Sitka Sound
Silver Bay
Neva Strait
Nakwasina Sound
Goddard Hot Springs
Walk the Totem Trail among 19 carved poles at Sitka National Historical Park
Watch eagle flight demonstrations at the Alaska Raptor Center
Meet rescued brown bear cubs at Fortress of the Bear
Join a whale-watching cruise in Sitka Sound
Hike the switchbacks of Mount Verstovia
Castle Hill (Baranof Castle State Historic Site)
St. Michael’s Cathedral
Sheldon Jackson Museum
Old Sitka State Historic Park
Totem Trail, Sitka National Historical Park
Late May through September gives the calmest seas and longest daylight, with up to 18 hours of daylight around the summer solstice. June through August also overlaps with peak humpback whale and orca activity in Sitka Sound. Early autumn brings quieter anchorages and the first colour on the surrounding hillsides, though rain becomes more frequent from September onward, so most charters concentrate on the June to August window.
Sitka Rocky Gutierrez Airport (SIT) sits on Japonski Island, about a mile across the harbour from downtown and reachable by a short bridge crossing. It has daily jet service from Seattle and Juneau on Alaska Airlines, though Sitka has no road connection to the rest of Alaska, so most yachts either embark guests here directly or use it as a crew and provisioning point partway through a wider southeast Alaska itinerary.
Sitka Sound itself offers good holding close to town, but many captains head to Silver Bay, a deep fjord east of the harbour ringed by waterfalls and steep granite walls, or north through Neva Strait to the calmer waters around Nakwasina Sound. Goddard Hot Springs, about 16 miles south, combines a sheltered anchorage with a genuine natural hot spring ashore, a favourite stop for a quiet overnight.
Two to three days lets guests balance time ashore, the Totem Trail, the Raptor Center, the cathedral, with a day on the water for whale watching or a run out to Goddard Hot Springs. Sitka also works well as the start or end point of a longer week to ten day southeast Alaska itinerary linking to Juneau, Glacier Bay or Petersburg, rather than as a standalone destination on its own.
Every October 18, Sitka marks Alaska Day with a costumed reenactment of the 1867 ceremony at Castle Hill where the Russian flag was lowered and the American flag raised, formally completing the $7.2 million purchase of Alaska. The town holds a parade, a ball and living history events over several days. It falls outside the main charter season, but it captures the Russian-to-American story that runs through Sitka’s whole identity better than any museum visit.
