Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
You'll then climb a paved slope to the prison building. It's the equivalent of 13
stories, which sounds worse than it is; if you can handle Powell Street north of
Union Square, you can handle this, but do wear sensible shoes. (For those who
need it, a tram runs intermittently.) Don't storm through the gift shop too
quickly, because these souvenirs are among the most interesting in town, from tin
cups ($10) to magnets that resemble the dummy human heads used in a famous
escape attempt ($9). You can even buy a piece of the Rock, as they say.
If you come during winter, you'll be allowed to return down the hill using a
path on the island's city-facing side, which is thick with agave plants and which
boasts a terrific skyline view. But the other 8 months of the year, that area is closed
to protect the nesting birds that have finally returned to the island after years of
banishment.
GETTING THERE
There are two ways to get to the Rock, as it's known, and
both of them involve a ferry operator called
Alcatraz Cruises
(
%
415/981
-
7625;
for prices, see above),
which is contracted with the Park Service to bring folks to
the island. Both require reservations as far ahead as you can make them, because
this is one of the city's prime attractions and spaces do sell out. One method is to
take the Day Tour. This tour allows you to book any available ferry—the ferries
run more or less continuously, or at least half-hourly, from 9am to just before
4pm. Your ferry will go straight to the Rock's dock. Then, once you're satisfied,
you can hop on any returning ferry. Alternatively, there's the Night Tour, which is
offered once a day Thursday through Monday, around sunset. It goes once around
the island, which the Day Tour boats don't do, and when you land, you'll get a
guided tour that keeps you in its clutches. You may have some handsome views
of the Bay in sunset, and you might find the evening light creepy and atmos-
pheric, but you won't be able to explore on your own the way you can with the
Day Tour. For that reason, I recommend the Day Tour. There's also an Early Bird
tour, but there's nothing special about it other than the fact that it's first to depart.
Even the price is the same. The departure point is Pier 33, which is about a 10-
minute walk east of Fisherman's Wharf along the Embarcadero; any F-line street-
car will pass it.
Bank about 2
1
⁄
2
hours to see everything that's open to visitors, and stretch that
to 4 if you're the kind of person who asks questions of rangers. Eat before your
appointment, because there's no restaurant on the Rock, and you're not allowed
to picnic anywhere except on the boat dock, which is crowded with tourists most
of the time.
Very few cities possess an icon that so distinctly pronounces, “I'm here.” New
York has the Statue of Liberty, Sydney has its Opera House, but nothing makes
you sigh “San Francisco” like the elegant profile of the stupendous
Golden Gate
Bridge
555
(www.goldengatebridge.org),
which links the city peninsula to the
forests of Marin County. It's not just an emblem, it was also an epic engineering
feat that, when it was completed in 1937, changed the city from a clunky, ferry-
dependent one to one of the motor age. President Franklin Roosevelt, in
Washington, pushed a button and opened it to traffic, and what was then the
world's longest suspension bridge went into service, as it has been reliably ever
