Alcatraz Night Tour Tickets: Availability, Prices & How to Get Them
The Night Tour is the Alcatraz ticket everyone wants — and the hardest to get. Three evening departures, a fraction of the Day Tour’s capacity, and it routinely sells out days in advance. Here’s everything we know from tracking official inventory.
Why the Night Tour sells out
Simple math. The Day Tour runs roughly 15 departures a day with hundreds of seats each. The Night Tour runs three — around 5:55, 6:30, and 7:05 PM, totaling roughly 860 seats a night. Same 1.5-million-visitors-a-year demand, a tenth of the supply. In our October 2026 snapshot, the Night Tour was sold out four straight days (Oct 9–12) while the Day Tour had hundreds of open seats on those exact dates.
Night Tour price
$59.65 for adults (2026, from official inventory) — about twelve dollars more than the Day Tour’s $47.95. You book only through Alcatraz City Cruises, departing from Pier 33. If you see it for more elsewhere, that’s a reseller markup.
What’s different after dark
- Guided evening program on top of the standard cellhouse audio tour.
- A different island. The cellhouse, the gardens, the bay views — all of it reads differently at night.
- Smaller crowds than the midday Day Tour rush.
- Fewer departures, so timing is less flexible — another reason it sells out.
When does the Night Tour sell out?
Typically several days ahead, faster on weekends, holidays, and all summer. It’s the first Alcatraz product to go and the last to come back. If your San Francisco dates are fixed and the Night Tour matters to you, this is the ticket to secure first — before flights, even.
How to get Night Tour tickets when they’re sold out
Evening cancellations happen constantly — dinner plans change, people underestimate the ferry timing, groups shrink. Every cancelled Night Tour seat drops straight back onto the official calendar with no waitlist in between. The problem is purely speed: you have to be watching when it reopens.
That’s the whole product. SoldOut Watch monitors official Night Tour availability every few minutes. The instant a cancellation reopens a spot on your dates, you get an alert with a direct booking link. free to watch — $19 only when we deliver. Start watching free →
Night Tour vs. Day Tour
- Scarcity: Night Tour sells out days ahead; Day Tour rarely sells out fully.
- Price: $59.65 vs. $47.95 (adult, 2026).
- Experience: Night adds the guided evening program and the after-dark atmosphere; Day gives you the island in full light with more departure choices.
- Island access: Both include the ferry, the cellhouse audio tour, gardens, and exhibits.
If the Night Tour is sold out for your whole trip, the Day Tour is not a consolation prize — it’s the same island, and it’s excellent. But if your heart is set on the evening program, don’t wait: check tonight’s availability or set a watch.