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.
Ketchikan, great place to visit great tour to take. We had an amazing tour with Art. He was perfect and explaining everything, and making sure that we did not miss seeing a thing in the Ketchikan area. We saw running salmon, bears fishing for salmon, waterfalls, and a fabulous collection of totem poles. This also included arts, authentic local narration in information about his life in the local people of the area.
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.
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!


Le meilleur de Ketchikan en peu de temps Bernie est chaleureux et amical. connaître sa culture et sa ville; est connu et respecté par tous les autres guides touristiques. Elle savait exactement où trouver toute la faune sauvage. Passionné d'histoire et de culture. Vraiment comment battre les foules. Elle était le meilleur guide. J'ai bien aimé aller au stand de confiture local. Voir les aigles à tête blanche, les cerfs, les cascades, surtout - - les totems. Entendre parler de la spiritualité et du caractère sacré des personnes et de l'environnement. Endroit magnifique. Je recommande vivement Bernie.
Outstanding Tour Outstanding tour/guide. Bernie had us on a bear eating a live salmon within 5 minutes of the tour. She is very knowledgeable and in her element here in her home Alaska. Some of our best memories of this cruise are here with Orca Song Tours. Can't wait to get back to Alaska again. Thank you so much for sharing your hometown/state.
Merveilleuse journée J'ai réservé un petit tour car notre bateau de croisière n'était qu'une demi-journée. Bernie a pu nous faire faire un tour de 2 heures pour ma famille de 6 personnes. Mes parents sont tous deux en fauteuil roulant, mais ils peuvent entrer et sortir des véhicules. Bernie est allé au-delà de stocker leurs fauteuils roulants et nous emmener sur une route panoramique.
Unforgettable Experience When looking at excursions that best suited our needs, Orca Song Tours checked all of the boxes of what we were looking to do in Ketchikan. I want to note that our main goal was to see bears fishing for salmon, so to give my family the best opportunity, we booked back to back tours with Orca Song, and were with them for six hours instead of three.


Wonderful Tour for Families! Our private tour of Ketchikan for our family of 6 was perfect! Jason was an excellent tour guide and customized the tour based on our interests. We saw bears, salmon, and eagles; we visited waterfalls and totem poles; we picked salmon berries and stopped at a beach in search of whales. Jason's knowledge of the area is amazing. Thank you, Jason!
Fun and different Great being with Bernie. She was really good and very knowledgeable. I would recommend her to anyone
Fantastic small group tour Fantastic local guide who did all she could to explain local customs, see beautiful views and even saw a bear, really accommodating and knowledgeable
Ketchikan Excursion We had a wonderful time, and our guide Jason was very knowledgeable and made the experience special. We all enjoyed the views and want to come back to Ketchikan to spend more time.
Best way to spend 4 hours in Ketchikan Rick was awesome. He showed us places and let us explore at our own pace and was informative. We saw a black bear, a totem pole park/museum, salmon run, a tidal pool, walked in a rainforest, saw a waterfall it was great! Highly recommend.
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.
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!


Best Bet in Ketchikan! My wife and I and our close friends from Australia had the pleasure of taking a private tour of Ketchikan with Orca Song Tours. I can't say enough good things about Bernie. She worked with me online to plan the tour and it felt like I was being taken around town by a lifelong friend. We laughed and kibbitzed our way through Ketchikan. I have mobility issues that did not faze Bernie in the least. I participated fully and we all had a blast. Thanks Bernie.
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.
Truly great day in Ketchikan. Rick was fantastic! He apologized for substituting for Bernie, but there was no need to apologize. He knew his stuff, and he was a lot of fun. We told him that we were only interested in nature and wildlife, so he drove us straight to Settler’s Cove. He dropped us off (he wasn’t allowed to give a tour within a national park) and we walked through a stunning forest path to a beach, as well as to a beautiful waterfall, in less than thirty minutes.
The BEST! HIGHLY recommend booking this tour! Bernie was great at communicating with us from when we booked the tour all the way up until the actual day - which was incredibly helpful as our cruise docked at a different location from where it was originally scheduled. The tour itself was fantastic!! In just a few short hours, we got a wonderful overview of beautiful Ketchikan and enjoyed see the totem park, eagles, BEARS (yes BEARS!) and salmon. Bernie went over and above to make our visit as special as possible - avoiding crowds, giving us extra time when needed and showing us places she knew we would appreciate as she got to know us along the way (like showing our teenage boys the local little league field - so cool!). Did I mention we saw BEARS!?!? In the wild!? Trip of a lifetime. So grateful for the memories made on this tour.