Visit to Alcatraz Prison in San Francisco

Visit to Alcatraz Prison in San Francisco

Visiting Alcatraz Prison in San Francisco should be up there with the Golden Gate Bridge

I often joke that if you call any old building a tourist attraction and put it in a guidebook, people will come. Whether it's a bare-bones power plant, a random rock formation, or even a tour of a sewage treatment plant - with enough PR, people will come.

In theory, visiting Alcatraz Prison could fit into this category of non-attractions. It's a prison. It has cell blocks, cells, walls and bars. Each cell is indistinguishable from the next and the entire building should be largely inconspicuous, at least from the inside.

“Describing the escape attempts, fighting and unrest, the tour neither criticizes nor martyrs these men: it simply gives them a platform to speak.”

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Of course, it's not the cells, walls and bars that make Alcatraz fascinating; it's the people who were held inside - people like Al Capone, George "Machine Gun" Kelly and Robert Stroud "The Birdman of Alcatraz".

It is the inmates, the guards and their stories that attract millions of visitors each year. In fact, the number of visitors is so large that it is almost impossible to get tickets on this day. Visitors are advised to book at least four weeks in advance, possibly even six.

Visit to Alcatraz Prison

The tour begins with a long line at San Francisco's Pier 33 to prepare for the boat transfer to the island. Feel free to buy a coffee and sit while you wait for the line to shorten.

There's plenty of space on the boat, so you'll probably find a good spot somewhere. Avoid sitting on the upper deck, as enthusiastic visitors will almost certainly stand at the edges, again blocking your view.

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As you approach Alcatraz, head to the boat exit so you are one of the first to get off. You will be greeted by a park ranger who will show you the island while the boat empties.

My advice would be to skip the introduction and go straight to the audio tour so you don't end up jostling with the crowd the whole time. Alternatively, if you're one of the last to disembark, head to the barracks building and watch a Discovery Channel documentary about the island instead. This way you stay behind the crowds.

Go to the audio tour

If you're tempted to skip the audio and do it alone, don't do it. The Alcatraz audio tour is award-winning. It's touching, poignant and haunting - worth the price of admission alone. Narrated by former prison guards with first-hand commentary from inmates, it is an authentic piece of Alcatraz history beautifully complemented by subtle but powerful sound effects.

The tour winds through various areas of the prison, many with ironic nicknames: "Broadway" for the central passageway between cell blocks B and C, "Times Square" for the large clock at the entrance to the cafeteria.

Visitors are invited to enter darkened cells for a brief taste of solitary confinement. At one point we are asked to pause and look up at a tall window. On New Year's Eve, the sounds of the free world carried the wind: women's laughter in the yacht club, music, boisterous chatter and audible joy. It's hard not to feel sympathy for the men who lost their prime to Alcatraz.

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As the tour describes the escape attempts, fights and unrest, it neither criticizes these men nor martyrs them: it simply gives them a platform to speak. An inmate tells us about a reunion with his sister, who was told by her parents that he was dead. Told in his deep, gruff voice, the story is both sweet and sad.

The tour continues to the guards' quarters, winding outside to views of San Francisco Bay before returning inside and to the cafeteria. There, Pat Mahoney, our main narrator, tells us about the Spaghetti Uprising of 1950. I'll let you hear that from him instead of me.

As the tour comes to an end, I sit on a bench in the cafeteria and watch the other visitors. Then I hear the most poignant words of the tour:

“I remember when they released me, I was locked up for 15 years and during all that time I never had no visitors, no letters, nothing... and I watch the cars whizzing by and people walking, everything was moving too fast... and I didn't know how to move with it.

I remember how jealous I was of these people because they all had a goal, they were all going somewhere and I didn't know where I was going... and I was scared to death."

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Visiting Alcatraz Prison: The Essentials

Price: 30 USD for day tour; $37 for night tour.Date: Open all year round except Christmas, Thanksgiving and New Years.Time: 12 departures per day, departing approximately every 30 minutes. Plan at least three hours for your visit. Location: Pier 33, Alcatraz Landing, San Francisco, CA 94111, USA (Map). Tickets: Alcatraz Cruises (book four weeks in advance; photo ID required upon pickup).

Watch Clint Eastwood and Patrick McGoohan in the classic 1979 film Escape From Alcatraz.
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