Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site, Inc Reviews

If you can't get yourself right after this, you cannot be helped.

its great and fun and cool to learn what prisons were like and possibly haunted

Loved this place. Took the self guided audio tour and it was very informative. The feeling of being in a prison like this one was very overwhelming. To imagine yourself having to serve time in a place like that was humbling. The stories of the prisoners and guards really added to the appeal. Not the first time touring ESP. Wont be the last.

After visiting Alcatraz in 2014 I thought this would be nice to see too.
It's like how you imagine a old school jail, the death row part is creepy.
Al Capone's cell was, same on Alcatraz, pretty comfy. This is definitely worth your while.

This is by far one of the coolest places I have been crazy history with lots of cool stories. It's an interactive tour you get a head set while you walk around at your own pace. Al Capone's cell was very cool and some areas are very creepy.

Interesting and how sad is the penitentiary system in the US.

You can learn a lot there and see Al Capone's room. The place is supposed to be haunted so it's good for people interested in history, the prison system, or paranormal activity. It's also a great place to take photos.

Such a fantastic historic site here in Phila. I ll let the pics and videos speak for themselves! Just book a ticket and go! Now!

My boyfriend and I absolutely love this kind of thing. We spent a few hours there at our own pace. Definitely worth going to if your in the area, especially if you like the history and the haunted aspect.

Really awesome place visit. The guided tour was really neat and our tour guide had a great sense of humor.

Place frozen in time. Everything seems to have stopped suddenly and fallen into disrepair quickly.
Suggestive walk through a historic prison.

I never would have expected a 200-year-old prison to be the highlight of my trip, but I'm so glad that I decided to go. The guided tour lasted an hour and gave a good overview of the site, but there were so many other exhibits and points of interest that I explored for another full hour and could have stayed all day if it had not been so hot. Take advantage of the audioguide included with your ticket; art exhibits, social commentary, and architecture all contribute to a memorable and worthwhile visit. Roughly half of the site is still closed to the public; I look forward to returning and seeing more of it.

Tremendous experience, this prison shivers when you see the conditions in which the prisoners were locked up.
You can even see the luxurious cell where Al Capone stayed.

The haunted house was pretty good. Hoping to tour it during the day next time.

Eastern State was for sure my favorite place while visiting Philadelphia. It s incredible to see so much history and actual visit one of the most known penitentiaries that existed or even more, have a look in Al Capone s cell. The audio tour is incredible informative and the time was well spent.

Coolest place in Philly to take out-of-towners. The audio guides are perfect, the tickets are now timed so you don't have to worry about running into large groups or swarms of people. I don't think you would have to even touch anything except the audio guide which is sanitized. Highly recommend for a really lovely afternoon!

Well preserved first "modern" prison in the United States. Still pretty grim, but a lot better than its predecessors. Good for a one hour visit.

I loved the audio guided tour. First time i have experienced like that. Very well narrated and guided. Also prison is well preserved.

We visited this place on a Wednesday afternoon and it wasn't too busy. We expected to spend about an hour there, but ended up staying closer to three hours, and could have stayed longer! Well worth the admission fee.

This place is a must see! Try to plan your trip when it isn't raining if you can as you will be outside for some of the audio tour.

Enjoyed myself immensely. The staff were very helpful and kind.

Eastern State Penitentiary is one of the oldest if not the oldest penitentiaries in the US. A lot of prisons were modelled after this one.

I highly recommend doing the audio tour. You get headphones and a audio player at the entrance. Listen to the tour guide (Steve Buscemi) as you walk through the cell blocks and hear stories from actual prisoners tell their experiences and reflections.

Great place to spend half a day while in Philly! Very affordable, and lots to see. I was there for 2.5 hours and I didn't get to see and listen to everything that I wanted to. Lots of rich history here, and very well preserved. The audio tour is interesting, and definitely some amazing photography moments here.

This is probably one of the best touristy things to do in Philly. Be warned: the audio tours alone can take upwards of 3 hours to listen to completely, especially with the art exhibits. There are guided tours as well which can make this an entire day's worth of activities (though you might get bored by that point).

Excellent audio tour. Very impressed with the amount of information given. Thought it was entertaining and brilliant that the guards wore time-period clothing. However, prisoner reenact-ors were less than friendly, and they seemed to disappear at the blink of an eye if asked a question.

We enjoyed this self guided tour. Lots to see, lots to learn. They do a great job of putting things in perspective and challenging beliefs about the penal system. It was hot but there were some air conditioned respites.

Has the first prison synagogue.

What attracted me mainly was Al's cell
Capone, which I feel should have better signage since it becomes a bit confusing within the place to search, the price was not so accessible to me, $ 16 dollars ... however within the place the tour offers many curious facts and interesting, as well as an overview of how the criminal process has been transformed to the present.

One of the coolest places I've been to anywhere in the world.

Worth visiting. Excellent museum. Great historical experience.

When you pay the entrance fee, you will also get a voice guide (English version only).
It takes about 2 hours to listen to the entire guide, but you can see it in less than 1 hour if you want to look around.

Price of entry with headphones in English or Spanish only 16 USD for an adult and 12 USD for a child under 12 years old. A small binder can be lent to you in French but the pages stand out and it is really not practical.
The tour of the prison is interesting and one learns in particular that this prison was a model opposite to the model of the prisons of New York (here prohibition to communicate, the silence was de rigueur). Big flat, the inside of the prison is really in a sorry state. Only a few cells have been renovated. Al Capone's cell remained in the juice.
I recommend coming to special celebrations such as July 14th (yes, they are celebrating) or to the Halloween period where you get scared during visits.
The shop is not very well stocked.

Astonishing history that I learned about with the audio tour. If you re interested in learning some really cool facts I would suggest visiting

Spooky prison with fascinating history. Definitely worth a visit.

This pic is looking North on 21st @ Fairmount Ave. Awesome historical landmark with great tours. This prison opened in 1829 and if you have a chance try to spend a little time walking through it.

Great ghost tour of this place, you will learn a lot and it is very interesting. The haunted house is one of the more fun ones in the area, very realistic.

Hauntingly unique atmosphere with some touches on humanity. Needless to describe how impressive the architecture is, what is more intriguing is perhaps the exhibition that raises some questions regarding the incarceration systems in the US.

Great experience! The self guided tour was awesome. They gave me some earphones and a player and I was able to take my time listening to all of the info (which was really interesting) while looking around and taking pictures. The place itself is really impressive and creepy. It was fun.

Great place to visit if you are interested in history of prison.

Audio tour is so interesting i couldn t make any pause.

These cold days get a suitable coat. It s freazing cold

Amazing self guided tour with a not to miss air conditioned section near the end about current prison systems. Eye opening. The only reason I m not giving this 5 stars is the tour guides didn t seem very engaged. From the ticket sale to the guides sitting next to the fans in the center, no information was forthcoming. The only helpful and engaged guide was at the information center at the start of the tour and the girl at the entrance.

Great place to visit and learn about its amazing, and terrible, history. They let you explore the prison on your own too, which I really enjoy.

If you have about an hour or two while in Philly, make ESP a part of your day. It closed down for good in the 70 s but thankfully it was mostly restored as a historical spot.

Great self guided audio tour narrated by Steve Buscemi, former guards and inmates.

A must see, when in Philly.

Did an exclusive photo tour and it was just amazing to photograph. Literally could spend weeks there as long as you have a creative mind. (Not a crazy one)

I REALLY ENJOYED IT LAST YEAR AND CAN'T WAIT TO GO BACK THIS YEAR!

Great audio tour. Take at least 1.5 to 2h to enjoy it. The prisons exhibit at the end is well worth it. And great staff, very welcoming.

Great historical place to visit when you are in Philadelphia. We did the self-guided walking tour and learned SO much information.

Really cool place to visit. I was born in Philadelphia and visited this place twice. They set it up perfectly for a tour. They provide you a headset that tells you story's about each part of the prison. Very good experience. Highly recommended

Great place to visit for their annual haunted Halloween event

Very cool place with tons of history, the tours are great and very informational, many of the rooms are restored to original condition while others were left in disrepair to contrast how it looked during it's long history. If you're a photographer they do allow tripods but you need to pay a small fee to bring your tripod in. A bit out of the way in Pholly but worth the drive and there is ample parking in a lot that's less than a block from the entrance.

The haunted house and regular tour are both amazing!

Visiting Eastern State Penitentiary was the highlight of my short trip to Philadelphia. The standard 35 minute audio tour was engaging and informative and there are dozens of other narrated points of interest throughout the facility to keep you exploring. The art installations and special exhibits offer a sobering look at the effects of incarceration on the individual and society. There are also several hands-on activities that visitors can participate in at scheduled times throughout the day.

Bundle up if you re visiting in the winter because there is no heating throughout the building. Take your time to look around and if you need to rest your feet there is a small climate-controlled area with benches and a phone charging station near the restrooms.

Regular adult admission is $16 but you can save $2 by ordering online or picking up a discount card at the tourist info booth at 30th Street Station.

Wow that's a lot of history and a great place to get lost and emerse yourself in the history of the penitentiary. One really needs time to just walk through and envision what it was like to be in those cells for 23 hours a day. Had a great day with my lovely wife Debbie Richard Mitts.

I've always heard about the "State Penn", but wasn't fully aware of the history. I also saw it on "Ghost Adventures" once. It was one of the stops on our hop-on-hop-off bus tour. I had to convince my friends to take the tour with me, as they were hesitant thinking it was "scary". This was definitely not the case!

It was very informative and fascinating to take the tour through the Eastern State Penitentiary. One adult ticket was $14, and we were each given an mp3 player and headset. The audio guide was narrated by the actor Steve Buscemi, so that added a nice touch. The whole tour took us about 45 minutes, mostly because we were admiring the different parts of the site. It is self-paced, so that made it easier to absorb the information and views.

They allowed us to take pictures, I don't recall there being any areas that did not allow photography.

Definitely dress comfortably, as there is a lot of walking required. I don't want to give away too much information provided during the tour, so I'll stop here!

Must see in Philly. This place is very rich in history, interesting especially with audio course.

Eastern State Penitentiary former American prison Historical place to visit , Capone's first prison sentence His cell on the Park Avenue Block .Very nice employees, but I would never go there in January,,,too cold!!!! you're practically walking outside all the time, great place to visit in warm weather

I've visited for a daytime tour and Terror Behind the Walls, both excellent and worth a trip to get there. The main tour is educational and the Halloween event is super fun.

Enjoyed walking through history. Was hoping to see a little more but considering the age of building I'm sure safety was an issue.

Unquestionably my favorite attraction in Philly. Having grown up with family in Philly and having lived here for years, I've seen everything the city has to offer. This is the only place I have come back to on a consistent basis. I've brought dates here, family, friends from out of town, and I've rented the space for video production. I've been to ESP probably 15 times at this point, and it never gets old.

Definitely pick up a device and do the audio tour. I prefer having the freedom to explore rather than doing the guided tours. Though you can do both.

Expect to spend between 2-4 hours here, depending on how much you want to see.

Fun fact: 10-20 years ago, they wanted to demolish the penitentiary and turn it into a generic shopping mall. Fortunately, people thought better, and it has been preserved. So take advantage of the fact that it's still here. Other than exhibits and structural reinforcements to make it safe, the prison has been unmodified and left in the same state as it was while it was still in use. In some cells you can still see newspapers from the mid 1900's laying around.

I can't recall the name, but there's an exhibit that showcases various preserved insects/wildlife from within the prison walls. It's a must see.

Nice tourist attraction with a very well setup tour and lots of information to have fun with.

Bery informative and great read. Love every minute of it.

Ghost tour was very interesting, but somewhat pricey for what we got. Very good leaders and staff.

While a lot of it was crumbling it still was a great piece of history. The audio tour was well worth it.

i really hope go to Eastern state penitentiary and see all of those stories about ghost and souls ......
is amazing scientiphique place

This place is ABSOLUTELY a must-see in Philadelphia! Lots of people come for the spooky haunted version around Halloween, which, don't get me wrong, is awesome and worth a trip every year, however, go during the day too! It was so interesting learning about the prison and the art exhibits inside were very special! You can do a self-guided audio tour so you can go at your own pace, take a breather, etc. Really, this is a MUST see.

Interesting tour, a bit creepy. It would be an excellent haunted house for Halloween. Audio presentation was excellent. Surprised building wasn t torn down in 80 s & made into apartments or condos due to excellent location.

If you're visiting Philadelphia, you can't miss this place! An amazing journey back in time, as well as thoughtful discussions about prisons nowadays.

Went on a regular day and it was an interesting experience. Returned for a Halloween night and it met all my expectations. Awesome place to visit... specially on Halloween!

This place was very spooky but very fun to learn . It's so weird how people live around it and to think back then there used to be an elementary school right behind it, even the kids could see them.