If I knew I would only have time for one attraction in San Francisco, Alcatraz would definitely be in the running for my one pick. From the size of the crowds gathered at the ticket booth every day, I'm probably not the only one thinking the same thing.

The most important thing to know about going to Alcatraz is you need to order tickets early. Order them before you leave home. In fact, depending on the time of the year of your visit, order them way before you leave home. I've gone by the ticket booth before and have heard announcements that the next available trip to Alcatraz is in 3 days. So, check out www.blueandgoldfleet.com to make sure you get a ticket.

When you're reserving your ticket, seriously consider the "Alcatraz After Dark" tour. It's only offered on certain days and not all sections of the daytime tour are open at night, but you'll get a much different perspective of the island and what life was like on The Rock. Plus, you'll get some incredible sunset and evening views of the San Francisco skyline.

While you're on the tour, there's a couple of things to watch for. First, when you're in the main part of the cellhouse, look for the desk the National Park Service (NPS) has set up offering different Interpretive Programs. These are always really informative and, depending on the tour, may give you an opportunity to see parts of the cellhouse others may not get to see. The program that visits the hospital was really interesting and, after dark, kind of eerie.

Second, when you get to the part of the tour where an NPS guide offers to lock you in a cell in solitary, try it. Just stepping inside the cell is enough, but having someone lock the door behind you gives you a very real feel of what it was like to live behind bars.

Before you go, also make sure you check out www.nps.gov/alcatraz/. The Park Service has a really nice little site going here. It goes into great detail about the history of Alcatraz as well as how to get the most out of your trip.

We had booked an Alcatraz tour in advance (you must do this in advance on the Internet at www.alcatrazcruises.com as they sell out well in advance) and it was worth every moment. We took the 11am sailing, and the time was just right to let us sleep in and then get lots of sunshine there and back. By the way, this is the only company that is licensed to take you to the island. Other tours can sail past, but cannot land. Going to Alcatraz is a definite must-do, and the included audio tour at Alcatraz was clearly the highlight. Beautifully narrated and organized, it really brought this site to life! They also offer evening sailings to Alcatraz, and apparently those sailings include some "surprises". You can read more about this at the Alcatraz Cruises website.

This is definitely one of my favourite parts of the trip. I had so much fun here. If you're interested in anything historical, this is a place you HAVE to go. When I bought my tickets, I wasn't sure where to buy them from, but if you go on the Blue and Gold Fleet website, you can get the best deal. There is an option to purchase a ticket with audio. I wasn't sure at first what that meant, but since it was only a few dollars more I decided to go for it. I was happy I did when I got to the island. The people there hand out little headsets with a tape player of some sort attached. You listen to the tape they give you and it tells you all about the prison, and it pretty much guides you through the entire prison. I definitely recommend getting the tour with audio; you end up getting a whole lot more out of the entire experience. Below is the link for the website I used...like I said, this was the best deal I could find. Don't forget to book your tickets as far ahead of time as you can; I saw lots of people standing in line, trying to get a ticket for that day.

ttp://www.blueandgoldfleet.com/

Alcatraz is a National Park located in San Francisco bay and is most famous for being a prison. It is a very fascinating place that you will easily spend several hours touring.

First things first, how to get there. You have to take Alcatraz Cruises from pier 33. In the fall of 2006 the ferry service changed to Alcatraz Cruises from the Blue and Gold Fleet so make sure if you are getting directions that they are current (although the Blue and Gold ferry location is not too far away). If you know what day/time you want to leave, it may be a good idea to purchase your tickets ahead of time. Since we are not used to all the traffic we were not sure so we just walked up to purchase tickets - and the next few ferries were sold out! We had to wait an hour and a half for an available ferry - although we used the time to check out Fisherman's Wharf which is within walking distance. If you have less time than that you can still check out some nearby shops or the sea lions.

The ferry is a short ride but gives an excellent opportunity to take pictures of both San Francisco and Alcatraz. You can purchase beverages on the ferry, or there is just water at the dock on Alcatraz.

Make sure you dress for the weather and wear comfortable shoes. There are quite a few areas that are wheel chair accessible. I was surprised that they have left some of the buildings in ruins and there are piles of rubble that are even marked on the map. The audio tour of the Cellhouse was most interesting and will likely take you longer than the 45 minutes mentioned, as we paused the tour several times to take pictures or to let crowds of people go by.

It was a very interesting place to visit, even for my husband the sports fanatic. I highly recommend it. Try to go on a nice day, as you spend a fair amount of time outside.

We went on the evening tour and loved it. The sun was setting on our trip over to the island, which made for a great view. We still had enough light to get a good look at everything, and while inside the cell house, the sun went down. Upon exit, the darkness made the island all that much more spooky and foreboding. A guide leads you into the cell house, making stops along the way to give information and tell stories. Once inside, you are given an earpiece with an audio tour. The tour is very good with lots of interesting fact and stories. It was a lot of fun comparing the real thing to what we've seen in movies. The shower room is nothing like the one in "The Rock." Definitely glad we did the evening tour but could have got some better pictures of the outside on the day tours.