With all that Sitka has going for it you might ask why Sitka has not become the center of tourism and commerce for the entire region. After all, it had a 100 year head start. At over 8000 citizens, it is a substantial small town. The answer in two words would be: rain and location. Sitka averages 7 and 1/2 feet of rain per year. Fierce storms can pound Baranof Island's Pacific coast from September through December. Our late evening arrival in Sitka was met with pouring rain. By the next morning it was just cloudy, by afternoon we had a little sunshine, by the evening we were again surrounded by swirling clouds of mist. This is fairly typical weather day in the late summer in Sitka, if you are also lucky. Bring a waterproof top layer.
Sitka is the only city on the "outside" passage. For this reason Sitka enjoys a form of splendid isolation. Sitka is an eight to nine hour ferry ride from Juneau. It is a thirteen to seventeen hour overnight ferry ride to the nearest mainland road. Both ferry segments work nicely if you are planning a point to point trip on the ferry of the northern inside passage. These facts will soon change when Alaska Marine Highway rolls out the first "fast ferry" for the Sitka to Juneau route. Alaska Airlines does have daily flights to Sitka on the Juneau to Seattle route. It is also a stop for the major cruise lines, though they certainly don't call here on every sailing. It is 95 miles southwest of Juneau (the one stop that seems to obligatory for all Alaskan cruises). Sitka seems to make a little over half the cruise itineraries.