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.
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.
Beautiful Ketchikan and Bears We had an amazing experience! We saw two bears feasting on salmon! Our tour was our own and tailored to just us! We spent most of our time watching the bears. I highly recommend this tour for anybody wanting to see bears in their natural habitat!
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!


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.


Skip the crowded cruise excursion and do this! Jason was great! Very knowledgeable about the area. We were able to see whales, salmon spawning, and even a mama bear and her cubs! We were on a cruise, but booked this private tour versus being with a huge group off the ship and so glad we did.
Loved the tour and loved Bernie Our extended family had a great trip with Bernie. She knows the area so well since she has lived here her entire life. She also has a Native American background so adds a lot of color around that. We were able to get to a few highlights in just under 3 hours including the history of totems at Potlach Park and seeing some beautiful wildlife including eagles and bears. Bernie is tied into the community so when they saw a pod of orcas- we were on it! Unfortunately we just missed them but Bernie has a practical positive spirit and we pivoted to something else. She also was very helpful with one of our moms who currently is having difficulty walking by altering approaches to certain places for her- she can take you into more hiking if your group wants - just let her know ahead of time and she will work with your group. Highly recommend!


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.
Great morning tour in Ketchikan Wonderful experience with Jason. Thoroughly enjoyed spending the morning with him, learning about the area, and seeing the highlights. Jason listed to our group, and tailored our experience to what we wanted to see. Wish we had had more time with him, and could have seen more! But now we have yet another reason to come back again next year. Thanks for a great morning, really enjoyed it.
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.
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.
Really fun tour Bernie drove us around Ketchikan and showed us the sites while talking about growing up and living in Ketchikan. My daughter and I had a great time on the tour, were so excited to see bears wandering around, and were amazed at one of the beautiful waterfalls Bernie took us to. One of our last stops was at a stand that sold jellies and fudge. My daughter and I both agreed that it was the best fudge we’ve ever had and were saddened that we didn’t buy more. 
Connaissance locale fantastique et sympathique Bernie possède une mine de connaissances locales, elle est née et a été la quatrième génération de Ketchikan et vous accueille chaleureusement dans la région de Ketchikan. J'ai réservé en privé et j'ai été si heureux, évitant les foules des croisières que vous pouvez voir beaucoup plus de la ville que Bernie adapte à vos besoins familiaux. Merci pour cette belle journée Bernie!
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.


Great afternoon getting out of town and seeing wildlife. This is a private tour run by Bernie Angus. She met us at our ship 25 min early, and was ready to go when we got there. She drives a 24 Honda mini van. Plenty of room and very clean. The tour consisted of visiting a local park and dam area our of town. We then went to a Totem Park and Museum where she provided some history and walked us around the park telling stories about the poles. We then drove through town and went south of the down town. The hope was to find wild life. Bernie did not fail us. We saw a black bear, seals, black tail deer, Stellar's (blue) Jay, and humpback whales. Only thing we did not see were Orca. Sounds like we missed them by no more than 5 min. The coolest thing was the pod of humpback whales, we came upon a group of 4 or 5 that bubble fed for almost 45 min. We saw them breach at least 5 times. This was a great afternoon for my wife, daughter and I. If we want a personalized adventure give Bernie a call.


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.


Beautiful Ketchikan and Bears We had an amazing experience! We saw two bears feasting on salmon! Our tour was our own and tailored to just us! We spent most of our time watching the bears. I highly recommend this tour for anybody wanting to see bears in their natural habitat!
So glad we found this tour This was such a great experience. Our guide, Jason, was so generous with his time and knowledge. He let the tour go at our pace laying out what was ahead for us so we knew how much time we wanted to spend at each location. He tried his best to get us wildlife experiences. We were really thrilled with the tour and highly recommend it.
Great guide, great value A thoroughly enjoyable trip with our friendly and very knowledgeable guide. Booking was easy and we were sent details of who our guide would be, which vehicle he would be driving and where we would be met. All this worked faultlessly.


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.

