Ketchikan With Kids: What Children Can Actually Do

Start at Creek Street. It is a free public boardwalk over Ketchikan Creek, with no entry fee to walk it. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game describes Chinook and coho salmon filling the creek each July and August, with a general viewing window of May through September. There is no fish ladder to watch. Viewing is from the bridges, and children can stand directly over the water. The Discovery Center also runs a live underwater camera of spawning salmon if the real fish are not showing.

The Southeast Alaska Discovery Center at 50 Main St charges $5.00 per person from May through September, and children 15 and under enter free with an adult. Admission is free from October through April. It opens at 9:00am and closes at 5:00pm, seven days a week in season, and is closed on federal holidays.

Two more free walking options: the Married Man's Trail, described by secondary sources only as roughly 0.20 miles one way with about 100ft of gain on stairs and boardwalk, starting at the northeast end of Creek Street. And the stairs themselves. Ketchikan is built on a hillside and the stairways between streets are a genuine attraction for a child who likes climbing.

The totem parks cost little. Totem Bight State Historical Park charges a $5.00 per person day-use fee, open 7:00am-6:00pm year-round with free parking. Totem Heritage Center admission is not confirmed on an official page, though third-party sources report children enter free. Potlatch Totem Park publishes no admission price, hours or season on its own site at all.

For wildlife by road, Herring Cove sits at the end of the road system and the rainforest preserve there is where guided walks go. Without a guide, the free half of this town is already a full morning for most children. See Creek Street, the Discovery Center and Herring Cove.

This is the section to read before booking. Of the tours in our catalogue, most publish no minimum age at all. That is not us being vague. The listings genuinely leave it unstated, which means the age policy sits with the operator. Ask before you pay, because a refusal at the dock is not refundable. Compare all listings on our tours page.

Here is what the listings do state. The Bering Sea Crab Fishermen's Tour, $249, 3 hours on the crab boat Aleutian Ballad, states a minimum age of 5 and welcomes wheelchairs and scooters. The Alaska Native Cultural and Scenic Shore Excursion, $84, 3 hours by van, states 2 years and says it is not suitable for children under 2. The e-bike and hike tour, $164, 4 hours, requires riders to be at least 16. The Adventure Kart Expedition, $275, 3.5 hours, has no minimum age to ride, but drivers must be at least 18 with a valid license.

That leaves the rest silent. The Misty Fjords floatplane tour, the Neets Bay bear tour, the rainforest walks, the trolley, the photo safari, the private tours: all say not stated on minimum age, difficulty or both. Some do give difficulty in words, like the rainforest walk described as easy at a gradual pace suitable for almost all ability levels, but easy is not an age.

A few other numbers matter for families. Most tours have a 24-hour cancellation deadline, so a decision about a tired child is not a decision you can reverse the night before. The e-bike tour is the outlier at 7 days. The crab feast at George Inlet Lodge states 79 steps up or down at the lodge, with an on-site shuttle for guests who prefer not to take them.

The two headline wildlife trips are long by toddler standards. The Misty Fjords floatplane tour runs 2 hours total, van transfer plus a 6-passenger floatplane, at $389 per person. Two hours sounds short. For a small child it includes a dock briefing, a van ride, boarding, the flight itself with headsets on, a water landing if offered, and the return. The listing publishes no minimum age, so the operator decides on the day. Note the FAA angle: these operators fly under Part 135 air taxi certificates, and the NTSB has recommended mandatory traffic-alerting equipment for Ketchikan air tours after the 2019 midair collision. Read the safety context before deciding.

The Neets Bay black bear tour is the genuinely long one: 5 hours, $399, by van and speedboat with walking on forest trails. The listing states it is not suitable for people with mobility impairments and gives no minimum age. Five hours means no easy exit once you leave. A child who melts down at hour two is on a boat until hour five. Bears are seen at the SSRAA hatchery in season, roughly late July to early September by secondary accounts, but a 5-year-old who wants to see a bear and a 5-hour commitment are different things.

The genuinely short options are on land or in the harbor. The wildlife waterfall tour runs 1.5 hours. The trolley runs 130 minutes. The crab tour runs 3 hours. For most families, shorter and cheaper beats longer and farther, because a floatplane wait with a bored child costs more than the ticket.

Plan for rain as the default. Ketchikan's normal annual precipitation is 149.54 inches, and the normal number of days with measurable precipitation is 232.6 per year. June is the driest month at 7.02 inches and October the wettest at 18.37 inches. In season, expect a wet day roughly every other day. Full normals and monthly figures are on our weather page.

The dry stops for children: the Southeast Alaska Discovery Center, indoors at 50 Main St, $5.00 per person in season with children 15 and under free with an adult. It has exhibits, the live underwater salmon camera, and restrooms. The Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show is covered and the combined show-and-crab-feast listing states seating is covered, heated and cushioned, and the tour is ADA accessible. Shows run 1 hour, up to 6 daily, at two locations including one right at the Ward Cove pier. Child tickets are reported around $23 by third-party sites. The official site does not publish prices on its public pages.

Tour operators expect it. Several listings state they run rain or shine, one provides rain ponchos on rainy days, another provides gloves, rain pants and rain jackets, and one advises temperatures typically run 40-70F with waterproof clothing recommended.

What does not work in heavy rain: the Married Man's Trail stairs, which get slick, and long boat trips with a cold child. Keep the free boardwalk for the breaks between showers. Pack spare clothes in the day bag, not the ship.

Restrooms: the Discovery Center has them and is open 9:00am-5:00pm in season. At Ward Cove, the Welcome Center in the historic mill building offers modern restrooms, plus converted rail cars that also function as restrooms. The lumberjack show venue at Ward Cove sells snacks including popcorn, cookies and hot drinks.

Food: Creek Street and the downtown waterfront have the usual options, and our eating guide lists specifics. At Ward Cove, three food trucks were planned for the season, including Filipino dishes and coffee.

The shuttle: if your ship docks at Ward Cove, about 7 miles north of downtown, the free shuttle to Berth IV takes about 20 minutes each way, and the operator suggests allowing 30 minutes to be safe. Buses run continuously from ship arrival with no fixed frequency published. With a pushchair, board early in the queue, because there is no stated luggage or pushchair policy. Last-departure times are only in the per-ship PDF schedule. See the cruise port page for berth details.

Steps: the operator of the George Inlet Lodge crab feast does publish that there are 79 steps up or down at the lodge, with an on-site shuttle for guests who prefer not to take them. That is one of the few honest step counts in town. Downtown, the Married Man's Trail is mostly stairs by every account, and the trolley tour warns visitors should manage a few stairs.

Tap water is drinkable, per Ketchikan Public Utilities. The borough bus costs $2.00 per adult ride with youth half price, but with small children and short distances, walking beats the timetable.