You should not visit Ketchikan without seeing the historic and beautiful totems from the Tlingit culture. There are 3 places to see totems in Ketchikan: Totem Bight State Park, Totem Heritage Center, and Saxman Totem Park.
Totem Bight State Park, located north of town, is set on a lovely peninsula with a long house and many totem poles covering it’s 11 acres. If you pick one totem experience it should be this. You can reach it by the Blue Line city bus which connects downtown Ketchikan to Totem Bight State Historical Park.
Saxman Totem Park, just south of town, is another open-air totem park, accessible by a free downtown shuttle or city bus.
Totem Heritage Center is in town and is a comprehensive museum housing original and well-preserved totems.