California’s Historic Destination for Unexpected Beauty: Alcatraz

When in San Francisco, we decided to take a tour of Alcatraz Island, because neat, right? Well, not really. More like spectacular. Not only was this tour crafted incredibly well, but the island was unexpectedly beautiful.

Alcatraz Island is an island off the coast of San Francisco with a complex history and is most famously known as being a former maximum security prison. What we didn’t know is that it is surrounded by blue water, is covered in flora, and is a sanctuary for birds. We will save you the historic details (which we highly recommend looking into) and let you know about the experience.

Since Alcatraz is an island, your tour includes a boat ride from the wharf and back. We chose to do a night tour and loved this option because it was mainly golden hour while we were on the island which made things extra beautiful. Plus, we got to watch the sunset there. This also meant that it was dark for our boat ride back which was a nice and interesting experience in itself.

Once on the boat and close to the island, we were a bit taken aback, but in a good way. We saw the duality of the building with its dark history and the natural beauty that surrounds it. This made the experience even more interesting. Once on the island, we were given some information about some outdoor points of interest, including remnants of buildings, birds, and markers of Indian protest.

The indoor section of the tour is conducted by each person being given their own audio device that guides you through the building while also giving you information and telling you stories. Our favorite part about this is that there are pieces of the audio that are recorded by former inmates of the prison. So at points, we were standing at cells that they were once held in while they told us their stories. 

After making it through the prison, we were free to roam the grounds until our boat boarded. During this time we learned about gardens and greenhouses on the premises, some of which were started by former inmates and continue to add beauty to the island. We also learned more about the birds on the island and enjoyed the sunset.

Overall, this tour was incredibly worth it. We would recommend it to anyone who is interested in history or birds or just wants to see some more of the beauty that California has to offer. Tours can be booked here: https://www.cityexperiences.com/san-francisco/city-cruises/alcatraz/ 

Thanks for being here!