry is described as starting in Bellingham.

The weather you leave and the weather you find

Seattle gets some form of precipitation on about 150 days a year, so a gray departure morning is ordinary. Ketchikan is surrounded by rainforest, and the green of the hillsides above the harbor comes from the same kind of weather, so bring the habits of a Seattle traveler: a rain shell and shoes that can handle wet pavement.

Arriving by air, you may notice how closely the airport sits to the water. Its water runway for seaplanes is far wider than the asphalt one, and the setting gives the town an early sense of how many journeys here begin on floats.

What to see once you arrive

Totem Bight State Historical Park and the Totem Heritage Center are the two places the visitor bureau points to for this, and they reward unhurried time. The Southeast Alaska Discovery Center explains the region’s forests and peoples, and the Tongass Historical Museum covers the town’s story.

The Arts Humanities Council is the organization to know for the town’s creative life. Fishing traditions are still part of the identity here, so the waterfront is a good place to walk and watch the boats.

Seasons and schedules

Ferry schedules change by season, and the one detail the current plans spell out is that winter 2026/27 does not include Prince Rupert. Southeast Alaska’s mainline vessels and day boats serve most communities year-round, so a winter trip by water is possible on the Bellingham route.

Air and ferry both end in the same place, with rain on the hills and a harbor that has served fishing boats for generations. Whichever you choose, the town is there to be explored on foot.

Good to know before you go

Pack for rain whichever way you travel, since Ketchikan sits in rainforest and Seattle is cloudy on most days of the year. Keep your plans flexible if you are mixing flight and ferry, because the ferry begins in Bellingham and not in Seattle. Once you arrive, a first walk to the totem poles of Totem Bight State Historical Park makes a fitting start to the town’s story.