How to Get to Ketchikan, Alaska

Ketchikan sits on Revillagigedo Island in Southeast Alaska, and the local road system connects to nothing. There is no highway link to the rest of Alaska, to Canada, or to the lower 48. The Ketchikan Gateway Borough does not publish the total mileage of the local road network on its Roads page or on any other official page found for this guide, so no figure is printed here.

That fact shapes every arrival. You reach Ketchikan one of three ways.

- By cruise ship. The majority of visitors arrive this way during the season. Ships dock at four downtown berths or at Ward Cove, roughly 7 miles north. See the cruise port guide for berths, the Ward Cove shuttle and daily schedules. - By air. Scheduled jets land at Ketchikan International Airport, and floatplanes serve the smaller communities. The airport sits on Gravina Island, a short ferry ride from town. - By state ferry. The Alaska Marine Highway System connects Ketchikan with other Southeast ports year round, including Prince of Wales Island (day trip ideas) and Metlakatla (community guide).

Who each suits is simple. Cruise passengers trade flexibility for ease, because the ship handles transport, meals and a fixed schedule. Flyers get the most control over their dates and can stay as long as they like. Ferry riders split the difference, moving under their own schedule between ports no road can reach. However you arrive, you will want the getting around page once you are in town.

Ketchikan International Airport sits on Gravina Island. There is no bridge. Every passenger and every vehicle crosses the Tongass Narrows on a ferry operated by the Ketchikan Gateway Borough.

The fares are straightforward. One way costs $6.00 for adult passengers aged 12 and up, and $7.00 for a standard vehicle. Fares are charged each way, so a round trip costs double.

The departure pattern is easy to remember. From the Ketchikan side, at 4171 Tongass Ave, the ferry departs on the quarter hours. From the airport side, it departs on the hour and the half hour. The ferry runs daily from 6:15am to 9:30pm.

In the peak season there is more capacity. A second ferry adds 15-minute service on weekdays from 9:30am to 5:30pm, in operation from May 18 through September 18.

What this means in practice:

- With luggage. You wheel or carry your bags onto the boat, ride about five minutes across the narrows, and roll off on the other side. There is no check-in or security on the crossing itself. - With a tight flight connection. Work backwards from the ferry schedule, not just your flight time. Missing a quarter-hour departure on the Ketchikan side can cost you 30 minutes or more if the boat has just left. The summer weekday boat halves that risk within its hours. - With a rental car. Vehicles queue for the same boat. The $7.00 vehicle fare is on top of the passenger fare for anyone riding in the car.

Once you are on the town side, the airport ferry dock on Tongass Ave puts you close to the Borough Transit route, where a single adult ride costs $2.00 and a digital day pass costs $5.00. Taxis meet most flights, though no official municipal page lists taxi companies or confirms ride-share coverage, so check your app before relying on it. The getting around page covers local transport in full.

One consequence worth planning around. The ferry runs 6:15am to 9:30pm, so a flight before about 7:30am means either a very early crossing or a bed on the airport side of town. That is the single case where sleeping out of the centre beats sleeping downtown, and it is worth checking before you book the flight rather than after.

Alaska Airlines is the scheduled jet carrier serving Ketchikan International Airport. It provides daily jet service between Ketchikan and Seattle, plus daily service to and from Anchorage, Juneau, Sitka, Petersburg and Wrangell.

One honest caveat. The official Alaska Airlines airport information page for Ketchikan did not render specific route and frequency detail when the source data for this guide was collected. That means any exact departure counts you read elsewhere, including here, are secondary figures. Check the airline's own booking tool for the schedule that applies to your dates.

Beyond the jets, floatplanes act as scheduled transport to the smaller communities that no road and no jetway reach. Operators in Southeast fly under FAA Part 135 air taxi certificates, the same category used for the Misty Fjords flightseeing routes. If your destination is a village off the main system, a floatplane or small charter may be the only scheduled option.

A few practical points:

- Seattle is the main lower-48 gateway, with Anchorage and Juneau as the key in-state connections. - Winter weather, including heavy fog days concentrated from October through January, can affect small-aircraft schedules more than jet schedules. - The airport itself is covered above, including the $6.00 adult ferry fare and the 6:15am to 9:30pm operating window.

If you are flying in for a short stay, the one day in Ketchikan and two days in Ketchikan itineraries show what fits. For longer trips, the plan page pulls the pieces together.

The question people actually ask is whether there is a ferry from Seattle. There is not. The Alaska Marine Highway's southern terminus in the lower 48 is Bellingham, Washington, about 90 miles north of Seattle, and Ketchikan is the first Alaskan port of call from there, a sailing of about 38 hours. If you have read Seattle somewhere, that is the error.

The Alaska Marine Highway System is the state ferry network that keeps Ketchikan connected to the rest of coastal Alaska. It is the only way to bring a vehicle to or from town without flying it in on a barge.

Ketchikan's ferry terminal sits at 3501 Tongass Avenue, about 2 miles north-west of downtown and a short way along the road from the airport ferry landing. The terminal there is a purpose-built $10 million building, not a dock with a shed on it. It is not walkable from downtown, so budget time and transport for the trip out to it.

Here is the important honest point. The Alaska Marine Highway System does not publish flat fares. Every fare is quoted per sailing, and it varies by route, by season, by passenger age and by vehicle size. There is no single number this page can truthfully print for a crossing.

What to do about that:

- Use the AMHS Sailing Search and fare tool at dot.alaska.gov/amhs to price your exact sailing, with your dates and vehicle class. - Book early for summer sailings, when demand across Southeast peaks. - If you are vehicle-free, remember the terminal is at 3501 Tongass Avenue, not downtown, and plan the transfer.

The ferry is also how locals and independent travelers reach nearby communities. Prince of Wales Island is a common crossing for fishing, caving and quiet beaches, covered in the Prince of Wales Island guide. Metlakatla, on Annette Island, is the other frequent run, described in the Metlakatla guide. For an overnight base near the ferry side of town, see where to stay.

Most visitors arrive on a cruise ship, so here is the short version. Ketchikan's downtown waterfront has four Panamax-sized berths, numbered I through IV from south to north, each with an adjacent float. Ships too large or too numerous for those berths use Ward Cove, about 7 miles north of downtown, where a complimentary shuttle runs continuously to Berth IV and takes about 20 minutes each way.

That is the summary. The cruise port guide owns this subject in full, with berth details, the daily schedule PDF published by the city, and walking times into town. If your ship docks at Ward Cove rather than downtown, read the Ward Cove guide separately, because the arrival experience there differs in useful ways, from the shuttle rhythm to what is on site.

Cruise arrival also changes how you plan everything else. Your time in port is set by the ship's schedule, tours book around the berths, and rainy-day logistics matter more when you cannot simply stay another day. The shore excursions catalogue lists bookable options, and ketchikan without a tour shows what you can do on foot from the pier.