Description

The tour is open 7 days a week. Anyone intending to visit Alcatraz should book a ticket online in advance from the official ticket site which is www.alcatrazcruises.com. Tours can book up several days in advance, but it is easy to go online to purchase and print tickets. (Reservations are taken 90 days in advance.) With tickets in hand, proceed directly to Pier 33, Alcatraz Landing on San Francisco's Embarcadero. Plan on arriving 30 minutes before your scheduled departure. The only line you need stand in is the boarding line for your tour. No printer, no problem. Purchase tickets online and write down your confirmation number. Arrive at Pier 33 a bit earlier than the requested 30 minutes and go directly to Will-call. Your confirmation number and photo id are all you'll need to get your ticket and be on your way.

The award-winning Alcatraz audio tour is available in 8 languages, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin and Spanish. There's also a free iPhone tour. You have the option of declining the audio tour at the cellhouse and receiving an $8 refund.

Alcatraz's most interesting tour is probably the Alcatraz Night Tour in which tourists are able to take the regular self guided walking tour (with the aid of headphones narrating the story of Alcatraz -- sometimes by the prisoners themselves who inhabited it) after all of the day visitors leave. Many of the rooms (such as the dining hall) are only faintly lit by moonlight, making the eerie sounds of clinking dinnerware you hear in the headphones during your tour particularly creepy.

The Alcatraz Night Tour operates year-round, Thursday-Monday evenings. The evening includes roundtrip ferry transportation, a live boat narration, a guided tour from Dock to Cellhouse, the Cellhouse Audio Tour, a keepsake souvenir brochure, and a variety of special presentations. Tickets are available online and children under age 5 are free.

Proceeds from the Night Tour support preservation and restoration projects on Alcatraz and throughout the National Park.

Additionally, the later Indian occupation of Alcatraz is chronicled through your tour guide, short films as you exit the prison, and many items in the gift shop before you depart the island. Plan on spending about 2.5 hours from your departure to the island to your arrival back on San Francisco Pier 33.

NOTE: National Park Service's authorized exclusive concessionaire is www.alcatrazcruises.com.

ALSO NOTE: Ferries to Alcatraz now (as of 9/25/06) depart from Pier 33, not Pier 41. Pier 33 is located at Bay & Embarcadero, about a 8-10 minute walk from Pier 39/Fisherman's Wharf.

Access to Alcatraz is by ferry service operated by Alcatraz Cruises, LLC, a concession of the National Park Service. No private craft can dock at Alcatraz Island.

There is no separate entrance fee for the island - park passes do not apply to the charge for the ferry service.

To purchase tickets in advance (strongly recommended as Alcatraz frequently sells out) contact Alcatraz Cruises, their website is www.alcatrazcruises.com. The Alcatraz ferry departs from Pier 33, located on The Embarcadero near the intersection of Bay Street.