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The Official Tour of Alcatraz Island and Prison

Step back in time and experience the legendary island that has been a Civil War fort, a military prison and one of the most notorious federal penitentiaries in US history. This memorable tour includes: 45 minute audio presentation “Doing Time: The Alcatraz Cellhouse Tour,” featuring actual correctional officers and prisoners who lived and worked on the Island; orientation video by Discovery Channel; ranger and docent tours; historic gardens and abundant wildlife.

CELLHOUSE AUDIO TOUR

No one can tell the Alcatraz tale like the men who actually lived it. The captivating Alcatraz Cellhouse Audio Tour brings history alive through the actual voices of the correctional officers and inmates who lived on the island during the infamous Federal Penitentiary era.

Hear both sides of life in the island prison including such famous events as escape attempts, “The Battle of ’46”, food riots, and surviving solitary confinement.

The Cellhouse Audio Tour is available in Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish.

GARDENS OF ALCATRAZ

From the military to the penitentiary era, plants softened the Rock for those who called Alcatraz home. Through gardening, island residents created beauty in a place focused on defense, punishment, and confinement. The families of the guards enjoyed tea parties in the gardens, and gardening became a welcome pastime. For trusted inmates, the gardens were an escape from daily prison life. Even today, the thriving gardens are a stark contrast to the somber prison.

After closure of the prison in 1963, many plants survived decades without care. These survivors are excellent choices for gardeners in the Bay Area or other Mediterranean climates. Since 2003, The Garden Conservancy has been working in partnership with the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy and the National Park Service to restore these wonderful gardens and to share the stories with visitors.

Join a garden docent for an up-close look at the restored historic gardens of Alcatraz. Learn about the softer side of the Rock and how gardens made life tolerable for residents of the barren island. Tours leave the Alcatraz dock at 9:30 am every Friday and Sunday.

GUIDED TOURS

Join the island staff for a guided walking tour of Alcatraz Island. Programs are offered throughout the day and generally start either at the dock or lighthouse. Topics may include Famous Inmates, Escapes, Hollywood’s Rock, 200 Years of Alcatraz History, and Fortress Alcatraz. Some programs even take visitors into restricted areas of the island.

Guided tours generally last 45 minutes to an hour, and may involve walking moderate distances.

Tours and times vary daily, so check the Program Board when you arrive on the island dock. No reservations are required, and all programs are free.

ALCATRAZ: STORIES FROM THE ROCK

Alcatraz: Stories From the Rock takes viewers on a journey through the Island’s many chapters: its early role as a military fortress, the famous federal penitentiary years, the Indian occupation that altered the course of history, and finally the popular National Park and wildlife refuge it is today.

Alcatraz stands as a powerful symbol of protection and change. The film explores Alcatraz as it began, as it evolved, and as it stands today and allows viewers to discover the many layers that make it an incredible time capsule of history and human drama.

VIDEO: WE HOLD THE ROCK

The occupation of Alcatraz Island from 1969 to 1971 by “Indians of All Tribes” changed the course of U.S. and American Indian history, and brought world-wide attention to the plight of American Indians. The award winning video/exhibit, “WE HOLD THE ROCK,” produced by the National Park Service and the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, is shown continually in the China Alley exhibit behind the main theater area near the dock.

ALCATRAZ AND THE AMERICAN PRISON EXPERIENCE

“Alcatraz and the American Prison Experience,” a major interpretive exhibit, explains the place of Alcatraz in the evolution of prisons in America from Colonial days to the present. Produced in partnership with the federal Bureau of Prisons, the exhibit also looks at family life on Alcatraz and trends in American penology. The exhibit is housed in two historic fortress storerooms in the China Alley display area near the dock.

Alcatraz Island Tour Tickets

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Alcatraz Day Ticket

*Face coverings are required at all times in boarding areas, onboard vessels and in all indoor spaces on Alcatraz Island.   Please bring your face mask with you or you may purchase one at the ticket booth.

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• Alcatraz Night Tour

The Alcatraz Night Tour is a unique program limited to just a few hundred visitors per evening. It includes special programs, tours, and activities not offered during the day. Roundtrip ferry transportation, a live boat narration, a guided tour from Dock to Cellhouse, the Cellhouse Audio Tour, a keepsake souvenir brochure, recreation use fee, and a variety of special programs and presentations offered only at night. *Face coverings are required at all times in boarding areas, onboard vessels and in all indoor spaces on Alcatraz Island.  Please bring your face mask with you or you may purchase one at the ticket booth.

From: $47.36 US Dollars

• Alcatraz Behind the Scenes Tour

Get tickets to Alcatraz Island and cruise on the San Francisco Bay. Tour Alcatraz, the infamous and notorious former federal prison, which is home to the likes of Al Capone, George "Machine Gun" Kelley, and Robert "The Birdman" Stroud. *Face coverings are required at all times in boarding areas, onboard vessels and in all indoor spaces on Alcatraz Island.  Please bring your face mask with you or you may purchase one at the ticket booth.

From: $89.36 US Dollars

Alcatraz Ticket & Angel Island Combination Island Hop Tour

BEST OPTION WHEN ALCATRAZ TICKETS ARE SOLD OUT - This tour goes inside Alcatraz! The Alcatraz & Angel Island Combination Tour showcases two of San Francisco Bay's most famous and historically rich islands. Take this tour and you will not only see two amazing sites, but you will travel on the first hybrid ferry in the United States. This vessel is a working demonstration of alternative energy in operation, utilizing wind, solar, electricity and diesel. *Face coverings are required at all times in boarding areas, onboard vessels and in all indoor spaces on Alcatraz Island.  Please bring your face mask with you or you may purchase one at the ticket booth.

From: $78.66 US Dollars

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Alcatraz Island and the Alcatraz Tour

Alcatraz Tour Fascinates Visitors to Alcatraz Island

Matteo Colombo / Getty Images

It's a former federal prison on a rocky island in the middle of the bay, steeped in legend and a popular tourist stop.

Spanish Explorer Manuel de Ayala named this barren rock in the middle of San Francisco Bay Isla de los Alcatraces (Island of the Pelicans). The island called Alcatraz has been used as a Civil War fort, a Federal prison and a symbol of Native American plight. Today, the National Park Service runs Alcatraz Island as a tourist attraction.

Things to Do on Alcatraz

You can get a look at what you'll see on the Alcatraz tour by visiting the Alcatraz slideshow.

The National Park Service schedules activities to help you learn about Alcatraz Island, including lectures and special tours. The schedule board at the ferry landing gives the times. The only guided tour is the audio tour, but you can also pick up a self-guided tour book near the boat dock.

Barracks from Alcatraz Island's stint as a military base, the cell house, lighthouse, and a few others remain. Many of the Alcatraz Island prison buildings are gone. Some burned during the American Indian Alcatraz occupation in the 1960s. The guard's residences, deteriorated beyond repair, were torn down in the 1970s. 

If the hospital area is open during your visit, don't miss it. It's a fascinating look at medical care during the prison's heyday.

To see two San Francisco Bay islands in one day, take the Alcatraz & Angel Island Tour which will also take you to Angel Island .

Alcatraz Island Tickets

The only way to tour Alcatraz is with the company called Alcatraz Cruises, leaving from San Francisco. Other bay cruise companies can take you by, but can't stop.  Find all the details and buy tickets at the Alcatraz Cruises website . Anyone else selling an Alcatraz Island tour is re-selling tickets and may charge a processing fee.

Alcatraz tour tickets sell out fast. The official brochures say tickets sell out as early as a week in advance in the summer and on holiday weekends. When checked on a July Friday, they were sold out until the following Tuesday. 

Tickets not used by hotels are released to the Alcatraz ticket booth just before it opens. Be first in line you may get a same-day tour ticket. Your hotel's concierge or front desk may have tickets. Or consider taking the Alcatraz and Angel Island tour, which doesn't fill up as fast.

The boat ride to Alcatraz takes about 15 minutes each way from San Francisco. Your tour can last as long as you like (or until the last boat leaves).

The Day Tour is the most popular. It includes round-trip transportation to the island and the audio tour.

The Night Tour includes extra activities — and is slightly more expensive. Taking it allows more time to visit other sights that close earlier, maximizing your sightseeing time. The only downside is that a few areas that are open during the day close after dark.

Get Ready to Visit Alcatraz

Most visitors spend at least a few hours on Alcatraz. Snacks and water are essential to keep everyone from getting "hangry" or thirsty.

If you don't know much about Alcatraz, stop to see the 17-minute introductory video before you go up the hill. You can also read up on these interesting facts about Alcatraz before you go and  explore the fascinating history of the Alcatraz lighthouse .

Watch the Clint Eastwood movie "Escape from Alcatraz" for a glimpse of how the prison operated during its busiest period.

Tips for Visiting Alcatraz

Pick up an audio tour and use it. You'll get a lot more out of what you're seeing. Pay attention to the audio directions. Otherwise, you could end up gabbing away with your friends and not able to figure out where you should be going. If that happens, ask a ranger or tour guide for help.

If you miss your boat, don't despair. The ticket office can direct you to the standby line for the next one.

To see Alcatraz, you'll walk — a lot. It's easy enough if you're in reasonably good shape. They offer a tram to get you up the hill, but you still have to walk after you get there. 

The boats are quiet, clean and smooth riding. The trip is short. But if you need a Dramamine just to sit on the dock and watch a boat bobbing up and down, take your favorite remedy. 

Those white spots all over the island aren't paint. Rangers say several people a day acquire a "white badge of honor" as a gift from a seagull. DON'T look up if you hear birds. Also, watch where you put your hands to avoid touching those same white splotches of yucky stuff.

The gift shop has some very stylish and clever souvenir items. They also sell the book "Hollywood Alcatraz" which details all the films made at Alcatraz and where their scenes were filmed.

Alcatraz Tour Review

In a poll, more than 2,000 Tripsavvy readers rated Alcatraz, 48% rated it awesome and 10% great. However, 26% gave it the lowest rating.

Alcatraz is likely to bore children under the age of five and is more fun for kids who are old enough to understand what it is.

On the plus side, the views of San Francisco and the bay are eye-popping. History buffs enjoy Alcatraz. So does anyone who's seen the movies about it and feel like it's a must-see. The audio tour is one of the best anywhere, using voices of actual guards and prisoners to tell the prison's story.

On the downside, it takes almost half a day to go there and back. If your trip to San Francisco is short, that may be more time than you want to spend on one activity. And it smells like bird poop during spring seagull nesting season.

Getting to Alcatraz Island

Alcatraz Island San Francisco, CA National Park Website

Alcatraz Cruises leave from Pier 33. If you've been to San Francisco before, be aware that the ticket booth and departure dock moved several years ago.

To drive, follow signs for Pier 39. Pier 33 is a few blocks east. You can find more than a dozen commercial parking lots within a five-block radius. Street parking isn't practical because the meters have a two-hour limit and you'll be gone longer than that.

If you're staying in San Francisco, take a taxi, use a ride-sharing service or public transit. Muni's F Line runs past Pier 33 and the Powell-Mason cable car stops nearby. Find more ways to get around San Francisco .

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Experience the alcatraz citadel virtually.

Two closed-off stairwells lead down from the first floor of the Alcatraz Cellhouse to a lower, blocked-off basement level called the Citadel, one of the earliest structures on Alcatraz. The still-intact walls of the Citadel contain a collection of markings that offer clues to understanding Alcatraz’s complex recent history as a military fort, military prison, and finally a federal penitentiary. 

In 2016, architect Paul Davidson and Avidan Fernandez documented the Citadel as part of the National Park Service’s Historic American Buildings Survey by collecting data using laser scanning, photogrammetry and remote sensing. With the data they collected, Davidson, Fernandez, and colleague Ryan Pierce produced a virtual tour, fly-through animation, and 3D models.

In his work, Davidson was most compelled by the several generations of wall markings that can be seen throughout the Citadel.

“Whenever I go into a historic building, I’m always looking for clues to how people have used this space or passed through it,” Davidson said.

Used for some of the most severe and inhumane forms of solitary confinement during the military and federal prison chapters on Alcatraz, the Citadel has walls etched with names of formerly incarcerated people, which can be seen in the 3D Models: Photogrammetry models of Citadel wall markings . 

Phillip Grosser was a conscientious objector who refused the draft in World War I, and was forced into confinement on Alcatraz from June 1919 to December 1920. Grosser was subjected to many 14-day-long periods of solitary confinement in the Citadel—complete darkness, a cold, damp climate, rodent infestations, no bed, a bucket toilet, and an insufficient diet of bread and water. Such ruthless conditions are what led Grosser to call the Citadel the “dungeon” in his 32-page pamphlet, Uncle Sam's Devil's Island . Grosser carved the number assigned to him at Alcatraz, #11461, into bricks in the Citadel .

According to the last stop on the virtual tour at the West Stair, formerly incarcerated individuals were escorted down one set of stairs to the basement level and brought up the other set of stairs on the opposite side of the building at the end of solitary confinement. This meant that others saw them “go down the stairs but never saw them return—a psychological tactic” used to incite fear and concern. 

The once three-story Citadel, a barracks surrounded by a dry moat and built in 1859, was part of Alcatraz’s chapter as a military fort. In 1908, the upper two stories of the Citadel were demolished to make way for construction of a military prison, but the lowest level of the Citadel was kept and buried for use as the foundation. The fly-through animation of the Citadel displays its layout in comparison to the cellhouse, providing a birds-eye-view of its many rooms and corridors. 

Today, the basement level of the Citadel is still intact under the cellhouse. Due to concerns over visitor safety, the Citadel is not open to Alcatraz visitors for interpretation. Through the digital resources on this page, this site and its history can be observed and interpreted virtually. 

@Large: Ai Weiwei on Alcatraz in a Virtual 3D Space

50th Anniversary of Alcatraz Occupation in 2019 Gallery

Just the essentials: How the Alcatraz gardens grow

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Alerts in effect, island of incarceration, island of freedom.

Alcatraz reveals stories of American incarceration, justice, and our common humanity. This small island was once a fort, a military prison, and a maximum security federal penitentiary. In 1969, the Indians of All Tribes occupied Alcatraz for 19 months in the name of freedom and Native American civil rights. We invite you to explore Alcatraz's complex history and natural beauty.

More than 2.3 million people are behind bars in the United States. Learn more about the new exhibition open now, on Alcatraz Island.

There are plenty of ways that you can visit Alcatraz from wherever you are in the world. Here are just a few!

Find out about accessible features on Alcatraz Island.

In 1969 Indigenous activists occupied Alcatraz for 19 months. Learn more about the 50th anniversary and commemorative exhibit.

Safety, accessibility, and planning a successful visit to Alcatraz in ASL.

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Last updated: January 12, 2024

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Alcatraz Island Golden Gate National Recreation Area B201 Fort Mason San Francisco, CA 94123

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Alcatraz Tour Options

As the official concessioner to the National Park Service, Alcatraz City Cruises offers in-depth visits to Alcatraz. Your visit includes round-trip transportation to the Island and outdoor National Park access.

Alcatraz Tour Options Overview

Pertinent information.

At Alcatraz City Cruises, our guests’ well-being is our number one priority. We have proudly implemented new COVID-19 procedures to keep everyone safe & healthy.

Age Policy Adult- 18-61 / Junior- 12-17 / Senior- 62+ / Child- 5-11 / Toddler 4 and under are Free

Minors under the age of 18 are not allowed to tour Alcatraz Island without the accompaniment of an adult.

Group Tours If booking a group of 20 or more people, please contact the Alcatraz City Cruises Group Services Department at 415.438.8361; or e-mail  [email protected]

Ticket Price

Please refer to our  Fee Breakout FAQ  for complete overview of Alcatraz Island ticket prices.

Alcatraz Island Named #1 Landmark in the U.S.

Alcatraz City Cruises is a Proud Partner and Authorized Concessioner of the National Park Service

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Ferry to Alcatraz Island. Tour the Inside of the Cellhouse. Explore Alcatraz Island.

Duration: Approximately 2 ½ Hours Available: Daily, hourly departures: 8:40 AM to 3:50 PM

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Tour the Inside of the Alcatraz prison cellhouse. Step back in time and experience the legendary island that has been a civil war fort, a military prison and one of the most notorious federal penitentiaries in US history. This memorable tour includes: 45 minute audio presentation "Doing Time: The Alcatraz Cellhouse Tour," featuring actual correctional officers and prisoners who lived and worked on the Island; orientation video by Discovery Channel; ranger and docent tours; historic gardens and abundant wildlife.-->

Also included: Enjoy the historical gardens of Alcatraz, views of San Francisco Bay, and the exhibit: Red Power on Alcatraz: Perspectives 50 Years Later on display in the New Industries Building. The roads and walkways on Alcatraz are steep. The distance from the dock to the Cellhouse is approximately 1/4 mile (.4km) and the elevation change is 130 feet (40 meters), the equivalent of walking up a 13-story building. The roads and walkways are wide with several places to stop along the way to rest and take in the breathtaking views. Comfortable athletic or walking shoes are strongly recommended. If you have mobility concerns, please see Accessibility for Sustainable Easy Access Transport (S.E.A.T.) Tram information.

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