Alcatraz Day Tours: Buy 1 Get 1 Tickets FREE for Locals!

For Bay Area locals, this is easily the best time to visit Alcatraz. Not only because it’s off-season (crowds are half the size as they are during the rest of the year) but because Alcatraz City Cruises is offering locals “Buy One, Get One” free BOGO tickets for day tours to Alcatraz in the winter on select dates!

The BOGO promotion applies to the following dates, Day Tours Only: 

• January 6-8, 14-16, 21-23, 28-30 
• February 4-6, 11, 13, 18-20, 25-27 
• March 4-6

For January to early March, California residents get 2-for-1 day tour tickets!

No huge crowds, just unobstructed gorgeous views of the Bay from the Agave Trail and Alcatraz Gardens, not to mention the beautiful boat trip to the island.  And of course, there is the award-winning audio tour inside the legendary prison itself. 

You can also experience the magic of the island with exclusive Alcatraz Night Tours and Behind the Scenes Tours. Explore hidden areas of the island on intimate tours guided by National Park Service rangers and historical experts from the Parks Conservancy. Note Night Tours and Behind the Scenes Tours are not part of the “Buy One, Get One Free” promotion.

“Doing Time”: The Alcatraz Cellhouse Tour

The self-guided audio tour is included when you purchase your ferry ticket, and covers the inside of the cellhouse (at the top of the island) during the penitentiary era (1934-1963). The audio scapes and soundbites of the prison, and interviews with experts, make the cell house visit pretty incredible, there’s a reason why the audio tour is award-winning.

Visit the Alcatraz Historic Gardens, Agave Trail, & Bird Sanctuary

Check out the Agave Trail on the southern side of the island. Get a sense of Alcatraz’s lesser known natural beauty by experiencing the flora and fauna of the Rock, home to lots of wildlife. With heaps of bird life and enviable views of the city, the Agave Trail is a great alternative or addition to the main tour. The trail is open now, but will close in mid-February for the birds nesting season.

A self-guided garden tour brochure is available for purchase in the island’s bookstores.

Alcatraz Historic Gardens

For more than a century, Alcatraz’s gardens were an important part of everyday life for officers, families, and prisoners confined to Alcatraz by sentence or duty. Alcatraz’s current visitors experience an island that is alive with colorful plants gathered decades ago from around the world, and complemented by newly introduced plants.

Alcatraz Island is open to visitors every day year-round except for Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day. The weather can be unpredictable so be prepared for wind, cold, rain, or heat.

Waterbirds of Alcatraz

According to the National Park Service, as you reach the western side of the island, you may spy Snowy Egrets, Night-Herons, Black Oystercatchers, and others hunting for shellfish in the tidepools or rocky cliffs. Cormorants of several species can be seen preening and sometimes drying their wings on the rocky cliffs. If you peer over the railing (not too far!) above Barker Beach and look carefully at rock crevices in the cliff below, you may see a Pigeon Guillemot calling from its nest burrow.

The simple elegance of Snowy Egrets nesting in the islands’s ornamental shrubs

Most of the birds nest on the steep cliffs, but others nest in ornamental shrubs. In the late 1800s, the military reshaped Alcatraz to make a fortress. Rock rubble was pushed outward into the bay around Alcatraz’s perimeter creating tide pools. Soil brought onto the island to deaden the force of potential incoming enemy shells was also used to plant flowering shrubs that have become excellent nesting habitat for these birds.

Limited Time Offer! Buy One Ticket, Get One Ticket Free

BOGO Valid for California Residents ONLY, With Valid CA ID ONLY.

Alcatraz City Cruises is offering a “Buy One, Get One Free” (BOGO) ticket promotion to all California residents for the Alcatraz Day Tours! This special “Buy One, Get One Free” ticket promotion is available only to California residents on select 2024 – 2025 dates.

      The BOGO promotion only applies to the following dates: 

• January 6-8, 14-16, 21-23, 28-30 
• February 4-6, 11, 13, 18-20, 25-27 
• March 4-6

How to Book Your Tickets Online HERE

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