Emerald Forest Tours: Private Tours suitable for all ages...
Recommended by 99% of travelers
Badge of Excellence
Ketchikan, USA
- 3 hours (approx.)
- Pickup offered
- Mobile ticket
- Offered in: English
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Overview
What's Included
- Private Transportation
- Pick up and drop off at cruise ship
Meeting and Pickup
Pickup points
Select a pickup point
Pickup details
Where to meet Pick up instructions for ships docked in Downtown Ketchikan All guests will be picked up in front of their cruise ship 10 minutes prior to the selected tour time. Your guide will be waiting in front of your ship, holding a sign that reads Emerald Forest Tours. Drop off is back to your ship or anywhere in town you wish! Special Request: We kindly ask that food, snacks or drinks that you bring be consumed while outside the tour van. There will be many opportunities to do so at the various locations we visit. Water is fine to drink while in the van. Thank you. Pick up instructions for ships docked at Ward Cove Ships that are docked at Ward Cove. All guests exiting the Cruise ship at Ward Cove will enter a large red brick building. Once inside the building you will see a large sign hanging down that reads Tour Departures . Your guide will be waiting there with a sign that reads Emerald Forest Tours. Drop off will be back to Ward Cove after your tour. Special Request: We kindly ask that food, snacks or drinks that you bring be consumed while outside the tour van. There will be many opportunities to do so at the various locations we visit. Water is fine to drink while in the van. Thank you.
Itinerary
1
Ketchikan
30 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
2
Ketchikan
30 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
3
Ketchikan
30 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
4
Ketchikan
30 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
Additional Info
- Confirmation will be received at time of booking
- Not wheelchair accessible
- Stroller accessible
- Near public transportation
- Most travelers can participate
- This is a private tour/activity. Only your group will participate
Supplied by
Cancellation Policy
You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.
Traveler Photos
Featured review
My family had a mesmerizing experience in our visit to Ketchikan. Our tour guide Bianca is nothing but an extremely enthusiastic, knowledgeable, loving tour guide. She guided our family through the most beautiful tour we could have ever hoped for! We had the opportunity to see so much wild life including eagles, bears, seal, and to top it off whales bubble feeding! We recommend it 100%! Thank you Bianca and Emerald forest tours for a forever sealed memory in my family’s heart!! God bless! From the Torres’ family!
Reviews
5.0
based on 183 reviews
Sort by: Most insightful
We booked this as the last excursion of our cruise. Our group included 2 kids (1 and 4) and 4 adults ages 30s-60s. Bianca was AMAZING! She interacted so well with our 4 year old, even pulling him away from the boring (in his mind) blacksmith presentation to show him a banana slug she found. She showed us everything we wanted and more, we got to do everything we wanted without feeling rushed and made the most out of a short port day. She also took amazing photos and videos she airdropped to us at the end. Thanks Bianca!!
Response from Host, Sep 2026
❤️❤️😊thank you
Hans was an amazing guide. Not only did we have spectacular sightings of whales, waterfalls, bears and salmon, he was very attentive to everyone's needs, from our 91 year old matriarch to the 10 year old youngest who had lots of questions and excitement. Highly recommend!
Response from Host, Aug 2026
Thank you so much 😊
Bianca was fabulous. She made us feel at home. She was extremely knowledgeable and very informative. She made sure we were all comfortable and got to see everything we could. Loved her!
Response from Host, Aug 2026
Thank you ❤️
Leann was an excellent guide around the island. We really enjoyed getting away from the cruise port and learning about the area including: the people, animals, and the land itself.
Logistics were very easy as well. We were able to message with Leann easily prior to the excursion and she picked us up right at the top of the pier. She also worked to accommodate our group.
It was an excellent experience.
Response from Host, Aug 2026
Thank you 😊
It was a greater 3 hours. Super convenient - get picked up at the port. Comfortable van. Flexible schedule - catered to kids.
Response from Host, Aug 2026
😊
We had an incredible time in Ketchikan on this tour. Our tour guide was Hans and he was exceptional! The trip was interactive and he took the time to allow us to see everything at our pace. He was knowledgeable and kept my 9 and 7 year old grandkids engaged in the experience. I would 100% would recommend this tour to everyone! Thanks Hans for making our trip so enjoyable!
Response from Host, Aug 2026
Thank you so much for the time to leave this review and so glad to hear the family enjoyed the experience with Hans.
This was a memorable experience! Our guide, Bianca, was incredible!! She was very knowledgeable and her enthusiasm and energy were so engaging!! We had the best day with her. We even saw Bears!! We all agreed that this trip was more than what we expected!
Response from Host, Aug 2026
Thank you for your wonderful review! We’re thrilled to hear that Bianca made your experience memorable and that you enjoyed seeing the bears. We look forward to welcoming you back for another adventure!
This was an amazing experience for my family. Hans and his wife are so kind and knowledgeable about the area. If your group is up to it, you can even hike up the waterfall. I love how since it was a private tour out could be adjusted to our needs. Spending our time on this tour was the highlight of our trip in Ketchican. Highly recommend!!!
Response from Host, Aug 2026
Thank you for your wonderful review! We’re thrilled to hear that Hans and Bianca made your experience memorable and that you enjoyed the flexibility of the private tour. We hope to welcome you back to Ketchican soon!
Hans was a great tour guide. The family had a blast and created a memorable experience. We saw a lot of wildlife including bear and eagles. The waterfall hike was amazing.
Response from Host, Jul 2026
Thank you for your wonderful review! We’re thrilled to hear that you and your family had a blast and created lasting memories. It’s always a joy to share the beauty of wildlife and the amazing waterfall hike with our guests. We hope to welcome you back soon!
Our tour with Leanne from Emerald Forest Tours was incredible!! We saw over 10 bald eagles up close. We saw a bear walk all along a river bed. We stopped at a beach and saw cool rocks and barnacles on sticks and learned the geography and history of the area. We saw an amazing waterfall and climbed down to the pool at the base. Leanne was very knowledgeable and fun to chat with. We also got smoked salmon and fudge from a local vendor. The communication was perfect. I highly recommend this tour, especially with Leanne.
Response from Host, Jul 2026
Thank you so much for sharing this. We’re thrilled your day with Leanne was such a standout — from the eagles and the bear to the waterfall and beach stop. Her knowledge and warmth make experiences like yours possible, and we’re grateful you chose to explore Ketchikan’s rainforest with us.
Leann was a great tour guide for our excursion in Ketchikan, and took us right to all the good places. We saw lots of eagles, a bear, salmon, the totem poles, and lots of beautiful countryside including a waterfall. The tour was in a large comfortable van, and she had a microphone so everyone could hear. Leann picked us up promptly at the ship, and the tour was comfortably paced. Would recommend!
Response from Host, Jul 2026
Thank you for your wonderful review! We’re thrilled to hear that you enjoyed the tour in Ketchikan and appreciated Leann’s expertise and the comfortable experience. We look forward to welcoming you back in the future!
Take this tour. You’ll see parts of Ketchikan that you don’t know exist unless Hans points them out to you. He asked us to prioritize what we wanted to see and we chose nature. Boy did we get it. If you’re physically able to to hike, make sure you take the 30 min to hike up to the top of the waterfall. Beautiful!
Hans is a great communicator, very friendly and knowledgeable. Would recommend this tour to someone who wants to understand the localities of Ketchikan, but isn’t interested in doing an excursion through the cruise line.
Response from Host, Jul 2026
Thank you for your wonderful review! We’re thrilled to hear that you enjoyed exploring Ketchikan with Hans and found the nature hike to the waterfall beautiful. We appreciate your kind words about Hans’s communication skills and knowledge. We hope to welcome you back for another adventure soon!
This tour was totally worth it & so much more than we were expecting! From visiting different beaches, the waterfall, seeing a bear, totem poles & listening to a local tell us amazing stories, it really couldn’t have been better. Dennen was the best! Thank you!!
Response from Host, Jul 2026
Thank you — we’re so glad you had an amazing day, and Dennen will love hearing this. We appreciate you touring with us.
We had a great three hour tour with Dennen. He was very knowledgeable and easy going. We were fortunate to see a bear and many bald eagles. This was my daughter’s favorite excursion of the vacation. She especially loved the stop for homemade fudge and jams. Thank you Dennen!
Response from Host, Jul 2026
It sounds like you had an amazing tour with Dennen! Seeing a bear and bald eagles must have been incredible, and your daughter’s enjoyment of the homemade fudge and jams is a sweet bonus. Thanks for sharing your experience!
We had a private tour of Ketchikan for our family of 9. It was a great experience and we had beautiful weather. Our guide Bianca was great she was able to show us many different wildlife and give us a lot of cool information about this beautiful city. We saw eagles, whales, bears and seals and even caught some berries. We had plenty of time to do everything and had the option to be dropped off in downtown to see more things before our cruise left. Highly recommend and hope to come back again to explore more.
Response from Host, Jun 2026
Thank you for the wonderful review — we’re so glad your family had such a great day. Bianca will be thrilled to hear you enjoyed the wildlife, the sunshine, and the pace of the tour. Seeing eagles, whales, bears, seals and finding berries is an unforgettable lineup.
Fabulous tour with Hans! He was so informative and a fun guide. We enjoyed the sawmill & totem park, and LOVED the short waterfall hike. We all enjoyed our time exploring and would absolutely take a tour with him again. Thank you!
Response from Host, Jun 2026
Thank you so much 😊 it was great meeting you and everyone in the group and best wishes to you all!
Bianca was a great tour guide. She made the tour a great experience and made us feel welcomed. The tour was simple but was well worth our time. Also being a private tour allowed us to make changes and reallocate our time to things we wanted to see.
Response from Host, Jun 2026
Thank you for your wonderful review! We’re thrilled to hear that Bianca made your tour experience enjoyable and welcoming. We strive to provide personalized and flexible tours, and it’s great to know that the private nature of your tour allowed you to tailor it to your interests. We hope to have the opportunity to guide you again in the future!
Such a fantastic time in a beautiful place. Dennen was an AMAZING guide. He was wonderful with our 3 young boys and got them all super involved in our day. He tailored our trip to fit our needs and we had such a wonderful time!!
Response from Host, Jun 2026
Thank you for sharing this — Dennen will be so happy to hear it. We’re glad your family had such a great day and that the boys felt involved and excited throughout the tour. Tailoring each trip to what a group needs is something he takes a lot of pride in, and it’s wonderful to hear it made your experience so memorable. We appreciate you choosing us for your time in Ketchikan.
Leanne was very knowledgeable about the area. We enjoyed this tour very much. Would recommend this tour to anyone wanting a private tour.
Response from Host, Jun 2026
Thank you
Dennen met our group of 9 and was such a great host. He took pictures throughout and air-dropped them to us (no extra charge). He was very passionate about his hometown of Ketchikan and we all thoroughly enjoyed seeing waterfalls, bald eagles and sea life! Excellent tour with an excellent ambassador!
Response from Host, Jun 2026
Thank you so much for touring with us — Dennen will be thrilled to hear this. We’re glad your group enjoyed the waterfalls, wildlife, and his stories. We appreciate you choosing us for your day in Ketchikan.
Shown great local spots, and Dennen was great! Tried his hardest to see all we could in the time allotted!
Response from Host, May 2026
Thank you for taking the time to leave Dennen a review and we are happy to hear you had a great time 😀
Phenomenal experience!! Leanne was our guide and she was fantastic! I had two senior citizens in my group and she went the extra mile to ensure they were always comfortable and safe. It was a rainy day on our tour, but we all had a great time learning about Ketchikan and seeing different areas of the island. The visit to the Totem Park was a definite highlight of the trip. I highly recommend this excursion and Leanne as your guide!!
Response from Host, May 2026
Thank you for taking the time to leave Leanne a review! We are so happy to hear you had a great time and that Leanne took great care your group. Many thanks 😀
Not a lot of wildlife to be found at this time. Driver/guide was very knowledgeable on the area and very friendly and helpful. He definitely made the trip enjoyable even without much wildlife to see. Did see one eagle up close but that was it.
Response from Host, May 2026
Thank you for your feedback. We’re glad you found our guide knowledgeable and friendly — that’s exactly the part of the experience we can control, and we appreciate you acknowledging it.
However, it’s important to clarify for future guests: wildlife sightings are never guaranteed. This is stated clearly in our tour description, and it’s true for every operator in Ketchikan. Wildlife does not operate on a schedule, and no tour company can make animals appear on command.
Your review makes it clear you enjoyed the guide and the tour itself, yet the low rating you left is based solely on the lack of wildlife — something completely outside anyone’s control. Rating a tour poorly for not delivering something that no one can promise is unfair to our guides and misleading to future travelers.
We’re glad you joined us, but giving us a 2-star rating for the wildlife not showing up when you wanted them to is a bit harsh, especially since the animals do not work for us.
We had a wonderful day in Ketchikan thanks to Emerald Forest Tours. Hans and Denen curated the perfect experience filled with culture, history, and local insight. One of the highlights was meeting an actual totem sculptor and learning firsthand about the artistry and traditions behind the totems.
Hans shared a wealth of information throughout the tour and both he and Denen were incredibly professional, knowledgeable, and accommodating. They truly made sure all of our interests and desires were met during the day, even helping us navigate shopping and local stops with ease.
If you are visiting Ketchikan on an Alaska cruise and want a personalized, authentic, and stress free experience, I highly recommend Emerald Forest Tours.
Wow! Hans was our tour guide and if I could give him 10 stars I would. He met us as soon as we stepped off the ship with a smile and lots of enthusiasm. He was friendly, extremely knowledgeable, and so engaging with our kids. We had 9 people total (4 adults, and kids aged 19, 17, 13, 12 and 5). Everyone had a blast. We started the day by exploring sea life like starfish, mussels, crabs, eagles, and more. Next we went to a beautiful waterfall and hiked all the way to the top with his help and direction. Next we headed over to find a bear, which we did! Hans was all eyes and ears trying to make sure we got to see one. We also toured the totem poles and Hans told us all the stories and history. I didn’t think this stop would be interesting to my kids, but he was so excited about the history that the kids loved it! This was by far our favorite day in Alaska. Thank you for a once in a lifetime experience.
My family had a mesmerizing experience in our visit to Ketchikan. Our tour guide Bianca is nothing but an extremely enthusiastic, knowledgeable, loving tour guide. She guided our family through the most beautiful tour we could have ever hoped for! We had the opportunity to see so much wild life including eagles, bears, seal, and to top it off whales bubble feeding! We recommend it 100%! Thank you Bianca and Emerald forest tours for a forever sealed memory in my family’s heart!! God bless! From the Torres’ family!
We were a multigenerational cruise family, comprised of teens, adults and elderly folks, including one of us using a wheelchair. Hans, our tour guide, met us right at the cruise terminal, and was friendly, efficient, and very knowledgeable. He tailored our tour to all of our specific requests, and added some “hidden” spots, providing us with a terrific personalized experience, one which we all agree was one of the very best we’ve been on. We highly recommend this company’s tour - you won’t regret it!
Just book it instead of doing another ship excursion! It was raining, but we had a great time, saw a killer whale, so many eagles, learned so much about nature and totem poles !
This was a more adventurous tour than I expected. We were really able to see and experience things close up. There were 7 people in my group ranging in age from 16 to 70s and we all thoroughly enjoyed this tour. It was a very rainy day and I was afraid that would have a negative impact, but our guides didn't allow that to be the case. I was so impressed with Hans and Cyrus and the way they really focused in on our groups interests. They had a lot of knowledge that they were happy to share. I'm giving this experience a full five stars even in the rain.
Hans provided us an incredible experience with Emerald Forest Tours. He was able to accommodate all of us and take us to so many places in Ketchikan! He is friendly, funny, knowledgeable, and flexible. He went above and beyond for our party of ten. Highly recommend!!
Response from Host, Apr 2025
Thank you for taking time to leave us a review and for choosing Emerald Forest Tours. Wishing you all the best!
Member Pricing
From
$807.50
per group (up to 11)Was $850.00(-5%)
up to 24 hours before the experience starts (local time)
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Emerald Forest Tours: Private Tours suitable for all ages...
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