Ketchikan Shore Excursions: Misty Fjords Floatplanes, Totem Parks, Wildlife Tours and Creek Street

Step off the ship in Ketchikan and the first thing you notice is how close everything feels: historic buildings, galleries and shops along the waterfront, and totem poles standing in the open as if they had always been part of the street. The question comes quickly, whether to spend the call in the air, on a boat, or on foot. Ketchikan offers all three, from a floatplane flight to Misty Fjords to a walk through totem parks and a museum.

What shore excursions are there in Ketchikan?

Ketchikan, in Southeast Alaska on the Inside Passage, offers a floatplane flight to Misty Fjords, wildlife and sightseeing tours, visits to totem parks and museums, a walk along Creek Street, and time in the Tongass National Forest. The mix reflects the town itself, where Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian cultures sit alongside a history built on salmon and timber.

Some of these are organized outings and some are things you simply walk into. The choices below run from the most dramatic to the most relaxed.

Floatplane to Misty Fjords

Misty Fjords National Monument lies about 40 miles east of Ketchikan along the Inside Passage coast, and a floatplane from Ketchikan is one way visitors reach it. The monument covers more than two million acres of the Tongass National Forest, and all but a small part is designated wilderness. That scale is the point of going: very little here has been touched by roads or buildings.

What you look down on is granite, light in color and tens of millions of years old, carved by glaciers into deep U-shaped troughs. Cliffs drop straight into narrow water, and the name comes from the low cloud and mist that often drape the walls. The monument is run by the U.S. Forest Service, and it was first proclaimed by President Jimmy Carter in December 1978.

Wildlife and sightseeing tours

Wildlife and sightseeing tours leave from Ketchikan for travelers who want to look at the landscape rather than walk it. They are a chance to see the forest and the water around the town, and animals may appear, though no tour can promise a sighting.

These outings suit a traveler who would rather sit and watch than plan a route. They also pair naturally with a late lunch back in town, among the shops and galleries downtown.

Totem poles, parks and the Totem Heritage Center

Ketchikan has one of the largest collections of standing totem poles in the world, and they are scattered through town, in totem parks and at the Totem Heritage Center. The center helps preserve and interpret poles of the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian people, which makes it the place to understand what you are looking at before or after you see poles outdoors.

Two parks stand out. Saxman, a Tlingit community next to Ketchikan and the headquarters of the Organized Village of Saxman, has many historical totem poles at its Saxman Totem Park. Totem Bight State Historical Park, at Mile 10.5 of the North Tongass Highway, sits on the former site of a traditional campground known as Mud Bight Village.

Museums and Creek Street

The Tongass Historical Museum tells the story of Ketchikan’s people, businesses and events from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It helps explain why the town was once called the Canned Salmon Capital of the World, and how fishing, canneries, logging and maritime trades shaped it.

Creek Street follows Ketchikan Creek, where historic buildings recall its past as a red light district that served miners, fishermen and loggers. It is a place to wander slowly, and it connects easily with the museum and the shops nearby.

Which are on the water, which on land?

The floatplane flight to Misty Fjords is the one that leaves the water behind and takes you above it, while the town’s totem parks, museums, Creek Street and downtown streets are all on land. The Tongass National Forest can be explored from Ketchikan too, and it is where the land experiences open out into the wild.

In the air and over the water

A floatplane trip is the clearest example of an excursion that belongs to the water, because the aircraft itself is built to land on it. Misty Fjords is a coastline of steep granite walls and deep troughs, and seeing it from above shows the shape glaciers gave it. The view is what you are paying for, so it suits travelers who care about landscape more than activity.

Wildlife and sightseeing tours from Ketchikan work in a similar spirit, giving a wider look at the region without asking much of you. What you see depends on the day, and animals are always a chance, never a promise.

On foot in town

Downtown Ketchikan is easy to walk, and the main stops sit within the same town: the Tongass Historical Museum, the Totem Heritage Center, the historic buildings along Ketchikan Creek and the galleries and shops selling locally made goods. A walking day here costs no more planning than choosing which door to open first.

Totem poles appear throughout town, so even the walk between stops becomes part of the visit. Creek Street gives the most atmosphere, with its old buildings recalling the miners, fishermen and loggers who once filled it.

Beyond downtown by land

Saxman and Totem Bight lie outside the center, and each gives a different view of totem traditions. Saxman is a Tlingit town on Revillagigedo Island, with the city of Ketchikan just to the northwest, and its park holds many historical poles. Totem Bight, at Mile 10.5 of the North Tongass Highway, covers 33 acres and holds a collection of poles and a replica of a traditional chieftain’s house.

The carvings on that house were executed by Charles Brown, a Tlingit of Saxman, which links the two places. The historic site within Totem Bight, 8.5 acres in all, was added to the National Register of Historic Places on October 27, 1970.

What should you know before you book?

Before you book, decide what kind of day you want, because Ketchikan’s excursions pull in different directions: one big flight into wilderness, a day among totem poles and museums, or a looser mix of both. The floatplane to Misty Fjords and the wildlife tours are the choices that need planning, while the downtown walk does not.

Matching the excursion to what you want

If landscape is the draw, Misty Fjords is the headline. It is about 40 miles from town and is a wilderness monument, so the experience is about scale and quiet rather than facilities. The flight shows it from above, which is how travelers meet it.

If culture is the draw, put the totem sites first. Between the Totem Heritage Center, Saxman Totem Park and Totem Bight, you can see poles in a museum setting, in a Tlingit town and on a former village site. Each gives a different angle on Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian art.

Mixing a tour with time in town

A big outing and a town walk can share a day if you keep the town part loose. The Tongass Historical Museum and Creek Street together give the town’s story of salmon, canneries, timber and the people who worked them.

Shopping is part of the picture too. Galleries and shops sell locally made goods, which makes a good way to take home something tied to the place rather than a generic souvenir.

Respect for the places you visit

Many of the sites you will see are part of living cultures. Saxman is the headquarters of a federally recognized Tlingit tribe, and Ketchikan is home to Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian people. Treat the poles and houses as works that carry meaning, not as scenery. Misty Fjords is wilderness for nearly all of its area, so what you see there is an intact landscape and a reminder of how much of this coast has stayed wild.

Good to know before you go

Ketchikan sits in the Inside Passage, a coast of mist and low cloud, and the view from a plane or boat can change quickly. That is part of why Misty Fjords carries its name.

Sources

Visit Ketchikan, things to do (https://www.visit-ketchikan.com/things-to-do/), checked October 11, 2026
Wikipedia, Misty Fjords National Monument (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misty_Fjords_National_Monument), checked October 11, 2026
Wikipedia, Saxman, Alaska (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saxman,_Alaska), checked October 11, 2026
Wikipedia, Totem Bight State Historical Park (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Totem_Bight_State_Historical_Park), checked October 11, 2026
Visit Ketchikan, museums and attractions (https://www.visit-ketchikan.com/things-to-do/art-and-culture/museums-attractions/), checked October 11, 2026