Overview

Experience legendary Alcatraz prison in a one-day tour combined with a premium guided city tour of San Francisco’s iconic attractions and sights. Explore two of California’s iconic destinations in one private custom and worry-free all-inclusive combo tour, tailored to your needs and expectations. Join us now and learn about the mystery of the Alcatraz ‘Great Escape’ that endures 50 years after the event.

Description

Why should you visit Alcatraz?
The mystery of the Alcatraz Great Escape endures 50 years after the event.
Visiting Alcatraz Island is one of the most rewarding and fascinating experiences of any trip to San Francisco and California. Alcatraz, the legendary former prison, is where some of the United States’ most notorious criminals were incarcerated. Though several inmates tried to escape from this maximum security federal prison, none were ever successful – until the June 1962 Alcatraz escape. Inmates Clarence Anglin, John Anglin and Frank Lee Morris managed the only successful escape from Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary.

No tour company can offer you this 5-star Alcatraz and San Francisco combo tour like we do. Unlike all other tour companies, you don’t have to come to us – we meet you where it is convenient for you, offering a complimentary meet and greet service anywhere in San Francisco downtown and outer laying districts. You will travel in comfort in a luxury SUV. Your tour, conducted by one of our local certified tour guides, will give you an insider’s access to amazing sites and neighborhoods prohibited to all other ground transportation and large vehicles. There is no need to walk up and downhill to see iconic sites like Lombard street – the crookedest and prettiest narrow street you will ever see – we will even drive you right through it, and make a photo stop for you.

Experience the legendary Alcatraz prison tour combined with a fully guided and totally private custom tour of San Francisco’s iconic attractions, sights and landmarks, including the world famous Golden Gate Bridge, Pacific Heights, historic Presidio, Marina District, Palace of Fine Arts, Sea Cliff, Telegraph Hill, Ocean Beach, Bake Beach, the ‘Painted Ladies’ of Alamo Square, Haight-Ashbury, Chinatown, Nob Hill, Twin Peaks, Golden Gate Park attractions, Union Square, Civic Center, and San Francisco Fisherman’s Wharf where your Alcatraz adventure will start at Pier 33.

Following your private custom tour of San Francisco, you will embark on the Alcatraz Ferry to explore Alcatraz Island and prison ‘The Rock’. We do not just drop you off at the Ferry, we accompany you and take care of the arrangements such as redeeming your tour voucher to avoid you standing in long lines in front of Alcatraz booths, where hundreds show up without reservations desperate for Alcatraz tickets. Alcatraz tickets get sold out months in advance, so we issue your official Alcatraz tickets and help you to embark on the Alcatraz cruise ferry, the only licensed ferries to Alcatraz Island.

Tour guides are not allowed to conduct guided tours to Alcatraz. In order to keep the cost down, we therefore do not include a drop-off at your hotel so you don’t pay overtime while visiting Alcatraz Island. Their award-winning self-guided audio tour is outstanding and allows you to explore the island at your own pace. After your return from the island, you can enjoy the famous Fisherman’s Wharf top attractions, seafood restaurants, boutiques and then either take an affordable cab, or opt for the historic cable car ride, back to your hotel. The Alcatraz Ferry building is a walking distance from Fisherman’s Wharf where you may also consider to stay in a local hotel, away from the crowded downtown. San Francisco Fisherman’s Wharf is ideal for couples and families with kids. It offers all kinds of activities and attractions, which is a walking distance from most of the hotels. Some of the hotels in the Fisherman’s Wharf include the Marriot, Hyatt, Sheraton, Holiday Inn, the Fairmont, Zephyr, Zoe, and the Argonaut Hotel, among many other hotels in the area.

Brief history of Alcatraz: Alcatraz was first built as a fortress in the 1850s by the United States army, and then became the first lighthouse in the Western United States. Later, in 1934, it became a federal penitentiary until 1963, housing famous convicts like the ‘Machine Gun Kelly’, Frank Norris, the ‘Birdman’ and Al Capone. Today, Alcatraz Island’s infamous prison is part of the Bay Area’s 80,000-acre Golden Gate National Recreation Area.

Join us now and learn about the greatest escape in the history of federal prisons known as ‘The Great Escape from Alcatraz’. The FBI believed the escapees drowned in the Bay, while new rumors might prove that this is not the case.

Itinerary

Your tour is divided in two parts. You will first enjoy a private custom tour of San Francisco’s iconic attractions and unique sights expertly conducted by your private tour guide in a luxury vehicle. The second part of the tour will take you to the legendary Alcatraz Island.

The first part of your Alcatraz combo tour will start with a complimentary meet and greet at your hotel in San Francisco. Your personal driver is an experienced and passionate tour guide, and he or she will offer you a comprehensive, private guided tour by 4X4 luxury SUV. This tour includes some of San Francisco’s top attractions and famous sights, including neighborhoods where larger vehicles are prohibited, such as Lombard Street (one of the most crooked streets of California), Coit Tower, ‘Painted Ladies’ (Victorian homes) at Alamo Square, Sea Cliff on Baker Beach offering stunning views of the Golden Gate Bridge. While traveling in comfort, you will learn about San Francisco’s history, architecture and geology, with stops along the way so that you can capture the stunning views of San Francisco iconic sights and vistas. These include the Historic Presidio, sweeping views from the Twin Peaks, Ocean Beach, Baker Beach, Telegraph Hill, Russian Hill, Fisherman’s Wharf, Marina District, Palace of Fine Arts, Inspiration Point, Ghirardelli Square and its famous chocolate factor, and much more to see in San Francisco.

Our SUVs are luxury vehicles that allow you insider access anywhere in San Francisco’s neighborhoods with its steep hills and narrow streets, where larger vehicles are restricted or prohibited. Avoid the crowded places and large commercial bus tours and take advantage of this VIP and personalized intimate custom city tour tailored to your expectations. You will be our VIP guest for the day and we are always willing to go the extra mile to serve you better. You will be in excellent hands and we include all required services and fees, so you can relax and enjoy this memorable experience.

The second part of your Alcatraz combo adventure will take you to legendary Island also known as the ‘The Rock’. Following your private excursion of San Francisco, your personal tour guide will drive you to the Alcatraz Ferry building, a terminal for Alcatraz ferries that provide transfers from San Francisco Bay to Alcatraz and return. This is the only ferry line allowed to access Alcatraz Island.

Don’t worry about traffic, parking, sold-out tickets and crowds; we take care of that on your behalf. Your private driver will redeem your Alcatraz trip voucher, get you the required official tickets to Alcatraz and help you to check in on the next ferry to Alcatraz Island. Once you disembark on the island, you will be offered Alcatraz’s award-winning self-guided audio tour, included in your tour price, so you can tour the Alcatraz Prison at your own pace and in your preferred language in addition to English.
After visiting Alcatraz, you will return to Pier 33 by ferry where you can explore San Francisco Fisherman’s Wharf – home to the city’s top hotels attractions, museums, and seafood restaurants.

You may want to consider staying at a hotel near Fisherman’s Wharf or take the historic cable car to go back to your hotel in downtown San Francisco.

Tips and things to know when you visit Alcatraz Island from San Francisco

-Alcatraz is a steep and hilly rock located in the heart of San Francisco Bay. You will have to walk uphill, downhill, upstairs and downstairs (no elevators available). The distance from Alcatraz Ferry dock to the prison is about a quarter mile each way. However, Alcatraz visitors with disabilities may take the electric shuttle that runs twice an hour from the dock to the Alcatraz prison building, and twice an hour from the main entrance of Alcatraz prison back to the only ferry dock of the Island. The ride is complimentary and boarding is only available on a first come, first served basis from the dock or the prison main entrance, but boarding is not available halfway up or down.
-No minors under the age of 18 are allowed to visit Alcatraz without the accompaniment of their parents or adults at all times.

Carrying food and beverage: There is no food service available at Alcatraz. Eating is strictly prohibited on the dock area. You may enjoy a variety of snacks and foods on the ferries or simply have an early dinner

-No food, luggage, coolers, over-sized backpacks or packages are allowed on Alcatraz

-What to wear during excursion? You need to wear comfortable walking shoes with well-gripped soles. Dress in layers as the weather in Alcatraz and San Francisco is cool, often foggy and changes drastically in minutes before you embark on Alcatraz Island.

Limited tickets available for visitors: Alcatraz tour tickets are sold out up to 10 weeks or more in advance during summers and holidays, but night tour tickets are extremely hard to get and are sold out as soon as they become available (in summer only). We recommend that you secure your Alcatraz tickets at your earliest by booking it on our website.

-Approved transactions of Alcatraz tours on our website do no constitute a guarantee of Alcatraz tours and tickets until Alcatraz official tickets providers approve it, which takes several weeks due to the increasing popularity of Alcatraz.

Tour Prices

This is a private city tour by SUV /luxury vehicle, and the price is per each guest.

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This custom city tour is totally private by luxury vehicle, and the price is per person. We don’t offer semi-private tours; all our trips are totally private.

What’s Included in this Alcatraz adventure and San Francisco private tour?
All applicable taxes, San Francisco city 4-hour private and guided tour in a luxury vehicle, Alcatraz tickets and ferry, audio guided tour of Alcatraz, complimentary pick-up at your hotel in San Francisco downtown, Fisherman’s Wharf, and surrounding areas or neighborhoods, but not outside of these areas, and drop-off at Alcatraz cruise terminal where we issue your Alcatraz official tickets, and help you with all other information regarding Alcatraz ferry and prison tour. You will be in very good hands.

What’s Not Included in this San Francisco city 4-hour tour?
Meals, Driver’s gratuity tips. Gratuities are recommended and customary in the USA at 15%-20%), drop off at your hotel after Alcatraz tour and entrance tickets to any optional site(s) or monument(s).

Notes: For time considerations, we don’t drive across the Golden Gate Bridge on the half-day tour but we do include it on our full-day San Francisco city tour.

• The itinerary may change based on your time, road or weather conditions, pick-up location and preference. When it is rainy or foggy, we have to skip some areas /places for safety considerations or due to the lack of visibility.
• Please note that vehicles taking 7 passengers or more are prohibited entry to many places in San Francisco, like Lombard Street, Alamo Square, Telegraph Hill, Marina, Sea Cliff, Hyde, and wherever a sign is posted in this regard. We therefore recommend our SUV tour option, which is without doubt the best way to travel to these sights.
• Smoking is not allowed in our vehicles. We are sorry, but our vehicles are not pet friendly and not equipped for passengers with disability or wheelchairs, thank you for understanding.
• Please note that many sites, attractions, landmarks and neighborhoods are restricted and prohibited to large vehicles and vans including places like Lombard Street, Russian Hill, Telegraph Hill, Sea Cliff, Marina, Muir Beach and Overlook, Alamos Square (painted ladies), and all other areas restricted by law to van or bus tours. The SUV tour option is the perfect choice as you can go anywhere in the city where larges vehicles are prohibited.

Term & Policy

Alcatraz Tour Terms and Conditions

Please note that tour guides are not allowed to guide inside Muir Woods National Monument and Alcatraz
The pick-up at your hotel in San Francisco is included. However, to keep the cost down, the drop-off after your Alcatraz tour is not included.
Alcatraz tickets are extremely hard to get because they are often sold out weeks and months in advance. The sooner you book the better.
Approved online transactions do not guarantee your Alcatraz tour or tickets, as we should go through a process in order book these tickets. After we receive your transaction, the tour can be approved or declined based on availability. This is due to the increasing popularity of Alcatraz.
The only online calendar available on our website is extremely hard to manage and update on a daily basis. This calendar governs all our tours and is available in over 10 different languages, which multiplies the number of tour options by 10! When Alcatraz tickets are sold out, we cannot simply block the calendar for these particular date(s) because this will prevent all other clients from booking any of our tours in 10 different languages, which would put us out of business! Alcatraz represents only 1% of our tours and it’s impossible to block the calendar each time Alcatraz is sold out. For that reason, we have amended these terms and conditions on our website stating clearly and unequivocally the following terms regarding Alcatraz tour and tickets:
-All our tours including Alcatraz are subject to availability even if the online transaction is approved. We do reserve the right to void or refund your transaction when Alcatraz tickets are sold out.This is totally out of our hands as the only provider of Alcatraz tickets and tours are governed by the U.S. National Park Service.
-We do require 8 business weeks in advance when booking our Alcatraz tour during the peaks season, holidays and week-ends. The peak season refers to the period of April to the end of October.
-We reserve the right to offer you alternative tours when Alcatraz is sold out. If you decline our offer, we will fully refund your transaction – a process which takes about 10 business days before your funds are available to you. This is stated on our terms and conditions page, available in all languages.
When Alcatraz tickets are sold out, customers make the common mistake of desperately rushing to book the Alcatraz tour directly on our website, without taking the time to review our terms and conditions in this regard. We cannot be blamed as we make it extremely clear that we have no control over Alcatraz tickets when they are sold out.For that reason we do require your booking at least 8 business week sin advance!

Read more about our complete terms and policy by clicking here

Trip Reviews

Great combo tour opportunity of SF-Alcatraz

This was our first visit to California, we did a city tour and didn’t know hard was to get Alcatraz tickets, luckily, our tour guide Patricia who was so professional and friendly, called the company, and arranged last-minute tickets for us to Alcatraz . Alcatraz tour. The experience lived up to our expectations and the reviews we had read about Alcatraz. We recommend this combo tour to all families with kids like us who have no time to scan through all these websites out there. This is a very serious and professional tour company, they exceeded our expectations

Reserve Alcatraz tickets in advance when visiting SF

Book your Alcatraz tickets months in advance before you travel to San Francisco, this is a must-see attraction when visiting San Francisco and Northerner California. A police officer from south Africa who traveled with us on the ferry had a stop offer in SFO, just to visit Alcatraz. Dress in layers, ironically summer is not warm, weather is cool and gets foggy in the in SF Bay. The views of Alcatraz from San Francisco are better than the views of SF from of the island, but the combo tour is a must do and saved us time and money. Thank you, Mary, great tour- our kids loved your jokes and stories about Alcatraz.

Alcatraz worth a visit & above expectation

Alcatraz prison is just as portrayed as in the Hollywood films with about Frank Morris (Clint Eastwood) in this maximum-security prison Alcatraz, the cell still preserved as seen in the Clint Eastwood movie “Escape from Alcatraz”. No trip to San Francisco is complete without visiting Alcatraz Island. It took me 2 tours to Alcatraz before I felt the strong atmosphere and energy you get after stepping off Alcatraz cruises ferry and onto the dock. this city private tour and Alcatraz is an exceptional combo trip I recommend for all visitors (worry- free).