Alcatraz Behind The Scenes Tour Review

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By Sherry Arkfeld, Digital Nomad and a Dog

Are you visiting San Francisco and considering taking the Behind-the-Scenes tour of Alcatraz? Are you wondering if it’s worth it? You’re in the right place. I recently took the tour and have the full inside scoop.

The short answer is: Take the tour. It’s absolutely worth the extra money. You get to see so much of the prison not on the regular audio tour. Plus, you get a live guide so you can ask as many questions as you want.

However, there are some negative aspects about the tour, such as not being very accessible, that you need to know about.

Let’s take a closer look at the Alcatraz Behind the Scenes Tour so you can decide if it’s right for you.

Overview of Alcatraz

Alcatraz Island, also known as “The Rock”, is a rocky island in San Francisco Bay 1.5 miles offshore.

The island had little vegetation and was a seabird habitat when it was explored in 1775 by Lieutenant Juan Manuel de Ayala, who named it Isla de los Alcatraces (“Isle of the Pelicans”).

The island originally had sloping sides and was basically a big mound. The Army blasted off the sides to make rugged cliffs in order to make it more difficult to penetrate.

From 1849 to 1933, Alcatraz was used as a military prison by the United States Army. In 1934, it was transferred to the Federal Bureau of Prisons and became a maximum-security prison for some of the most dangerous criminals in the country.

Among its most famous inmates were Al Capone, George “Machine Gun” Kelly, and Robert Stroud, the “Birdman of Alcatraz”.

Alcatraz shut its doors in 1963, mainly because it was too expensive to operate. Today, it’s a National Historic Landmark attracting over a million visitors each year. People flock to see the cells, the mess hall, and even the solitary confinement units known as “The Hole.”

Alcatraz Tours

There are three options for touring Alcatraz. All the tours include the ferry ride over to the island.

You’ll board the ferry at Alcatraz Landing at Pier 33. Get there early to have time to see the model of the island. There are signs all around the display that talk about the old buildings and what they were used for. There are also some old photos showing Alcatraz in its heyday.

There aren’t a lot of facilities other than restrooms while you wait. The ferries have snack bars, and no food is allowed to be brought on board.

You can buy a bottle of water just outside the entrance to Alcatraz Landing from one of the street vendors. Once you arrive at the island, there are water fountains to refill your water bottles.

Pro tip: For the best views heading over to Alcatraz, sit on the left side of the ferry on the top.

Let’s take a look at each of the tours. (Note that the times of the tours shown here are for the summer season. Times vary throughout the year, so be sure to check the current info.)

Alcatraz Day Tour

The day tour is a self-guided audio tour. You pick up a headset and listen as you walk along. You get to hear stories from past guards and prisoners, so it really brings the prison to life.

Day tours are around 2.5 hours long and run daily from 8:40 a.m. to 3:50 p.m. (The start times are when the ferry leaves Alcatraz Landing.)

The day tour covers the main cell house and mess hall. You’ll also see the solitary confinement cells and the visitation area. There are often docents in the mess hall telling stories about different aspects of the prison.

You’ll also get to explore parts of the island on your own as you walk up the steep hill to the cell house. You’ll see the guard family housing, the remnants of the officers’ club building, and the lighthouse, among other buildings.

Be sure to pick up a brochure/map to get the stories behind these buildings, as they aren’t included in the audio tour.

Click here for tickets to the wheelchair-accessible Alcatraz day tour.

Night Tour

The night tour runs Tuesday to Saturday with departure times of 5:55 and 6:30 p.m. The night tours include everything on the day tour plus a few extras.

At 7:30 p.m., the guards open up the infirmary. This is a relatively new addition to the tour, so if you haven’t been to Alcatraz in several years, you might want to go again just to see the infirmary.

This was one of my favorite parts of the tour. It was not at all what I had imagined a prison infirmary to be. It’s all self-guided with no audio component, but there are rangers/docents on hand to answer questions. There is also signage telling you what the different rooms were used for.

The infirmary is up a flight of stairs, but an elevator has been added to make it accessible.

The night tour also includes some special programs. You can hear stories about what Alcatraz was like and get a real insider feel for the place. They cover topics such as jailbreak attempts, life on the island, and much more. The programs change frequently.

I didn’t stay for the special programs when I visited, so I can’t speak to the quality. I would say that given how great the rest of the tour was, I would be surprised if the night programs were anything less than excellent.

If you stay late enough, you get to see and hear all the cell doors closing. I think they do this at 8:30 p.m. I didn’t stay that long, but I imagine it’s rather chilling to hear all the doors clanging shut. No, you can’t be inside the cells when they close. If something breaks, you’ll be stuck there for days.

Behind-the-Scenes Tour

The behind-the-scenes tour includes everything in the day and night tours. Plus, of course, so much more. Just be warned that it makes for a pretty long day. There’s no food sold on the island, so you might want to bring along a snack. There’s a picnic area down by the ferry dock.

The behind-the-scenes tour is 4 to 5 hours long and runs Tuesday to Saturday. Departure times are 4:20 and 4:50 p.m. Groups are limited to 20 people. Children under 12 are not allowed.

The most important thing to know is that these tours sell out months in advance. Book early!

Full Review of the Alcatraz Behind-the-Scenes Tour

I absolutely loved the behind-the-scenes tour. I must have said at least ten times, “This is the best tour ever.” There’s just nothing like walking past a sign that says, “Do not enter.”

The groups of the behind-the-scenes tour are kept to no more than 20 people, so you’re not stuck in a big crowd. It also makes it easy to hang back to get photos without any people in them.

The stops on the tour may change depending on the conditions. This is an overview of the tour I took, although I may have gotten some of the stops out of order.

The tour begins with some history of the island and its years as an Army prison. I didn’t realize the island had such a fascinating history.  We went into the guard rooms and learned how the fort was protected.

Next, we walked up the hill past the old Officers Club, which is now a burned-out ruin, and onto the New Industries Building. This is the first super cool stop. It’s one of the places the inmates worked.

To enter the building, we went through a tunnel. Fun fact: the tunnel had been caved in, and the producers of the movie The Rock paid to have it cleared out for the movie. Another fun fact: the scene in the tunnel was actually cut from the movie.

Anyway, we were able to explore the building, which I loved. In case you’re wondering, it does not resemble the carpentry room in Escape From Alcatraz. But it was still very fun to visit.

We then walked up towards the cell house and stopped at the guards’ family housing building. The building isn’t safe, so we couldn’t go inside, but it was fun to hear about the families that lived there. Kids would take the ferry to San Francisco to go to school every day and then spend their free time running around the island.

We got to see the old gardens, which are up a very steep stairway with narrow steps. You could go the long way to avoid the steps if you want. It’s pretty neat to see what was once a beautiful garden on a big chunk of depressing rock.

Once you get to the top, you get some amazing views of San Francisco, the Golden Gate Bridge, and the Bay Bridge. That is, if it’s not super foggy like it was when I visited.

Next, it was into the cell house. We headed straight to D Block and down into the dungeons. This was my second favorite thing on the tour.

Yes, there are actual dungeons underneath Alcatraz prison. Apparently, certain prisoners were held here in the Army days. They were hung by their wrists and kept in complete darkness.

Sounds horrible, right? Well, it was actually illegal. When the government found out what the Army was doing, they removed the doors from the cells.

On our tour, we got the option to stand in one of the cells with the lights out to see what absolute and total darkness is like. Don’t worry, if you don’t want to participate, you don’t have to.

After Alcatraz became a regular prison, the dungeons were used for things like laundry and storage.

We also got to visit the chapel/theater. It was a multi-use room since religious services were only held a couple of times a week. It was a great place to sit and rest for a few minutes.

After that, we saw the officers’ dining room/lounge. There’s still a pool table there that was originally in the Officers’ Club. This room on its own isn’t all that exciting, but what it leads to was the highlight for me.

My number one favorite thing about the behind-the-scenes tour was going onto the catwalk. I’m not actually sure what it’s called. It’s the walkway running along the entire wall where the armed guard was.

As in most (if not all) prisons, guards on the floor weren’t armed. It’s too easy for the prisoners to use their weapons against the guards. So the armed guard was kept away from the inmates but within shooting range.

To get onto the walkway, we climbed a very steep ladder. (There was another option that involved stairs.) From the top, you can see the sections on top of the cell blocks.

If you’ve seen Escape From Alcatraz, this was where Frank and his co-escapees climbed to and crouched down to wait for the guard to pass. (If you haven’t seen the movie, be sure to watch it before you visit the prison!)

We also got to walk along the second floor of cells, passing above the people on the regular day tour. Honestly, it doesn’t look a lot different up there, but it’s fun to see a different perspective.

From this point, we ended up in the mess hall, where we were able to continue to the start of the regular cellhouse audio tour.

The timing worked out very well, so once we were done with the audio tour, it was nearly 7:30, which is when they opened up the infirmary.

It was a long day, but so worth it. I can’t say enough about how much I enjoyed the tour.

Negative Aspects of the Alcatraz Behind-the-Scenes Tour

The tour isn’t cheap, and it’s important to know what you’re getting into so you aren’t disappointed. Here are some things to note before making your decision.

1. The Tour is Not All Accessible

People with mobility issues will have challenges on parts of the behind-the-scenes tour. Technically, you’ll be able to make it work. After all, we do have ADA laws, and the park does its best to make the tour accessible.

However, some parts of the prison just aren’t accessible. There is no way around the fact that the only way to get to the catwalk is up some stairs.

The bottom line is people in wheelchairs or with other mobility limitations are going to miss some of the parts of the tour. I believe the ranger has large photos so you can at least see the places that way.

Is it still worth it to tour Alcatraz? Maybe. You still get to see some great stuff. Honestly, though, my favorite areas were at either the top or bottom of some very steep stairs.

Just keep all this in mind so you won’t be disappointed.

2. There’s a Ton of Walking

This is also true of the regular audio tour. Alcatraz is a big island, and you have to climb a steep hill to get to the prison. There is a shuttle you can take to get up and down the hill. So at least that part will be easier.

The behind-the-scenes tour adds a lot of territory to the tour, so the walking is at least doubled.

3. There Are a Lot of Stairs

Some of the areas on the behind-the-scenes tour are only accessible by climbing up and down stairs.

The stairs to get to the gardens are narrow and steep. Luckily, these stairs are optional as you can take a ramp instead.

4. There are Some Low Ceilings

In some parts of the prison, there are low ceilings and low-hanging pipes. You are provided with hard hats in the part of the prison where this is the biggest problem. However, if you are tall and unable to walk a couple hundred feet hunched over, you may have problems.

5. Children Under 12 Are Not Allowed

The behind-the-scenes tour really isn’t appropriate for small children anyway. You should, however, take them on the regular day tour.

6. Tours Are Only On Certain Days Of The Week

The behind-the-scenes tours are only offered Tuesday through Saturday.

7. Tours Are Only In The Late Afternoon/Early Evening

The behind-the-scenes tours are only offered at 4:20 and 4:50 p.m. Take a snack because there’s no place to get food on the island and you’re going to be there for several hours.

Of course, you can always leave early if you need to. But don’t, because the best stuff is at the end.

The tour days and times may change depending on the season, so be sure to check the latest schedule.

Final Thoughts: Alcatraz Behind-the-Scenes Tour

In case you haven’t figured it out, I absolutely loved the Alcatraz behind-the-scenes tour. I highly recommend it.

The regular tour is good, but getting to see all the “secret” areas is amazing. The tour isn’t cheap, but it’s worth every penny.

Be sure to book your tickets well in advance. Even the day tours sell out in advance. The behind-the-scenes tours sell out months in advance, especially the Saturday tours.

For more information and to book your tickets, visit the official Alcatraz tickets website.  

About the Author

Sherry Arkfeld is a digital nomad and travel blogger. Her blog, Digital Nomad and a Dog, focuses on the digital nomad lifestyle, travel in Mexico, and traveling with a dog. Sherry can currently be found living her best life in Cozumel with her dog, Shelby.