RE/MAX Of Ketchikan

Ketchikan Area Guide

Ketchikan combines the best that Alaska has to offer. Located on Revillagigedo Island in Southeast Alaska, within the Tongass National Forest we are lucky to have the best of both worlds - the mountains and the sea. We enjoy a lush green landscape 365 days a year thanks to an average of 162 inches of precipitation, which includes about 32 inches of snow. Winters can be chilly, as they are in most Northern States, but our year round climate is rather temperate and temperatures can reach into the 80’s during the summer.

Whether you're a professional considering a position in one of the many area businesses, an entrepreneur searching for a progressive and growing community, or a family looking for a safe, friendly place to raise your children, moving to Ketchikan is for you. Crime is low, the air is clean, business is booming, health care is advanced, education is a priority, and the real estate market is steady. Ketchikan is a great place to live, work, and play.

ARTS:

Ketchikan’s art scene is diverse and active. Beyond the galleries and the studios of professional artists, hundreds of local people are involved in theater, dance, choral work, instrumental groups and folk arts.

Ketchikan Area Arts and Humanities Council hosts the much anticipated annual Wearable Art Show in February and the first Saturday in August, The Blueberry Arts Festival – a day long feast of art, music, food and games. www.ketchikanarts.org

First City Players nurtures the theatrical arts in Ketchikan as a true community theatre organization. The more that 40-year old group puts on a full season of entertainment that includes a major American musical, challenging dramas, comedies, children’s productions, a dinner theater now and again, mysteries and musical revues from both sides of the Atlantic. Not to be missed is the home grown comic melodrama in Fish Pirate’s Daughter, a summertime favorite of residents and visitors for four decades. www.firstcityplayers.org

Ketchikan Theatre Ballet has been training young dancers in classical technique and contemporary interpretation for about 40 years. The school boasts more than 200 students and mounts two major dance shows each year in addition to a pre-Christmas production of The Nutcracker www.ktbdance.com

Ketchikan offers many activities for visitors and locals. A few not to miss would be Southeast Alaska Discovery Center, Creek Street, our historic former brothel area, now lined with unique shops and eateries. Thomas Basin harbor is home to working and pleasure boats. Totem Heritage Center on the upper creek presents Native culture and historically significant totems in an interpretive setting. A full list of activities is available at our Ketchikan Visitors Bureau located right downtown on Front Street. www.visit-ketchikan.com

RECREATION:

Recreation ranges from mountaintops to salt water, with most every scene in between represented. Many people outside of Southeast Alaska think all we do for kicks up here is fish for king salmon. Not true. In late summer, there are Coho salmon.

Truth be known, Ketchikan is alive to all sorts of recreational pursuits. Dozens of dedicated runners chase improved times and fitness; hikers follow sunlight to alpine heights; snowmachiners pack white trails into the backcountry and, in our community rec center, judo students learn an ancient art. We support youth baseball and soccer and basketball and volleyball. Adults go to the ocean to paddle quietly in kayaks or to zip up and down the channels on personal watercraft. But alongside all our other recreations, we are simply realistic about this fishing thing. It’s a great pastime because it occurs when the weather is best: it’s a good family activity in the outdoors; and when you’re lucky, you get something tasty out of it.

The pinnacle of local salmon fishing is the annual King Salmon Derby sponsored by the local Cabaret, Hotel, Restaurant and Retailers Association. www.ketchikankingsalmonderby.com

Hiking – Hikers new to Ketchikan have a leg up, so to speak, with an active group that works to improve local trails. Members of the Ketchikan Outdoor Recreation and Trails Coalition participate with government agencies on design and construction of trails through the forest. Some start near the city; others take off from rural roads. The U.S. Forest Service maintains miles of trail through scenic forest settings. A couple of trails in the area reach into alpine country and offer tremendous vistas of mountaintops, islands and the sea. One Forest Service cabin on Revilla is accessible by a trail that starts right behind the city.

Remote Cabins are the place to be for solitude and fish. The U.S. Forest Service provides recreational cabins throughout Tongass National Forest; about two dozen are within 75 miles of Ketchikan. Some are on salt water, some on estuaries, many on high lakes and accessible via float plane. They’re rustic but well-maintained and in spectacular settings. Most are equipped with small boats. www.fs.fed.us/r10/tongass

DINING:

Jeremiah's Pub (Located in The Landing Best Western Hotel) 3434 Tongass Avenue Ketchikan, AK 99901 (907) 225-5166

Jeremiah's Pub over looking the Tongass Narrows has an Italian Flair menu. Features an open cooking line, full cocktail service, 13 microbrews on tap, an enticing wine menu, separate nonsmoking room with a beautiful fireplace, an adjacent meeting room, and an outside deck for those wonderful sunny summer days. The Alaskan Halibut BLT Sandwich with the wonderful beer batter fries are a local favorite along with the newly added sweet potato fries.

Jeremiah's Pub Hours
Monday-Thursday 11am-11pm
Friday 11am-12pm
Saturday 9am-12pm
Sunday 9am-11pm

The Landing Restaurant (Located in The Landing Best Western Hotel) 3434 Tongass Avenue Ketchikan, AK 99901 (907) 225-5166

The Landing Restaurant is a family style diner open seven days a week. Serving breakfast all day, fresh Alaskan Seafood, Mexican dishes, the all time American favorite an Old Fashioned Cheeseburger, mike shakes, espresso and much more.

Landing Restaurant Hours
Sunday-Thursday 6am-9pm
Friday & Saturday 6am-9:30pm

Oceanview Restaurant
1831 Tongass Avenue
Ketchikan, AK 99901
(907) 225-7566

Annabelle’s Restaurant in the Gilmore Hotel
326 Front Street
Ketickan, AK 99901
(907) 225-9423

To see a list of more dining in Ketchikan visit: http://www.ketchikanalaska.com/dining/restaurants.html

LODGING:

The Landing Best Western
www.landinghotel.com

*In 2006 was named the #1 Best Western Hotel for "Customer Care". This is out of 2,500 Best Western Hotels in North America.

With 107 rooms and suites, this beautiful hotel is your first stop traveling via Alaska Airlines, Alaska Marine Highway or the Inter Island Ferry. The Best Western Landing also houses the two most popular local restaurants in Ketchikan. The extremely busy Landing Restaurant, open from 6am daily, serving breakfast all day, lunch and dinner. Jeremiahs the upstairs pub featuring an open kitchen, casual dining, and is open till late. There is a cozy fireplace, full cocktail service, beers on tap and an outside deck overlooking the Tongass Narrows.

The well appointed guest rooms and suites offer everything the discerning guest could need. There is high speed internet and complimentary wireless throughout the property, secure parking, a fitness center, business center, limited courtesy shuttle service and premium cable TV channel with HBO.

You'll be able to understand why The Best Western Landing received the "Best of the Best" Customer Care award from the moment you check in.

The Gilmore Hotel
www.gilmorehotel.com

Cape Fox Lodge
www.capefoxlodge.com

To see a list of more lodging in Ketchikan click here.

TRANSPORTATION:

Airways and Waterways are the only ways into Ketchikan.

Alaska Airlines is the only major airline servicing our city. They are located at the Ketchikan International Airport, on Gravina Island. When you land you will still need to take a short ferry ride across the water to Ketchikan. The ferry runs every 30 minute in the winter and every 15 minutes in the summer. www.alaskaair.com

There are many local float plane operators with scheduled service to Prince of Wales Island and smaller remote communities. Many offer also offer flight seeing tours to Misty Fiords National Monument the nation’s second largest wilderness region, spanning more than two million acres of sheer granite cliffs, 1,000-foot waterfalls, beautiful valleys, and serene crystalline lakes. Misty Fjords is one of our country’s greatest national treasures, and visitors can access it only by boat or floatplane.

www.promechair.com

www.taquanair.com

www.seawindaviation.com

The Alaska Maine Highway has been operating year-round since 1963, with regularly scheduled passenger and vehicle service to 30 communities in Alaska, plus Bellingham, Washington, and Prince Rupert, British Columbia. www.dot.state.ak.us/amhs/index.shtml