---
node: spot_san_francisco_alcatraz_island
type: spot
slug: alcatraz_island
destination: dest_san_francisco
title: "Alcatraz Island"
lead: "Alcatraz was the federal prison in San Francisco Bay that held Al Capone and Machine Gun Kelly, closed in 1963 because it cost three times what a mainland prison did. The cellhouse audio tour, narrated by former guards and inmates, is the reason to go."
published: 2026-08-12
updated: 2026-08-12
image_file: spot_san_francisco_alcatraz_island.jpg
image_source: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alcatraz03182006.jpg"
image_author: "Photographed by and copyright of (c) David Corby (User:Miskatonic, uploader) 2006"
image_license: "CC BY 2.5"
---

## Overview

It was a fort before it was a prison and a prison before it became the site of a nineteen-month occupation by Native American activists from 1969, whose graffiti has been deliberately preserved on the water tower. Thirty-six men attempted escape; five are unaccounted for, including the three who left dummy heads in their bunks in 1962 and whose fate is still formally open. The island is also a bird sanctuary, and parts close in nesting season.

## Highlights

Book weeks ahead — the ferry is the only access and it sells out, especially the night tour, which is the better one. Allow three hours including the crossing. Wear a jacket: the island is exposed and colder than the city.