Experience Ketchikan As a Local
Ketchikan is full of unique and fascinating things to see. We show you the best of it! Tour an Alaskan Native Totem park and learn about our fascinating cultures. Stop at a picturesque beach and view occasional passing by Orca, seals, or eagles. Make another stop at a beautiful river teeming with salmon while keeping a keen eye out for bears.
Our tours are small and personal with a maximum of 7 Guests per vehicle touring Ketchikan in a comfortable spacious vehicle. We can fill our time with what you are most interested in, or rely on our expert local guidance.
*Ward Cove Arrivals must take the shuttle to downtown Ketchikan's Berth 4.
Note: Please specify your cruise ship for pickup location at booking. For passengers arriving on ships docked at Ward Cove (incl. NCL), pickup is at Berth 4 in downtown Ketchikan where the shuttle drops you off.”
*Call for tours over 7 people
*Call for tours over 6 people
Experience luxury travel in Ketchikan in one of our two top-of-the-line luxury vans. Our spacious and comfortable vehicles offer the perfect transportation solution for your group of up to 7 guests per vehicle. Book your tour now and indulge in the ultimate travel experience.
We never mix and match parties. It’s just you, your family and your local tour guide.
We can easily accommodate groups who are a little less than mobile. Each trip is catered to your interests and limitations. We also have room for collapsible wheelchairs.
I’m Bernie, a 4th generation Alaskan native from the Tshimsian tribe and I’ve lived in Ketchikan all but 7 years of my life. I’ve commercial fished for 35 years and for the past 30 years if I’m not out fishing I’ve been doing sightseeing tours. I’ve grown up here in Ketchikan and boy do I have some great stories to tell! Can’t wait to meet you and show you around my hometown.
Simple mais vu beaucoup! Bernie est venu nous chercher à 14 heures près de l'endroit où nous avons déjeuné. Elle nous a amené à quelques totems et à la recherche de la faune! Super sympa, excursion parfaite pour notre dernier arrêt dans notre itinéraire! Bernie était sympathique et avait beaucoup de connaissances à partager. Elle a fait preuve d'une excellente communication avant notre arrivée. Réservez en toute confiance!


Good times We really enjoyed our private tour of Ketchikan with Bernie. She was very good at communicating before our pick up. Our favorite stop was Herring Cove and watching the eagles and bears! My daughter wanted to find a special souvenir and Bernie was able to recommend a great shop with local hand crafted goods. I’d recommend Bernie to anyone I know going to Ketchikan!
Visite guidée privée. Tout d'abord, un grand cri merci à Bernie. Excellente visite: nous avons visité des cascades, vu du saumon, des oiseaux, des aigles et des ours et un mât totémique. Nous avons déménagé à un rythme qui répond à nos besoins et nous avons également fait une belle visite de la ville. Bernie a partagé ses connaissances et son histoire familiale avec nous. Recommande vraiment.
Great cruise ship side tour Great tour for our short stop in Port on a cruise. We really enjoyed hearing about the town from a local, especially getting a great explanation of the totems at the totem park. Rick had lots of information and stories to share and we all enjoyed our tour with him. We didn't see a bear, but we did see deer and lots of lovely views. We especially enjoyed stopping to pick and sample Salmon Berries! 3 hours was a good length of time - Ketchikan is pretty small but it was great not to be in a hurry.


Ideal tour Mark had a nice, laid back approach to our tour. He knew where to go to see bald eagles and black bears. Got lots of photos of both. We also stopped on the beach, where our two boys looked at star fish and played on the shore. We finished with a succinct drive through parts of the town that tour buses don’t go was a great way to see how folks live in the area. Beautiful and enjoyable experience!


AWESOME!!!!🤩 What an amazing tour we had Rick as our guide, he was very friendly and helpful. I traveled with my grandmother of 96 , mom, husband and son. He was so patient with all of us. Also, the van was pretty cool with microphone so we all can hear the tour.
Chanson orca frappé un home run Je suis allé voir des orques. Nous avons vu deux familles de baleines orques. Plus les baleines à bosse et les otaries. Plus un oiseau macareux. Très sympa toute femme équipage. Je recommande de les utiliser pour l'observation des baleines.
Exceeded expectations Best way to get out of town to see cultural and natural highlights of your choice. Rick took us to the end of the road both north and south of town to visit lakes, waterfalls, pristine rain forest and, best of all, to Totem Bight Historical State Park (not to be missed). He was accommodating, knowledgeable and willing to go above and beyond to get in as many highlights as possible. Quality, well maintained van and professional service all the way.
Great Experience The tour was GREAT! Art was a great tour guide letting us know about the history of Ketchikan. Seeing all the salmon and how they migrate was very educational. Definitely will recommend this tour to everyone I know.
Fantastic local tour. Highly recommend Thoroughly enjoyed this tour. Rick was very knowledgeable on Ketchikan, the history, the people and the politics. He narrates the whole tour and it was very interesting, we learnt so much and would highly recommend. He went above and beyond when it came to a bear sighting and this is where local tours and local knowledge wins out. It was only thanks to his dedication that we ended up seeing a mumma bear and her cubs. It was an amazing experience and we can’t thank him enough. We saw eagles and seals as well but of course bear sightings rate above all else. The cafe he recommended for lunch has THE BEST fish and chips. So grateful we chose local.
Exactly the tour we were hoping for We are 3 adults in our 60s who just want to know how things tick. Bernie had the scoop on everything Ketchikan. Although it is early in the season, so the animal food supplies are limited, Bernie made a brave attempt to find some bears. No luck. But we did see a fine tide change, climbed up on some rocks to look at a fantastic waterfall, and had a quick look at some fresh bear scat and paw prints. Being the nosy biddies that we are, we were thrilled to see the local kids playing on their new softball field, the A&P Market where rotisserie chick costs $28, the landslide that took out the old market, the crematorium, the airstrip that is only accessible by ferry, and a great totem park that we had to ourselves. Bernie showed us around to the things that are important to her and her family, which was exactly what we wanted!
Lovely Tour Cut Short We were instructed to meet the tour operator at birth 2 which meant we had to take a shuttle from our boat to birth 4 then walk at least 10 minutes to get to north 2. Our driver then told us he could have picked us up at our boat which would have saved us about 30 minutes. Poor communication between aviator and the tour guide. We enjoyed the tour and the guide was knowledgeable but the tour was only 2 hours instead of 3 hours because of the miscommunication about the pickup location.
Awesome Wildlife Experience Bernie, our guide, really knew the best local places to view wildlife. She made our experience very special and memorable as she shared stories and information about the local sites. I highly recommend you get a private tour. It was so much more personable than our other larger excursions we later did at other sites.
Amazing!! The tour was amazing! If Bernie is available you’ll do more than well to book her. We were on an Alaska cruise and had been booking our excursions through the cruise line. Those excursions were good, but the guides were always transplants to the area working summer jobs in Alaska. Bernie was different - she’s a fourth generation local to the area and knows it extremely well! Everyone knows her everywhere and she knows everyone - including the wildlife. She found us a mother bear and her three cubs that had been frequenting an area. It genuinely had to be one of the greatest experiences of our Iives to watch them frolic in a field. She got us close enough to an eagle that I could have literally hit it with a stick (obviously I didn’t). She also knows a group that tracks the local pod of orcas and tells each other where the orcas are headed. Wildlife is wild so there’s no guarantee you’ll see something, but I think Bernie gives you the best chance to see it if it can be seen during your stay. She’s friendly, accommodative, and really just a delight to spend time with. I highly recommend.
Great tour of wildlife in Ketchikan and other local interest sights. Our guide was Bernadette. She was fun and informative. The van was roomy and comfortable. We saw Orca Killer whales, bald eagles fighting for salmon and so much of Ketchikan, including a waterfall and a house being lifted and moved to a new location. I highly recommend this tour and our guide Bernadette.
Exactly the tour we were hoping for We are 3 adults in our 60s who just want to know how things tick. Bernie had the scoop on everything Ketchikan. Although it is early in the season, so the animal food supplies are limited, Bernie made a brave attempt to find some bears. No luck. But we did see a fine tide change, climbed up on some rocks to look at a fantastic waterfall, and had a quick look at some fresh bear scat and paw prints. Being the nosy biddies that we are, we were thrilled to see the local kids playing on their new softball field, the A&P Market where rotisserie chick costs $28, the landslide that took out the old market, the crematorium, the airstrip that is only accessible by ferry, and a great totem park that we had to ourselves. Bernie showed us around to the things that are important to her and her family, which was exactly what we wanted!
This private tour is the best! Absolutely the best way to experience Ketchikan! Our guide Rick has lived in Ketchikan for over 30 years and was a font of local as well as Alaskan knowledge. Rick really cared that we have a great experience while in Ketchikan. The Honda Odyssey van was spacious enough for the four of us. Rick had pairs of binoculars and waters for us. He took us to a place to see black bears catching and feasting on salmon. We saw Bald Eagles and just missed seeing an orca. While on Creek Street, a black bear emerged from under a building to eat blueberries and huckleberries. We ate a few too after the bear moved on. Rick took us to a totem pole park and gave a great tour and history of totem poles. We took many tours while in Alaska and this was by far the most enjoyable one. You can’t beat having a private tour with a guide who is proud of his town and wants you to have a great experience.