Ketchikan, Alaska

Ketchikan introduces itself as Alaska's "First City" for northbound cruisers, and the welcome is all about totems, salmon, and seriously dramatic scenery. Creek Street, the former red-light district built on stilts over the water, now houses galleries, shops, and the quirky Dollys House Museum. Totem poles are everywhere—at Saxman Native Village, Totem Bight State Park, and throughout downtown—representing the areas rich Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian heritage. The fishing is legendary (salmon, halibut), and you can watch bears catching salmon at places like Herring Cove when the runs are on. The rainforest surrounds everything—Misty Fjords National Monuments waterfalls and granite cliffs are accessible by floatplane or boat. Rain is a given (Ketchikan gets 150+ inches annually), but thats what makes the lush green forests and rushing creeks so dramatic. It's Alaska in concentrated form: wildlife, Indigenou's culture, and temperate rainforest meeting tidewater in one compact, photogenic town.

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