faire ses réservations pour la traversée en bateau longtemps à l’avance en été (1 semaine avant il était déjà trop tard) sous peine, comme nous, de rester sur les quais de Fisherman’s wharf à contempler les phoques…

Of course and it goes without saying if you’re going to San Francisco you have to go to Alcatraz. Although and like aLii says it is kinda dilapidated, but who knows maybe it’s unkempt state gave it even more atmosphere.

After the initial tour we stayed on for quite a while and walked round the majority of the island which opens your eyes up to the real damage of the place. I think given time it would be great if they rebuilt some of it, like the staff quarters. I was amazed that children actually lived on the island too with their prison guard fathers etc. but this isn’t really dealt with other than in passing.

Very interesting and eerie place.

Alcatraz provides package tours of Alcatraz Island including the Alcatraz Tour and San Francisco City Tour, the Alcatraz Tour with Muir Woods and Sausalito, and the Alcatraz Tour with Double Decker Sightseeing Bus Tour.

There are three main things that I remember about my trip to Alcatraz.

1) The audio tour of the Prison block is really cool
2) The ruined state of most of the buildings is incredibly sad
3) The weather was blooming awful!

I couldn’t visit the West Coast without going to Alcatraz, and I’m so glad I did.

There are two tours you can do, a day one and an evening one. My host had already been on a day visit so we elected to go in the evening, and to be honest that was probably a good choice for my first visit.

You reach the island by boat, a service that runs frequently throughout the day, but booking is highly recommended particularly for the evening trips, even in December they were sold out for a few of the days I was there.

There is only one licensed operator of the ferry across, so don’t bother trying to shop around or anything.

I’m not actually going to go into too much detail as I don’t want to spoil the experience for anybody, but suffice to say this is one of the coolest experiences I’ve ever had. That may sound over the top, but it has to be seen to be believed. There are few modern historical sites that come close to matching the richness of Alcatraz, and the National Parks Service have done a fantastic job of mixing the decayed original features and modern recreations.

On arrival, as you circle the island just before sunset, you get an idea of just how it must have been to be shipped there as an inamte. Even in their dilapidated state the buildings are imposing. It really is quite a nervy experience arriving there - there are NPS officers waiting for you and it is very quiet!

As far as the guide goes, the multi-language audio tour is excellent. It walks you through the complex pointing out relevant and interesting facts at each stage. If you lag behind the main group (you are free to wander as there are no human guides with you) you can find yourself in almost or totally deserted areas of cellblocks, and the clanking background sounds of the audio-tour make for a spooky experience, particularly on the night tour. So, loitering is recommended!

Once you’ve finished the tour you can wander around the gift shop. This is a fantastic gift shop too, not like your normal tacky souvenirs (OK, there are some but not many). A lot of the stuff you can buy has very cool retro-graphic logos (60’s era) and this is what features on the black hooded top I bought that is very good quality and was pretty cheap, even with the strong pound against the dollar. There is every Alcatraz-based film you can think of to buy, lots of books, imitation metal cups, T-Shirts and all kinds of other stuff, and most of it very cool.

As I left the island I felt a bit sad in a way, at what had happened to it, and really hope that the NPS continue to maintain it in such an awesome way. If you are in San Francisco you’d be mental to avoid a visit.