You’ve booked your Alaskan dream vacation; it’s the day before you leave and you suddenly realize that you didn’t book any excursions. What on earth are you going to do? Well don’t worry! There’s still plenty to do in the Alaskan ports without an excursion!
Before we get any further into this, I want to make clear from the outset that any businesses I mention here have no relationship with us. If I’m bringing them up it’s because I think people would like what they offer and nothing more, I’m not receiving any commission from them or something like that.
Juneau
Juneau is the capital of Alaska but can only be accessed by sea or air; no roads lead to Juneau. That’s not a joke, there really aren’t any roads that lead into or out of Juneau. Which means that taking a cruise there is probably the best way to visit the town.
If you’re planning a day without excursions in Juneau, you need to consider that Juneau is one of the busiest ports in the state, so expect a lot of cruise ships to be in when you’re there. The good news is that because there are so many tourists that come to the city each day during the cruise season, there’s plenty of infrastructure to entice them.
Right around the port there are a lot of tourist shops. Most of these are going to have the same sort of jewelry, stainless steel Ulus, and T-shirts that you’ll see in any tourist shop, so unless that’s your thing, you can move right past them.
In that area, you can also find the Red Dog Saloon. It’s Juneau’s oldest tourist spot and has a couple of interesting things to see and do. In addition to the ambiance, which plays into the rough and ready theme, they have Wyatt Earp’s gun, which he checked in but never claimed, and a local shot that’s become quite famous. Known as the “Duck Fart”, which is more appetizing than it sounds, it consists of Irish cream, coffee liqueur, and whiskey in equal parts. There’s a walk-up window on the street where you can buy one and not have to wait for table service should you only wish to down the creamy concoction.
Mendenhall Glacier is one of the best sites in Juneau.
If you want something a little more cultured and a little less… Duck Farty… Maybe try the Alaska State Museum. It’s easily walkable by following the waterfront from the cruise terminal. Inside, you’ll find exhibits on local cultural and natural history, even retrospectives from local artists are on display there. You can learn about the native tribes, the history of mining and logging, WWII, and even a climb-aboard sailing ship. It’s a beautiful museum and something that excursion goers often miss.
If you’re up for a bit more of a journey, you can take a taxi out to Mendenhall glacier. About a 20-minute ride from port. Mendenhall is a beautiful glacier with a nice visitor center, and if you’re ambitious, you can hike over to Nugget Falls, which cascades down the mountain just to the right of the glacier. Although the glacier is included in many excursions, you don’t need one to go there and sometimes it can be better when you are on your own because you’ll have more time.
Ketchikan
Ketchikan is often called “Alaska’s first city”, not so much because of when it was founded, but rather because of its location. It’s the furthest southeastern major city in Alaska and it’s situated right near the start of the Inside Passage, meaning it’s usually the first stop for a cruise.
The city of Ketchikan has more than 80 totem poles in it and you can scarcely go a block without seeing one. Tucked a little ways back from the waterfront, off of the aptly named Totem Dr. there’s the Totem Heritage Center. It’s a walkable distance from the port, but it’s uphill and might be a bit of a challenge for some people. If you’re willing to take an Uber, the Saxman Totem Park at the nearby Tlingit town of Saxman is another place that centers on totems that is easy to visit.
Ketchikan’s most iconic feature is Creek Street. It’s the perfect place to go when on an Alaskan cruise with no excursions.
Nothing is more iconic that in Ketchikan than the famous Creek Street. Boardwalks running alongside Ketchikan Creek are home to dozens of businesses and restaurants. This attraction is really only accessible by foot, which makes it perfect for anyone that doesn’t have an excursion. You should know that a great deal of the waterfront is pay-to-enter, at least on one side of it, but the other side is accessible to the public. If you’re in Ketchikan, take a minute to walk through here, I promise that you won’t be disappointed.
Finally, of course, there’s the lumberjack show. If you read my article on excursions in Alaska, you already know I was going to see this show. The reason that it’s showing up here is that you don’t need to book tickets on the ship, you can buy them day of at the door or on their website. Just make sure you don’t miss your ship leaving.
Sitka
The town of Sitka has a long and interesting histo ry involving the Tlingits, Russians, Americans, and was once the capital of Alaska before Juneau replaced it. If you’re coming into Sitka, you’re almost certainly docking at the Sitka Sound Cruise Terminal, which is about 6 miles out from Sitka and there’s functionally no option to walk in. The good news is that they run shuttle buses into the town all day long when ships are in port. The terminal itself is quite lovely and there are a number of vendors that have a shop there.
Once you’re downtown in Sitka, you can walk almost everywhere that you might want to go. If you are looking to see wildlife, I recommend the Alaska Raptor Center which is on the edge of town, but still walkable. They do amazing work and you can see eagles, owls, hawks, and more up close and personal. You may have heard of the Fortress of the Bear which also does rehab work but that is very far outside of town, and one of the things that you can’t realistically walk to.
You can go to the Raptor Center in Sitka even if you’re doing an Alaskan cruise with no excursions.
Not far from the Raptor Center, you can explore part of the Tongass Rainforest at the National Historic Park, which has easy to traverse paths, winding underneath the beautiful canopy formed by the towering trees that will surround you. This same place has a totem park with interpretive signs along one of the paths. Not far away from the park, you can check out the Sitka Science Center, which has a small aquarium and touch pools that kids are sure to love.
The downtown area isn’t massive, but it has a lot of interesting shops and other sights. I love supporting local businesses and I really love a local artist’s shop I encountered called Fate Accompli. Not only is the artist’s own art on display for decoration or on pottery, but she also has other local artists with ornaments, jewelry, and more. Stop in there and you’ll find something beautiful and local, which is better than cheap tchotchke.
Skagway
Skagway is one of the smaller towns that you’re likely to visit on an Alaskan Cruise, but the town is certainly built for lots of people. Almost immediately when you reach the town itself, you’ll notice the train, or at least the train tracks. These are part of the White Pass and Yukon Route train that I discussed in my video about Alaskan excursions. But, since this is a video about what to do if you don’t have an excursion, you’re going to step right over those rails on continue into the city.
GO right on by the Skagway train when you’re doing an Alaskan cruise with no excursions.
The downtown, which is mostly confined to Broadway, feels and looks just like an old mining town and that’s because it is. The buildings that you see are largely original to the gold rush days and are suitably decorated. If you are want to walk around downtown, it’s easy to spend a few hours browsing through the shops and eating some local fare.
If you’d like a sugary treat, I recommend checking out the fry bread shop, it’s called Klondike Doughboy and it’s on 3rd ave, just please don’t feed the crows. I love my birdy friends and if you think fried dough isn’t great for us, it’s really not good for them! Should you have worked up a bit of a thirst and are looking for try something with a local flavor, there are two places that serve Sitka Spruce Tip Beer (when it’s in season). Both Klondike Brewing Company and Skagway Brewing Company, serve the unique beverage. However, Skagway Brewing also has a restaurant if you need a bit to eat as well.
For those that are wondering what spruce tip beer tastes like, I would say that it’s similar to a sour. Fortunately, that happens to be my favorite type of beer, so I absolutely loved the pint I had.
Skagway is my favorite town to spend a day in when doing an Alaskan cruise with no excursions.
Plenty of folks don’t really care for shopping or crowds, and it can get crowded in the town when five ships are in port, there’s some wonderful hiking that starts right at the waterfront. It’s about a 40-minute walk from the port to the Gold Rush Cemetery. This is the old cemetery for Skagway during its earliest years. Not much further of a walk brings you to Reid Falls, a stunning cascade of water over the mountainside. It’s worth mentioning that you can book a shuttle service to the falls and back from the downtown are for $10 per person if walking isn’t an option for you or if it’s just not something you fancy doing.
Another self-guided sightseeing choice is to rent a bike, including an e-bike. Sockeye Cycle, which is right downtown (like almost everything), has a variety of bicycles that you can pick up for the day. I’m not sure that most people will want to ride up the road out of town, which climbs a mountain, but some people might. I know I watched a few folks do it while I was there. This might be a little bit quicker way to see the cemetery and all of downtown in a day.
Skagway has lots of interesting activities that you can participate in besides hiking and eating. There’s the Skagway Museum and Archives where you can learn about the fascinating history of region. The Red Onion Saloon offers guided tours of the building that was once a brothel but is now a restaurant. You can easily while away time just sitting and relaxing by the stream and waterfront.
Icy Strait Point
Icy Strait Point was created by the local Tlingit town of Hoonah nearby to give cruise ships a place to stop. While it doesn’t have a long history like many of these ports, it does have the distinct advantage of being designed from the ground up to accommodate cruise passengers.
I didn’t know what to expect here and, being completely honest, hearing that a place was designed specifically for cruise ships didn’t inspire confidence in me. However, I am happy to admit when I’m wrong and I was wrong to doubt Icy Strait, because I loved it!
In the complex, which I think is the fairest description of Icy Strait, there are two gondolas. The green one is free and runs from the “wilderness port” to the main area of Icy Strait Point. More than anything, it’s to get cruise ship passengers from the far port to the near port by cutting out the roughly quarter mile walk through the forest, although that walk is quite pretty. The other gondola, the red one, is only available to paid ticket holders and leaves from the wilderness port and goes up, way up, to top of the mountain.
These chili fries are some of the best I’ve had! Icy Strait Point is one of the best places for an Alaskan cruise with no excursions.
Some excursions include all-day tickets on the red gondola, but you can also buy tickets day-of. At the top of the mountain is the zip line, which claims to be one of the worlds longest. There are a few small shops, a vendor for make-your-own smores packs, which you cook over an open fire, and a nature hike to the hidden lake, which is breathtaking. Buying tickets to the red gondola costs $55 per person, so it isn’t cheap. I love a nature hike and I love gondolas (kinda weird, I know) so I thought it was worth it, but you might not. You should also know that if you are scared of heights, riding the gondola might be a challenge for you.
In the main area of Icy Strait Point, there is an adorable boardwalk with a few restaurants and shops. The majority of the shops are run by the local artisans and business owners, so you won’t be shopping at big international companies. There is one big international company there, but it is VERY clearly marked, almost hilariously so.
When visiting, I recommend stopping into one of these eateries I mentioned, grabbing a seat by the water, and trying the reindeer chili or, for the more intestinally abusive among us, the reindeer chili fries. They are amazing.
As for that seat by the water I suggested you grab, well that’s because the absolute best wildlife watching I’ve ever had in Alaska was in Icy Strait Point. Most people will book a whale and bear watching excursion, but just sitting around the harbor gives you some mind-blowing views.
Although the wildlife excursions in Icy Strait are great, you can easily enjoy nature sitting right at a table.
While we were there, I watched dozens of bald eagles catching fish, soaring above us, and preening in the trees over my head. There are humpbacks and orcas that live in the waters right off the shore. You might even see a bear while just sitting there eating your chili.
I really was skeptical of this place, and I experienced it without an excursion, just as I’m describing. Most of the people I talked to that day also had gone in with low expectations and every single one of them remarked how happy there were to be there. It’s worth mentioning that we were the only ship in port that day, which may have colored our perspective, but I think even with another ship in port we would have had a great time.
Victoria
The most common of the Canadian ports for a cruise stop is Victoria. This is not a port that I have personal experience with, however, one of our team members does. Karen, who is part of the Far Far Away Travels team, used to live in Seattle and has spent a fair amount of time in British Columbia. She wrote an entire article on the city that is worth reading if you’d like to get a much more thorough rundown of the activities available.
The good news for everyone visiting the city is that Victoria is a popular place for people to explore, even without an excursion! Keep in mind that this is a sizeable city with around 400,000 people living in the Greater Victoria area. Even though you don’t need an excursion to do some cool things, you’ll probably need to grab a taxi or Uber.
One of the most popular and famous places you can visit is the Butchart Gardens. It’s about a 30-minute card ride from the cruise port in downtown Vitoria, but looking at these images of the gardens certainly makes me want to visit the next chance I get. Getting to spend any amount of time in a place like this would be worth the taxi over there.
If you’re in Victoria, it’s easy to do the Butchart Gardens on an Alaskan cruise with no excursions.
If gardens aren’t your thing, the Royal BC Museum is another option. Their permanent exhibits cover both the cultural history and natural history of the region. The museum is large enough to attract traveling exhibits. Just a few days ago, at least at the time of writing, an exhibit on ancient Egypt opened and will be operating for the duration of the 2026 cruise season.
Perhaps you want to do a little shopping, fortunately, Victoria has you covered there as well. Given the size of the city, there’s all the normal sorts of touristy shopping places, but you may want to make your way down to the Fisherman’s Warf to experience something a little more unusual. At the Warf, you’ll find a floating collection of businesses. I don’t want to oversell it, because it isn’t the largest shopping area you’ll ever see, but there are numerous restaurants, an artisan boutique, and even kayak tours if you have the time and want an excursion after all.
I won’t belabor the point here any longer, there’s lots to do in this amazing Canadian city. If I’ve intrigued you enough that you want to learn more, check out the article my colleague Karen wrote about visiting Vitoria.
Haines
I have not yet been to Haines, and it is a less frequent stop for Alaskan cruises but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing for a tourist to do there, far from it. Little did I know, when I started researching the town, that it has several very interesting and unique places to visit.
First things first, though, there is a shuttle service between the cruise port and the town that you can use at no cost. You can walk from the cruise ship dock into downtown Haines, it isn’t all that far, but the shuttle runs to different points around the area. According to the most recent map I could find (so, double check this when you’re visiting rather than taking my word as gospel), the route will take you to the following places:
First up is the Visitors Center, then the Sheldon Museum and Cultural Center, which is next to the Hammer Museum (more on that in a moment), followed by several different stops in the downtown area. Next the shuttle goes to Dalton City, which is the real movie set used in the 1991 film White Fang (yes, I’ll say more about that too). After that, the shuttle makes its way to The American Bald Eagle Foundation, and finally Historic Fort Seward.
As you see, there’s a fair number of things to do in Haines but let me tell you a bit more about them.
Haines is a fantastic port for an Alaskan cruise with no excursions.
The Hammer Museum is exactly what it sounds like. It is a museum and it’s all about hammers. They claim to be the world’s largest collection of hammers, which I have no reason to doubt when they have thousands of examples on display and thousands more in storage. The small building is filled to the brim with examples of types of hammers, exhibits on the history of the tool, and rare hammers that can’t be found elsewhere. The city highlights that visiting such a different kind of museum is a bragging right unto itself.
At the Dalton City movie set from White Fang, you’ll find the structures from the Disney film. Haines is where the set was built and the filming took place, so they were left here after production wrapped. Today, the “town” remains as an attraction for people to visit.
American Bald Eagle Foundation is a non-profit organization that works towards to conservation of the American Bald Eagle and its habitat. The center is, obviously, in Haines and you can visit it. There you will find educational programs and a few resident birds.
The American Bald Eagle Foundation is a worth place to spend some time when you’re on an Alaskan cruise with no excursions.
The last stop of the shuttle is Historic Fort Seward. Last functional as a US military outpost in 1945, it is now a few remaining buildings and a clearing. What’s more popular to visit is the sculpture garden that was put in place on some of the old ruins of the barracks.
Besides what I’ve described, there’s lots of beautiful waterfront and nature to hike through, so there’s plenty to do at this stop. If you are more inclined to spend some of your day walking, there are several self-guided walking tours that the city has made pamphlets for. There’s one for the downtown area and one for Fort Seward. There’s also a walking tour of the totem poles around the city; that guide tells the stories for the totems and gives you their locations.
Prince Rupert
Prince Rupert is a city in British Columbia that appears on the occasional Alaska cruise itinerary. The city has diverse industries and more than 10,000 people living in it. Just like Victoria, I haven’t been there myself so unfortunately I don’t have personal knowledge. However, also just like Victoria, we have people are on our team that are on their way to visit it as I’m recording this, so we will have that personal experience to help guide our clients and all of you.
I’ve heard online chatter, which is to say people complaining that there isn’t much to do in the city, at least within walking distance of the cruise terminal. I’ve spent several hours poring over tourism websites for the city and Google Maps to browse through the city’s streets, taking a virtual tour to see what there is to do.
Only a block or so from the terminal is the Museum of Northern BC. It’s not a very large museum, but it looks lovely from the exhibit pictures they have. The institute covers the geological history and the long cultural history of the area, dating back thousands of years. There’s also an attached art, the Ruth Harvey Art Gallery, which displays rotating works from local and regional artists.
Although Prince Rupert is lighter on things near the port, the Museum of Northern BC is worth your time on an Alaskan cruise with no excursions. Photo credit: Hans-JĂĽrgen HĂĽbnerhttps://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7650323
On the horticultural side of things, the nearby Sunken Gardens offer visitors a gorgeous space to admire nature and, possibly, have lunch. Which brings up another possibility for an activity when in port, simply enjoying a cup of coffee. One of the things that I spotted in my perusing online were several cafés and bakeries in the area.
Aside from these things there are small art galleries, hand crafted gift shops, and some small parks and short hiking trails that can all be walked to fairly easily. There does seem to be some truth to the feelings of tourists that activities near the port are limited.
I want to be crystal clear here, what I found online pointed to an active city, with many restaurants, homes, and supermarkets, all overlooking a stunning landscape. Prince Rupert seems like a lovely place that has tons of things to do – away from the cruise terminal. There are water tours galore, cultural and nature centers, hiking trails, mountain vistas, all within driving distance of the port, but you do have to drive to things.
If you are interested in having a relaxing morning or afternoon and enjoying a walk along the waterfront, browsing some small shops and museums, or having a lovely cup of coffee, you’ll have a nice time. If that’s not something that interests you, then it might be a decent day to stay on the ship and take advantage of the quiet.
