The Jarvii Alcatraz is definitely one of the things you HAVE to do while you visit San Francisco. As soon as you book your flight, immediately go to the Alcatraz Cruises website and book your tickets!!! And don’t be turned away by the ticket price! This includes the ferry boat ride to and from the island in addition to the audio tour. The audio tour of the prison is one of the best audio tours I’ve ever done. And kids under 4 are free!!!
Alcatraz with young kids will be tough. But if you are well prepared, you’ll be able to enjoy the tour with kids. We were just there with our 2.5 year old and 5 month old kids, and it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.
Kids or not, you want to be one of the first boats out to the island. The boats leave SF every 30 minutes. The later you go, the more crowded the island gets. You also want to be prepared to spend at least half your day on the island. I find it easiest to just be on the first boat at 8 or 9am, and then leave around noon back to the mainland for lunch.
THEY DON’T SERVE FOOD ON THE ISLAND! I repeat, they don’t serve food on the island!!! You’ll be able to get snacks and hot dogs on the boat to and from the island, but there’s absolutely nothing to buy on Alcatraz. If you have children, pack snacks and water. You aren’t allowed to eat in the prison, but we were able to get away with our toddler snacking away at Cheerios in his stroller. If you can’t fathom departing SF at silly o’clock, you can bring a picnic lunch. There are picnic tables near the ferry boats and park benches dotted around outside the prison. Just make sure you carry enough food and water so you, your partner, or your children get hangry and make your visit miserable.
You’ll do a lot of walking around the island. It’s actually quite a steep walk from the ferry boat up to the prison. They do have a golf cart to bring those with disabilities up to the prison. If you have a toddler, be prepared to wear them, use a stroller, or just take your time getting up there. This is why I recommend going really early because your child won’t be trampled by the hundreds of people visiting the island.
Once in the prison they’ll hand you your audio tour in your language of choice. If you have a stroller, there’s an elevator available for you to get upstairs to begin your tour. Your children (if attending for free) will not have an audio tour. If you have a toddler they will get bored when you’re listening to your tour, which is definitely over an hour long, almost 2! Be prepared to give them a busy bag. We actually had our toddler play with his Leap Pad in his stroller the entire time and he was content the entire audio tour! And you might be thinking that anything with noise is distracting. But remember that everyone there is listening to their audio tour, so you can’t hear your kid’s noisy toy!!! Win!
We didn’t have to change diapers while on the island, but there are changing tables available. If you’re looking for a place to nurse, I actually ended up nursing my 5 month old in the prison library! Haha. There are benches there that shielded us from the chilly SF weather outside. If you are there during warmer weather you can certainly nurse outside the prison as there are park benches. There’s actually a really great spot outside of the warden’s office where you get such a great view of SF. There are benches there to take in the view and nurse your child.
Lastly, dress in layers! SF requires you to always dress in layers. You can never have too many layers because one minute it’s cold and the next it will feel like summer time. Same thing goes for the different neighborhoods, AKA microclimates; one part of town will be hot and the other will feel like winter. So wear layers at Alcatraz and shed the layers as needed.
Don’t shy away from Alcatraz because you have children, especially young children. Our family had a lot of fun roaming inside and outside of the prison. If you go in prepared, you’ll be able to enjoy it too!
