What to Eat and Do in Ketchikan Alaska in One Day

A little bit of déjà vu happening here.

Oh, is there ever!

Yeah, so 3 years ago we came to Ketchikan and we had booked a floatplane tour. It got canceled, then— well, it got delayed, then it got canceled, then we tried rebooking, then it got— that one got canceled. So this time we were like, okay, we're gonna get some floatplane again, and it got canceled before we got to port.

About an hour before.

So We are pivoting.

We are.

We still have plans. We have a couple good eat places, but we did book a UTV tour, which we've never done before.

No, and it's something that keeps us out of just the city of Ketchikan, which if you haven't seen that video, go back and check out our one from 3 years ago because we hit as much of Ketchikan in town as we possibly could.

Yeah, I still think that we'll be able to hit a lot of the highlights.

Yeah.

And the food places we want to get to, but we're gonna have to get off the ship the moment we are finished Yes. So we can try to go get our first bite to eat before the tour.

Yes.

Let's go. Here we go. All right, welcome to Ketchikan.

Made it off the ship.

Yes.

By 11.

Which we have to meet at 11:45, so we're hoping to get donuts. At Jellyfish Donuts because it was one of our favorite bites the last time we came to Alaska.

And we didn't eat breakfast this morning.

No.

Oddly enough for us, we waited, right? Because we're like, we know we have time. Well, we—

Yeah, because we were supposed to have 2 hours from when we docked until we were supposed to get on the plane. But, uh, let's go eat some donuts.

We got 'em!

We got 'em. That took a bit longer than we were hoping for, but check these out.

And they're warm, warm, warm.

I think it's gonna take us back.

Oh, that's what I remember.

Yes, we had these in Juneau like 2 or 3 days ago. They did not hit the same, but these do.

These do.

Takes me back to the first time in Alaska. Favorite bite of the trip.

It was, and now I can see it. It might be the favorite one this time too.

That's so good.

But we got to get to our excursion.

Yeah, we're a little late. This, I think— Yeah, we made it just in time.

Don't get me wrong, I loved the donuts in Juneau.

Yeah.

But they were just a little bit heavy and not near as light as I remember. These ones here in Ketchikan, she does not have them on display. They are fresh made each order.

Yes.

So the dough is perfection and it takes some time. Yeah.

So be ready. There was a longer line afterwards, but we didn't even have time to film that.

No.

But that was amazing. I thought even the salmon tastes better.

I agree.

It just worked better here in Ketchikan. So make sure you do the Ketchikan. Make sure you hit that subscribe button if you want to see our full Alaskan experience while on Holland America's Koningsdam. We'll have daily vlogs showing some of the best tips and tricks to make the most of your Alaskan cruise, including excursions to Tracy Arm Fjord, the White Pass Railway, and some amazing wildlife encounters. We also showcase some of the best food and drink options in Juneau, Skagway, Ketchikan, and even Vancouver. All right, so about 30-45 minute drive across the island.

Yeah, through the Tongass National Forest.

Which is beautiful.

It is gorgeous.

And we're gonna be driving in something similar to that. There's like a whole bunch of them out here. It looks like it's gonna be wet. It looks like it's gonna be muddy.

Yeah, I'm excited. Yeah.

Should be a lot of fun.

Yeah.

Get yourself a poncho and a helmet.

Yeah.

And grab a UTV, they call them. Also, we're with Ketchikan Adventure View. All right, Rachael gets to drive first.

I get to drive first.

Low is slow, so we're driving in high. Ready?

Let's go. If we flip, For the first round. You get to do it on the way back.

Yeah, so we're driving to a waterfall, gonna switch drivers, and then go to Mahoney Lake.

Yeah, I think.

And away we go! Oh, there's deer! 2 deer just passed up ahead. Gonna see some wildlife.

Gonna see some wildlife.

That's good.

I've been planning for this my whole life.

Oh my God, look at this coming up.

That was cool!

That was a big one! First stop is for a view of amazingness. What a freaking view! Holy cows! And your driving is nuts.

I know, I love it.

It's so much fun. Friendly reminder, we are driving through the Tongass National Rainforest.

Second largest rainforest in the world.

And it's raining like hell.

Yeah.

Get the poncho.

Don't be too proud. This isn't a fashion statement.

No.

You just gotta wear it.

And away we go. This looks big. That was a good one. Oh my, that was a big one. Oh, yep. Second I can't get my belt unbuckled. Uh, apparently we're gonna check out Mahoney Falls.

1,500-foot waterfall. They're gushing today.

Gushing.

I'm gonna grab some off these other trees. Oh, it is almost done.

I don't think it's lemonade. Yeah, it's like eating a tree.

There's a lot of vitamin C though, so I ate it.

I feel healthier. And final stop, we get to check out this river on the bridge. This is coming down from that waterfall. All right, that was fun.

It was fun.

Now we get a reindeer dog.

Yeah, it's hot.

It's hot. It tastes good. I thought you were gonna eat it.

No.

Oh, all right. Now that we're back, the sun is out.

Yeah, it's awesome though.

Yeah, but that was a lot of fun.

It was awesome.

Definitely recommend it. The hot dogs are good too.

Yeah, all around awesome, awesome excursion.

Yeah, I think I'm kind of glad that it was raining because it made the rain puddles really fun to go through. It was fun. That was a lot of fun. All right, a couple years ago we came here and ate like 3 pounds of crab. Today we're gonna go here and eat a whole bunch of fish. So you know you order right when the guy up front says, have you been here before? Because you ordered all the right stuff.

Yes! I'm so excited. I'm so hungry. It's been a while since we ate.

I think they got some beers too.

Yeah. I said it's been a while since we ate, but we just had a reindeer sausage.

Whatever. And apparently this is the right thing to order. So we got a Some crispy fried halibut tacos, and you did blackened, right? I did blackened tacos, both halibut. Yes, and then that's a salmon chowder.

Mmm.

Oh, nice and creamy.

Looks like there's some dill in there.

I would imagine that does look like a lot of dill, huh?

Potatoes. Yeah, it's gonna be perfect on this warm day.

And then we did a full pound of Dungeness crab. That looks like a lot, actually.

It does.

Don't you think that's more than— it looks like more than a pound. I doubt it is more than a pound. They make sure not to.

Yeah.

But this looks really good.

Can I give this a try? Yeah.

Soup is like the one thing we haven't had yet this trip.

Oh, it's not as thick as I was imagining, but it's hot. I can taste the salmon in there. The potatoes are a good cook. That is perfect on this rainy day.

I do believe it said smoked salmon, right?

It's good.

Yeah. Okay, looks good. And, uh, this dining room is beautiful. It's right on the water. All right, well, that was a great lunch.

It was fantastic.

You can hear the crowd.

Yeah, that's got to be the lumberjack show, right?

Right next door is the lumberjack show. So if you're looking for the Fish House, check that out. I thought the prices were decent also.

Yeah. What was your favorite of those bites?

Uh, the blackened tacos.

The blackened tacos were consistent throughout. Yeah, they were really good. That chowder though was— don't sleep on the chowder.

Yeah, I, I thought all of it was good. Um, after eating 3 pounds of king crab the other day, it's kind of hard to Have to crack that much.

Yeah, I prefer king crab over Dungeness crab, but I'm not gonna complain about crab at all.

It was a lot of work for small bites, but it was still very delicious.

Yeah.

All right, we're gonna go try to check out Creek Street, just do a quick little walk by on our way to the next spot. On our way to Creek Street, we ran across Bayling Brewing Company, so we had to stop for a beer. Yeah, I couldn't—

I only saw Padden Street the last time I was On the internet looking for breweries, so this is exciting.

Here we go.

Well, that was an unexpected surprise. Yeah, I saw a little coffee thing and I thought, oh, a coffee sounds good, but a beer sounds even better. There's even better.

Yeah, it's like a coffee shop called Local Grounds, and then the other half is that Ballin Brewing, which was not around when we were here a couple years ago. Yeah, so there we go, beer down. Head to Creek Street and then we've got more beer. Creek Street is a historic boardwalk built on stilts along the banks of Ketchikan Creek. Historically, Creek Street was known as the red light district of Ketchikan, attracting fishermen, miners, and loggers during the early 20th century. The buildings being on stilts over the water Allegedly allowed for discreet access to the establishments as prostitution was illegal on land. There is even a trail known as Married Man's Trail that led to the back doors of these establishments, allowing men to visit undetected. Amongst the shops is Dolly's House Museum. You can visit the former house of ill repute turned museum, offering a glimpse into the area's past. A guide in period costume shares stories of Dolly, and the history of Creek Street. Today, Creek Street is a vibrant tourist destination that offers a unique blend of history, culture, and nature. Of course we can find another brewery. This one we actually knew about though.

Yeah, I was like, this one We came to last time.

Yeah, we enjoyed it so much we made it back again. This is Bowdoin Street Brewing. That could be pronounced wrong, but that's how I said it right now.

Um, the Hook Tender. Good. And then would you suggest the Cruel Mistress or the lightest beer? I'd say Cruel Mistress.

2 flights coming up. Tiny little spot though. All right, and since the rain is coming down, uh, we figure we need to stop halfway back at Alaska Legends for another cocktail. And probably a bathroom break. It's our last port and we only have an hour left, so don't, don't be judging. All right, the good news—

The B's news is—

That was an afternoon of drinking right there for you. So the good news is is we made it back to our ship. We had an extra like 9 minutes.

5, 10 minutes.

Yeah, I'm gonna say 9 minutes to go. But that was our day in Ketchikan. What did you think, Rachael?

I loved it. I loved it. I loved it. The excursion we did was not the one we initially planned, which was okay. Um, but I really do think the excursion we planned is why people actually move to Alaska.

Yeah, it ended up being so much better, and, and it was probably even better Um, doing that than a floatplane. Like, a floatplane is something that I want to be able to check off a list, but I think this is more of an experience, probably.

Yeah, and I shouldn't say— this isn't the experience we planned. I think I said the experience we planned is why people move to Canada. The experience we had is why—

Go back and you said Canada even.

Oh my God, day drinking. The experience we planned is not what I meant to say, so I I meant to say the experience we had is why people moved to Alaska! Not the experience we planned! I would imagine the experience we planned was too! But the experience we had ATVing up in the mountains off-grid! 100% off-grid!

It was so nice!

We had no service! It was amazing!

I kind of— and I, I love the fact that it was raining!

Yeah! I did too!

It was horrible weather! But for us, our brains have really come to that being Alaska. And I, and I embrace it.

And we saw a lot more, um, like I think the natural colors come out more when it rains.

Yeah.

And the deer were so cool.

It was so nice. But this is our probably final video of this series. So if you haven't seen our other ones, go back and watch those. But we do like to end all of our videos with our favorite moment of the day and bite of the day. What's your favorite bite of today?

My favorite bite of today, it has to be— it's got to be the tacos. And I, I can't decipher between the blackened and the crispy, but they were— those fish tacos were delicious.

Yeah, somehow the hard shell tacos are better than anything I've had in the mainland United States. I don't know what they're doing over there, but they're delicious. And I like the blackened better. I feel like there's just a bit more flavor to them.

I think they ate well through Throughout the entire taco, whereas the crispy ones had a good starting bite and a good ending bite. The middle was mediocre, but they were still my favorite bite.

Actually, you know what? I'm going back.

You're going back to salmon donut?

Salmon donut. I forgot about the salmon donut. We just did so much stuff in the matter of 8 hours.

That's why I was struggling, like, to decide, because the salmon donut has been my favorite.

Yes.

Both times we've been to Ketchikan, I thought I had to go with something else. I really thought you were going with salmon donut, so I didn't have to.

All right, there you go. Salmon donut and the blackened Fish tacos. Yeah, that's what we're going with. Favorite moment of the day. You want me to go first?

Yeah.

All right, mine was at that very last bar. I just— it was, it was just a nice little wrap-up. We knew that it was our final port day, and there was a jukebox and nobody was battling me for it, so I got to pick some like meaningful songs to us and just sit there, have some drinks, and like kind of wrap things up with each other.

Yeah.

I was I was ready to end it in a good way.

Mine had to be. You missed that. Mine. Mine was on the ATV adventure. It was truly driving through the potholes because they said embrace the potholes. And every time Josh rides with me in our alley, he's like, swerve around the potholes. And I'm like, uh-uh. I even said it at one point in one of the videos, I've been training my whole life for this. Like running through those mud puddles, it was just so much fun. It was just a blast.

Yeah. Okay, if you're enjoying our videos, don't forget to hit that like and subscribe.

You can also follow us on social media, Facebook, Instagram, and X. All our links are down below.

Bye.