Alcatraz Prison Tours Booking Tips

Find booking tips for the Alcatraz prison tours. Learn the difference between the day and night Alcatraz Island tours and get other helpful tips before booking.

This section also includes my recommendations for when and how to book one of the tours of Alcatraz for your upcoming trip.

Alcatraz Tours San Francisco: Day Tour

The day tour is the most popular of the Alcatraz Prison tours. This is due to the flexibility of the tour and the number of tours offered during the day.

The ferries for these tours leave San Francisco for Alcatraz Island about every 30 minutes. The first one leaves at 9am. The last ferry leaves for Alcatraz just before 4pm. When booking, you'll need to select the exact time you'd like to depart San Francisco for Alcatraz Island.

The day tour of Alcatraz is mostly a self guided tour. When you hop off the boat at the island, you'll get a quick overview of how the tour works and then you are pretty much on your own.

They recommend that you start with the audio tour which is included in the price of your ticket. It's a self paced tour. It lasts around an hour.

The audio tour walks you through a pre-determined route in the main prison building on the island. It includes some history for each location in the prison along with descriptions about life on the island from ex-inmates.

Once you complete the audio tour, you are free to roam the open areas of Alcatraz on your own. You can visit the gift shop or join one of the scheduled, guided tours.

A list of the guided tours is found on a board at the end of the audio tour. Unfortunately, you can't get a schedule of these guided tours when you book, since I think some are done by volunteers. However, this is another great benefit of the Alcatraz Prison tours and a great way to learn more about the history of Alcatraz.

The day tour is great since you can spend as much time as you want on Alcatraz. You can also take any ferry back to San Francisco, so there is no rush during your tour.

Alcatraz Tours San Francisco: Night Tours

If you want a more personalized and guided tour of Alcatraz, then the night tour is the one for you. I'd also recommend this for anyone that's already done the day tour.

The thing I like about the night tour is that it's a smaller group. You are also guided through most of the visit, so you can learn more about the history of Alcatraz from the guide.

There are only a few hundred people per night tour. It's also a great way to ask questions and interact with your group.

The night tours only run Thursday through Monday nights. In the summer, there are two tours each night. In the winter months, there is just one tour each of those nights.

The first night tour ferry during the summer months leaves San Francisco at around 6pm and the second one leaves shortly before 7pm. The final ferry for the night Alcatraz Prison tours leaves Alcatraz Island at around 9:30pm.

In the winter months, the ferry leaves San Francisco for Alcatraz Island a little earlier around 4pm. The night tour also includes the audio portion. This is the same audio tour as the Alcatraz Prison Tours day tour.

The last time we did the night tour, we also went into some restricted areas with the entire tour group. This was a great experience and something you won't always get with the larger, more self guided day tours.

Prices and Other Booking Tips

The Alcatraz Prison Tours day tour costs $26 per person. This includes the round trip ferry ride and the self paced audio tour.

I highly recommend you do the audio tour. However, if you decide you don't want to do the audio tour, you can ask for a refund for this portion once you get on Alcatraz Island.

The night tour is a little more, but worth the additional cost. It is $33 per person. This includes the round trip ferry ride, the self paced audio tour and the additional guided portion of the tour.

Tickets go on sale about 90 days prior to departure. I highly recommend you book as soon as you have locked down the details of your trip to San Francisco. This gives you the option to select the time that works best for your group and you.

Most people book the Alcatraz Prison Tours about three to four weeks in advance. Visitors book their Alcatraz Prison Tours for weekends and holidays even earlier, so don't hesitate to get your tickets booked as soon as you can.

Alcatraz Prison Tours are done almost every day. No tours run on Thanksgiving Day, the day after Thanksgiving and from December 25 – January 1. To book your tickets, go to Alcatraz Cruises booking page. It's the official booking site to buy your Alcatraz Prison Tours tickets.

Best Times to Visit Alcatraz

There are a few considerations you'll want to look at when looking at the best time of year to visit Alcatraz for one of the Alcatraz Prison Tours. The warmest months in San Francisco are September and October.

Visit the San Francisco weather section for a month to month look at the weather in San Francisco. I recommend visiting during this time if you are looking for a warmer, sunny day to visit Alcatraz.

January and February are a little cooler and it's rainy season. However, Alcatraz Island is pretty quiet during that time. I recommend this time for those wanting to do the day trip and those not interested in battling the crowds as much.

For the day trip, I also highly recommend booking the earliest ferry possible in the morning. Fewer people will be on the island at the time so you'll be able to roam around with a smaller crowd of people around.

If you are interested in the night tour, the best time of year is when it gets dark early. I would recommend visiting the island for one of the Alcatraz Prison Tours in the months of November – March.

Again, it's rainy and cooler during this time, but it's a fun experience to visit Alcatraz when it's dark out!

For the night trip, I also recommend booking the second trip or last trip of the day. This is a great way to get a feel for what it was like to live and have to sleep every night on Alcatraz Island.

Overall, I highly recommend booking one of the Alcatraz Prison Tours. It gives you a great sense of the history of this amazing island and what it was like for the prisoners of Alcatraz to live on the island.

Before your visit, learn more about the Alcatraz history and some of its infamous prisoners including the biography of Al Capone, Robert Stroud, the Birdman of Alcatraz and many other prisoners of Alcatraz. You can also learn about the famous escapes from Alcatraz.

Visiting the island is also a great way to take some beautiful photos of the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco skyline. Once you book your tickets, check out the Tips to Prepare You to Visit Alcatraz section.