Alcatraz Tours

We prebooked the Alcatraz tour before leaving home because we heard it could sell out.

Our tour time was 12noon so we left the hotel about 1030am. We rode the MUNI bus to Fisherman's Wharf and got off at Pier 19. From there we met the nicest tour guide that directed us to either walk 20 mins to Pier 35 or catch the trolley.

The historic trolley was coming to us in about 10 mins.

We got on and got to pier 35 with tickets in hand. They were boarding the ferry around 1115am for an 1130 departure. We were early.

The ferry took off at noon and it was a nice breezy day on the water. We got to Alcatraz and they let us know to check the departure times on the board. The ferry leaves on time. If you are one minute late, you are 29 mins early for the next one.

We had to walk up three levels of ramps to get to the cell blocks in order to get the audio tour. I really enjoyed the audio tour. The sound was great and was narrated in great detail. As you went from cell to cell, the narrator instructed you on where to go and what to look for. Many interesting stories about the inmates, the procedures and even escape attempts.

Very good history lesson. The tour was over after an hour and a half but you could continue to explore. We trekked back down the hill and caught the next ferry.

They served food and drinks on the ferry if you wished to purchase. It's a short ride with plenty of seating inside and out. Definitely recommend.

After half a dozen visits to San Francisco for work, I finally made it out to 'The Rock'.

Well organized tour, from start to finish: the ferry ride, instructions on the way to the first point in the tour. A word of caution: when they say it is a steep walk, THEY MEAN IT! It's still walkable, but being out of shape I needed to stop and catch my breath a time or two. There are four steep slopes, but the walk got easier after the first two.

Very educational and eye-opening how the inmates lived back then and probably not much different than today.

Sometimes playing tourist in your home city is fun. My friend was in town and wanted to go to Alcatraz. We did the night tour because it was close to Halloween. The night tour added an extra layer of spooky. The infirmary was particularly creepy at night.

The audio tour was as good as I remember maybe even better now that I'm a bit older and can appreciate a good interpretive program. I also used to be a Park Ranger and had to design tour programs for historic sites like Alcatraz. The audio tour is well done. They do a good job at creating an immersive experience.

There's also an exhibit near where you return your head set about the modern prison system. This was also really well done. The exhibit explores the connection between slavery, race and incarceration in the US. Definitely worth checking out and a great place to wait for your friends who may have gotten lost during the audio tour ;)

Alcatraz seems to get better every time I visit. Maybe I'll be back sooner than 10 years this time.

A unique experience but there's cooler things to do in San Francisco, especially if your time is limited.

I did this tour once as a kid but I had completely forgotten what it was like so I decided to do it again. I definitely remember it being cooler as a kid. But then again, I guess that's a lot of things.

Overall it's a very educational experience and if you're into history you're gonna love it, but if you only have a day or two to see San Fran, China Town is definitely cooler than prison.

!!!MUST GO IF VISITING SAN FRAN!!! I REALLY enjoyed Alcatraz.The staff were super helpful and nice to guide us through the jail. They were really organized and guided people to the boat with no trouble.

I really enjoyed seeing the old cell rooms where you can see prisoners items to keep them busy. I suggest going into every cell you can go in because there are little signs telling about prison life and what they did to keep busy. If you can go check out the garden. Note: the garden is only open till 3pm.

The only thing to be aware of is there's A LOT of seagulls and birds swarming around. So if your scared just keep watch and don't look down because there are A LOT!!! There's also a huge family of flies on the boat on the window in the back of the boat that will land on you if you sit next to them.

Overall loved the experience and would definitely come back to try the night tours and basement tour (which you have to pay extra and book out easily).

I've been wanting to come for quiet some time. The ferri ride was pretty quick. The audio tour was great. I'm so glad I came it was great experience. Definitely worth my day trip to SF.

I usually do not write reviews but this incident has compelled me to let all the readers know that absolutely do not take this tour! The staff at this place is racist and liars. When I was told to step out of the line because did not have my complete party, I stepped away but they asked me to completely walk out of the premises which I abided by and started walking towards the main gates and heard the operator tell other people "OMG" in a very derogatory tone. I let it go and walked away.

When we had our full party we came back to the line and we were told you'll will take the next tour. Which we were ok with too. Another lady just comes to us and asks we used the F word towards the door attendant to which we were surprised and walked her through the entire situation world by word. She then accuses us that May be she said "OMG" because you used the F word.

We explained to her that we have a toddler with us and we don't use the F word in front of him and we requested her to stop repeating it as well as our son was listening to the conversation.

To that she said oh please I have Indian friends too and they use the cuss words all the time. Which was just unacceptable because she profiled the entire Indian community and made a rude assumption about our nationality or origin.

She then said we will have to offer you a refund and deny entry into the cruise because of your behavior. Again what behavior? Her staff was blatantly lying, she just passed racist comments and we were denied entry?

At this point we did not even want to go for the cruise anymore so we decided to take the refund and leave. She processed the refund and it was incomplete. She gave us approximately $30 less than the price we paid. When I asked her about it she just got up from the seat and said go take it up with the 3rd party you booked through.

Visiting as a family with my 22months old son , all of us excited to see Alcatraz after 5 years in San Francisco and our day was ruined because of 2 liars and racist individuals.

Mix feelings for me, I can imagen the pain and suffering from the inmates of the past, A lot of history here. Is it possible that man can escape from this hell hole?

Amazing experience!! We did the behind the scenes! Our tour guide was extremely knowledgeable and took us behind the scenes exclusively which made the experience a special one. Audio portion was pretty cool. Just being there in person was unreal knowing the history behind this notorious prison that made history will forever be a memorable experience we will never forget. The gift shop is awesome too!

DO NOT BUY FROM ALCATRAZISLANDTICKETS(dot)COM!

Buy EARLY & on Alcatraztickets(dot)com, because the other is a scam (via: reddit). I originally wanted to go on Monday, but it was sold out so I was looking at 3rd party options like Stubhub. I ended up just buying on the actual site for Tuesday.

There are day & night tours, but I would recommend going day time since there are restricted sites which you can't enter... but at least you can peek through! There are also collapsed buildings, a garden, and birds which I'd imagine are all hard to see in the dark.

Alcatraz is informative & it is also a photo op with the SF city line:
- sit on the top floor & rear-end of the boat
- or standing photo anywhere on top floor (boat)
- or anywhere on the island

My boyfriend and I went with the first group (8:45), you're supposed to be there 30 mins prior, but I forgot and we ran from Pier 39 ($10 early bird parking at Hotel Zephyr) to Pier 33 (Alcatraz).

I was so worried we'd be too late because Alcatraz has NO REFUNDS... AND I needed to pee... But they let us in with 10 mins to spare (other people after us too!) and the boat's bathroom was suuuper clean. I was very happy, LOL.

The tour is 2 hours and 45 average, and my boyfriend and I took about 3 hours (including taking breaks + vlogging). I wanted to follow the tour (not mandatory) but the first stop was very lengthy so my boyfriend and I just went off on our own. There's text + a lot of staff throughout the island so it was still informative without the guide. While we were looking at the artillery section, an EMT member said hi & shared a story of one of the grand prison break fails at Alcatraz. He was an excellent story teller, I was surprised he wasn't a tour guide! Shout out to him.

Cons: Lots of walking, bird poop everywhere, mosquitoes/flies keep flying back to you even if you swat then away!! (-1 Star for the stubborn flies)

Pros: Informative, engaging walk-through audio tour available, take any boat back if daytime, seagulls are so animated (fun to watch)

Natives in 1969 visited the island and performed a 19 month peaceful protest on Alcatraz, and there is an exhibit dedicated to the event. I am glad I learned about it. I wish Alcatraz had even more exhibits.