Alcatraz Island
The famous island prison: a ferry, an audio tour, and books-out-weeks-ahead demand.
The call
Worth it if you are watching the budget and you are traveling with kids.
Why
- 01
The cellhouse audio tour is genuinely gripping, with former inmates' voices in your ears as fog rolls past the bars.
Our read - 02
Then a few hundred people shuffle the same corridor with you.
Our read - 03
The award-winning 'Doing Time' cellhouse audio tour is narrated by the actual former guards and inmates who lived on the island, and Time Out calls it 'perhaps the greatest guided audio tour in the world.'
timeout.com - 04
The night tour circles the whole island on the ferry, runs smaller groups, and thins out so much that visitors end up exploring parts of the prison alone in the dark.
wherearethosemorgans.com
Is it a fit?
Go if
You are watching the budget
Alcatraz Island earns the spend, even on a tight budget.
You are traveling with kids
With kids, Alcatraz Island is an easy yes.
You are traveling as a couple
As a couple, Alcatraz Island is an easy yes.
You are traveling solo
Solo, Alcatraz Island is an easy yes.
Think twice if
You only have one day
Keep Alcatraz Island only when it outranks a half-day elsewhere.
You care about the visual experience
Alcatraz Island offers some beauty & photography, but not enough to make it the reason to go.
You want time outdoors
Alcatraz Island offers some nature & scenery, but not enough to make it the reason to go.
Plan it well
- Cost
- $47 (incl. ferry)
- Timing
- Book the night tour for atmosphere and smaller groups, or the earliest day departure to beat crowds; reserve weeks ahead in summer.
- Booking
- Book directly through Alcatraz City Cruises (cityexperiences.com); the cellhouse audio tour is included with the ferry ticket.
- Allow
- 3-4 hrs (incl. ferry)
- Accessibility
- A free SEAT tram assists visitors who can't manage the steep quarter-mile climb from the dock to the cellhouse.
- Getting there
- Official ferry departs Pier 33 (Alcatraz Landing); no other operator is authorized to land on the island.
Consider instead
Sources and method (7)
- Alcatraz City Cruises is the only operator authorized to land passengers on the island; tickets open 90 days ahead and summer weekends sell out fast cityexperiences.com ↗
- The ticket includes the round-trip ferry from Pier 33 and the award-winning Cellhouse Audio Tour, narrated in part by former inmates and officers nps.gov ↗
- timeout.com ↗
- wherearethosemorgans.com ↗
- cityexperiences.com ↗
- extranomical.com ↗
- travelcaffeine.com ↗