Revillagigedo Island

Revillagigedo Island is an island in the Alexander Archipelago of the Alaska Panhandle and contains the city of Ketchikan, one of southeastern Alaska’s principal towns and ports. The island sits within the temperate rainforest zone and is part of the coastal island landscape of the Inside Passage.

Visitors to the island encounter a working port town with facilities for fisheries and tourism, extensive shoreline rainforest, and nearby wilderness areas noted for steep fjords, waterfalls and wildlife. The area is widely used for salmon fishing, floatplane access and as a cruise-call destination.

The island lies off the southeastern coast of Alaska among other islands of the Alexander Archipelago and is administratively part of the Ketchikan Gateway Borough. It has long-standing Indigenous presence, particularly of Tlingit communities, and later developed as a timber and fishing centre under American administration.

• Access: The island is a regular stop for Inside Passage cruises and is commonly accessed by ferry and floatplane, making it a practical gateway to southeastern Alaska’s coastal wilderness.

What to See#

• Ketchikan: The principal town and port on the island, serving as a regional hub for fisheries, timber-related industry and as a common cruise-ship call on the Inside Passage.
• Coastal forests and fjords: Coastal temperate rainforest and fjords that form part of the surrounding Tongass National Forest and the nearby Misty Fjords wilderness, used for recreation and wildlife viewing.

Revillagigedo Island is the island on which the city of Ketchikan sits. You can reach it by commercial air service to Ketchikan (scheduled flights from Seattle and other Alaska hubs) or by the Alaska Marine Highway ferry that calls at Ketchikan. Note that Ketchikan International Airport is located on nearby Gravina Island; arriving passengers transfer across the water by short ferry/tender service to Ketchikan on Revillagigedo Island, where downtown sights are within a short taxi or walk from the ferry terminal.

• Plan trips in the summer months for milder weather and more reliable ferry/floatplane connections typical of Southeast Alaska.
• Use a regional gateway such as Ketchikan or Wrangell to arrange local boat charters or floatplane drops-these towns are the usual bases for island excursions in the Alexander Archipelago.
• If you want wildlife viewing (eagles, seals, sea birds), schedule outings for early morning or late afternoon when wildlife is most active and tour-boat traffic is lighter.