Guide · Route

The town and harbor duck tour in Ketchikan, Alaska, stop by stop

What is the duck tour in Ketchikan? A narrated drive past the town's best-known corners, then a splash into the harbor. Here is the route, what each place is and the story behind it.

Check availabilityfrom $79

Editorial team, ketchikan-duck-tour.comUpdated October 16, 2026read in 6 minutes23 sources

The tour this guide is about Ketchikan: Duck Tour by land and water 4.7 (2,977 reviews) 1.5 hoursA bus and a boat in one90 minutes, seated from$79per person Check availabilityPrice per Viator, live

Quick answer

01What it is: A Coast Guard inspected amphibian that is both bus and boat.¹
02On land: Salmon ladder, City Park, Whale Park and Creek Street.²
03On water: The harbor on the Tongass Narrows, canneries and seaplane docks.³ ⁴
04Length: About 1.5 hours with a live guide.
05Start: The downtown cruise ship pier, berths 1 to 4.

What is the duck tour in Ketchikan?

The town and harbor duck tour in Ketchikan, Alaska, is a sightseeing ride in an amphibious vehicle that drives on the streets like a bus and then rolls into the water and carries on as a boat. The operator calls it a Coast Guard certified and inspected amphibian that doubles as a boat and a bus.¹ You climb in at the cruise pier, stay in the same seat the whole time and see the town first, the harbor second.

It is run by Alaska Amphibious Tours and lasts about 1.5 hours, with a live guide speaking English. The guide talks the whole way, mixing local history with jokes and trivia, and the format is relaxed rather than rushed. There are no long walking stops; the vehicle slows or pauses where there is something to see and keeps rolling.

Because the route packs so much of downtown into one short ride, it works well as a first look at Ketchikan. Many visitors take it early in their port day, then walk back to the places they liked best. This page follows the route in the order the operator describes it, so you know what you will pass and why each place matters.

The route

From the pier to the harbor and back

Start

Cruise pier

Check in at the bottom of your ship's ramp and board the duck.
On land

Salmon ladder

Ketchikan Creek and its spawning grounds, with salmon in season.²
On land

City Park

The park with a fish hatchery and an eagle center.²
On land

Whale Park, Creek Street

A totem, then the old boardwalk district on stilts.² ⁵
Splash

Tongass Narrows

The duck drives into the harbor and becomes a boat.³
Afloat

Canneries, seaplanes

Close views of the working waterfront before the return.⁴

Starting at the cruise pier

Every duck tour starts from the downtown cruise ship pier, at berths 1 to 4 on the waterfront. Ketchikan has four Panamax-sized cruise berths lined up along its waterfront, each with a float beside it.⁶ The town sits directly on the Tongass Narrows, so the moment you step off the ship you are already where the tour begins.⁷

You check in with the duck tour representatives at the bottom of your ship's ramp about 30 minutes before departure and then board 15 minutes before the duck leaves. Boarding is by a short ladder of 9 steps. Once you are seated, you stay seated, which keeps the ride simple and safe for everyone on board.

The pier itself is worth a minute before you climb in. The main visitors center stands at Berth 2, with free maps, restrooms and a tour center selling tickets for local attractions.⁸ If you want to plan your walk for after the ride, pick up a map here first; the duck will show you where everything is, and the map will help you find it again.

Stops explained

What you pass, and the story behind it

Place	Part	Why it matters
Salmon ladder	Land	Salmon in season on Ketchikan Creek
City Park	Land	Hatchery and eagle center
Whale Park	Land	A downtown totem
Creek Street	Land	Former red-light district on stilts
Tongass Narrows	Water	The harbor channel by the town
Canneries and seaplane docks	Water	The working waterfront

Stops as the operator describes the route; history from the Ketchikan Visitors Bureau and local reporting.² ³ ⁴ ⁵

Three parts

Pier, town and water

Start

The pier

Where it starts

Where: Berths 1 to 4
Check in: 30 min before
Board: By a ladder

Book the duck

On land

The town

Creek and boardwalks

Creek: Salmon ladder
Parks: City and Whale
Boardwalk: Creek Street

Book the duck

Afloat

The harbor

Tongass Narrows

Water: Calm, protected
See: Canneries
Also: Seaplane docks

Book the duck

Decision helper

Is this route what you want to see?

Match your interest to the route

A quick overview of town History of Creek Street Totem parks out of town A gentle time on the water Wildlife far offshore

Yes, the duck

Town and harbor in about 1.5 hours.

Duck, then walk back

The boardwalk is a short walk from the berths.

A separate tour

The cultural excursion stops at Totem Bight.

Yes, the duck

The water part stays in the protected Inside Passage.

A wildlife cruise

A whale watching boat tour runs 2.5 hours.

Then pick your feet up and put your hands in the air as the Ketchikan Duck Tour splashes into the scenic harbor on the Tongass Narrows!

Ketchikan Duck Tour (Alaska Amphibious Tours)Source 3

The salmon ladder and City Park

Away from the waterfront, the duck passes the salmon ladder on Ketchikan Creek, where you can see the spawning grounds and live salmon in season.² Salmon gave the town its start: a cannery was built at what is now Ketchikan Creek in 1887, at a place where Tlingit people had fished for centuries.⁹

The town still wears the title Salmon Capital of the World, earned because five species of wild Pacific salmon move through the nearby waters.¹⁰ Salmon runs here are seasonal and typically come in late summer, so what you see at the ladder depends on when you visit.¹¹ Outside the run you see the creek and the falls; during it you may see fish fighting their way up.

Next on the operator's route is City Park, with its fish hatchery and eagle center.² Close by, Ketchikan Creek also passes the Deer Mountain Tribal Hatchery, a working salmon hatchery with daily tours in summer.¹² The duck does not stop for a hatchery visit, but it shows you where to come back to if salmon catch your interest.

Map

The duck's Ketchikan, from pier to creek

The downtown berths, the town stops on the operator's route and the water the duck drives into.

Map of downtown Ketchikan with the cruise berths, Whale Park, Creek Street, the salmon ladder, Thomas Basin and the Tongass Narrows — Downtown Ketchikan

Map of Revillagigedo Island around Ketchikan with the downtown berths and Ward Cove to the north — Ketchikan and Ward Cove

1
Berth 1
One of four Panamax-sized cruise berths along the downtown waterfront.⁶
2
Visitors Center, Berth 2
Free maps, restrooms and a tour center that sells tickets on the day.⁷ ¹³
In Google Maps ↗
3
Berth 4
The north end of the downtown berths; duck tours leave from berths 1 to 4.
4
Whale Park
A small park with a totem that the duck passes on its land route.²
In Google Maps ↗
5
Creek Street
The boardwalk on stilts over Ketchikan Creek, once the red-light district.⁵
In Google Maps ↗
6
Dolly's House
Dolly Arthur's Creek Street house, now a museum.¹⁴
7
Salmon ladder
Where salmon climb Ketchikan Creek in season; the duck drives past it.²
In Google Maps ↗
8
Thomas Basin
A small-boat harbor on the south side of downtown, full of fishing boats.
9
Tongass Narrows
The channel the duck splashes into for the harbor part of the tour.³
10
Downtown berths 1 to 4
Where every duck tour starts; check in at the bottom of your ship's ramp.
11
Ward Cove
The second cruise dock, about 5.5 miles from downtown.¹⁵
In Google Maps ↗

Open the map in Google Maps

Checklist

Get the most from the route

Before you board

Check in 30 minutes before departure
Arrive early for the seat you want
Bring a rain jacket

After the ride

Walk back to Creek Street
Look for salmon from the creek bridges
Pick up a map at the Berth 2 visitors center

Video

A Ketchikan day: the duck, Creek Street and lunch

Nothing loads until you tap play.

Whale Park and Creek Street

Back toward the center, the route passes Whale Park, a small green space with flowers and a totem.² Totem poles are a large part of Ketchikan's identity: the town has the world's largest collection of standing totem poles spread through the community.¹⁶ Whale Park gives you a first one to look at without leaving downtown.

Then comes Creek Street, the boardwalk on stilts over Ketchikan Creek and once the town's red-light district.⁵ Prostitution was abolished in Ketchikan in 1954.¹⁷ The best-known resident, Dolly Arthur, worked out of her house for decades, and that house is now a museum.¹⁴ Nearby, Married Man's Trail was the path people used to slip into the forest when the street was raided.¹⁸

From the duck you get the overview; on foot you get the detail. The planks of Creek Street are also a good spot to watch salmon swim upstream in season.¹⁹ If you only have time for one place to walk back to after the ride, this is the usual choice, and it is a short walk from the cruise berths.

The splash into the Tongass Narrows

The moment everyone waits for comes next: the duck drives down to the water and splashes into the harbor on the Tongass Narrows.³ One minute you are on a road, the next you are afloat, still in the same seat, with the town now behind you and the channel ahead. The guide usually builds up to it, so you will know when to hold on to your hat.

The water section stays in the calm, protected waters of the Inside Passage rather than the open ocean, which keeps the ride gentle. That matters to anyone who worries about seasickness. The duck is moving through a busy working harbor, not out to sea, so expect a smooth, slow cruise with plenty to look at on both sides.

Afloat, the duck runs along the channel with close views of fishing canneries, seaplane docks, seasonal wildlife and the waterfront.⁴ Floatplanes taking off and landing are part of everyday life here, as are fishing boats coming and going. When the water section ends, the duck climbs back out and drives you to where you started.

What the route shows you about Ketchikan

Seen as a whole, the route is a compact history lesson. Ketchikan was incorporated in 1900 and became the port of entry for ships arriving from the south, which earned it the nickname First City.²⁰ Salmon, timber and shipping shaped it, and the stops on the duck's route, from the creek to the canneries, trace that story in the order you meet it.

It also shows you how small and walkable downtown is. The town sits on Revillagigedo Island and can be reached only by air or boat, so everything is squeezed between the mountains and the water.²¹ After the ride you will understand the layout well enough to walk to Creek Street, the totems and the harbor without a map.

What the route does not cover is equally useful to know. It does not go to the totem parks outside town, such as Saxman 2.5 miles south or Totem Bight 10 miles north.²² ²³ For those, and for the fjords, you need a separate tour; the duck is the introduction, not the whole of Ketchikan.

Ready to splash