Napier Prison/ Citywalksz, Napier, NZ Review

Great staff who were super friendly and advised us of the best tour options.

A hidden little gem in the heart of napier. Full of history and not expensive to take the family. Awesome self guided tours and fun photo opportunities in the cells. Look out for ghosts and there is even an escape room!

We heard a kid crying and were sure we heard moans from behind the wall out by the graveyard - either that or someone was pranking us! Great fun.

A group of us visited Napier from Palmerston Nth and all anyone could talk about on the way home was the Prison visit.

If you like history with a side of spookiness Napier prison is a place to visit.

Being the oldest prison in NZ they offer good old historical tour as well as the spooky ghost tour. You'll be given a headset for the tour, and since everyone is listening through their own headset you can choose the tour for yourself even if you are going there as a group. Perfect for those doesn't feel too comfortable with ghost stories or history lesson whichever it might be.

They even offer escape room experience, if you want the extra challenge.

The staff there are quite friendly and knowledgeable, if you have a chat with them they might have their own ghost stories to share.

Recommended.

Very informative place if someone interested in history

Staff kept me amused with a cuppa as I had been up 3 times before but continue to visit and bring my visitors so they know me well by now.

Don't miss it if you get the chance as at 20 bucks its nearly the same price as the movies these days but much more memorable.

10 min walk from town - but uphill- totally worth the climb - arrived only to discover there was plenty of parking! Great time was had by our family.

Real life experience to visit. Love the whole visit....

An interesting place to visit. Some of the stories were gruesome. A good visit.

Very interesting, could do with some working lights in the cells etc, but we'll worth a visit. Very reasonable pricing.

Fricken amazing loved every second and the encounter with George with the breeze and him breathing on my kneck was neat loved it

Alot of info to take in , with the audio track in your ear and trying to read all the stuff on the walls. Towards the end of the tour I played the audio track and phased right out of listening to it, but that was my fault

Will be back to do the Ghost Tour as it hadn't been revamped when we visited - and 2nd time around we
loved the tour as the information has been updated with signage etc

At $20 it's overpriced for the fairly short, disjointed and poorly executed audio tour. Many of the 'exhibits' are missing interpretive signage and lack clarity, essentially leaving you wandering around looking for what they're talking about until you realise what they're saying is barely relevant to where you're standing anyway. The route was poorly marked and hard to follow. The whole place has the look and feel of a primary school project rather than a professionally created tour. No maintenance appears to have been done - ever, and none of the potentially interesting elements are well displayed, if at all. Staff appeared bored and barely engaged.
This place is just pretty sad and pathetic really.

Excellent choice to keep the kids busy during the holidays. Highly recommend.

I really enjoyed the visit, takes a bit of time and could be a little boring but if you are in Napier its a must.

Fabulous tour guide. Sadly forgot her name but she 100% made the visit worth it.

Credit where credit is due - the Prison has taken on a new lease of life since my last visit 10 years ago. More professional but still raw.

Do you like visiting historic place, then you will like.

I did one of the escape rooms as part of a 30th birthday party. It was reasonably fun and challenging, but he room was a bit tired and the experience was a tad overpriced. But it's great to have something different to do in Napier!

Very interesting to take a look through the oldest prison in New Zealand. No longer functions as a prison. 90 minute historical or ghost optioned audio self tours available at a cost of $20. Not somewhere I would have wanted to stay, but that had been an option when it was a backpackers.

Quietly visited the Prison thinking we would be the only ones - but it was busy and so much fun!

My 12 year old has been wanting to come here for ages and we finally brought him and a friend and they thoroughly enjoyed it while still trying to appear cool and not wanting to dress up for pictures, but they talking about it non-stop on the car ride home.

This is my 4th time in 18 years visiting the place - every time I am in town I stop by to check out changes and
each time I come back for more.

Felt weird the whole time I was here. Definitely creepy to learn some of the old prison history and meeting a very unusual cat. It was a great trip and I would love to do the escape room they offer but sadly did not have time to do so.

Loved the visit and staff were very good to us as we hadn't realised there were family passes.

I loved this tour. Its a bit cheep, and a bit cheesy, but I really liked it. Loved the detailed history, stories and funny goings on. Smaller than I imagined but maximized tour and detail. Really recommended.

My twins loved the dress ups - last time we came they didn't have small sizes but this time they did and the boys loved the chance to wear what prisoners would have worn. \

Definitely book the tour and an escape room if you are in Napier!

Nice Museum. There entrance and car are not wheelchair or strollers friendly. From the main road if you want to take there tiny road you to take extra care. Inside got nice Guided tour. Inside arrangement is very nice with the good sound systems. They have some car parking in front of the gate.

Kind staff member helped me when I felt faint and I was able to complete the tour after a rest and drink of water.

Awesome experience the history behind it was amazing loved it. 5star

Staff are knowledgeable and there's a lot of history.... I really want to do the escape room!

A hidden gem tucked away in the bushes just off Marine Parade. Great audio tour and super-friendly staff.

Great experience and only took us 35 minutes to regain our freedom

Don't miss going to this venue - there are a million reasons but the main one is that it is the oldest Prison in NZ and who knows how long it will be standing.

The perfect place to take your young my and my family did the winter night tour and it was very interesting

The reviews seemed good so we thought we would test the waters with the Ghost audio tour - pretty scary as the information came from paranormal investigators but you could see why they came here.

Audio was great - my dad took the one with no sound effects as he struggles to hear and this worked well for him while we enjoyed the sfx on the Historical tour.

something different, may not be suitable for everyone or kiddies.

Hidden treasure tucked on the hill - had no idea there was a Prison down here and just drove past the sign. Good times for our family.

Good experience for the kids to learn what not to do otherwise they will get banged up in conditions as grim
as they are up there. A sobering visit.

A must do! You would be glad to have experienced this

Funny staff had us taking mug shots and fingerprints after the tour - kids loved the police and robber outfits.

Can't wait to get back and see if I get any more orbs flying around on our pictures. My partner said he saw one floating above my head for most of the tour when he was looking through his camera!

Enjoyed it as it has tours suitable for all ages and staff were super helpful in choosing what was the right one for each persons interests.

Enjoyed our time. We did the ghost tour which was cool. The recordings are quite long though and it would have been nice to have some seating located around the areas to sit and listen. Also need some hand sanitizer around the bathrooms (though I admit I might have just missed this). Overall very cool spot to check out though!

Raw and unashamed is how I would describe the old Prison - no fancy toilets or coffee shops just the real McCoy.

So well preserved with a lot of info on prison timeline and even before in the 1800s was really cool to see how they escaped and made weapons

Great piece of history, I highly recommend it. Be prepared to be horrified at this rememberance of how we as a nation treated our people.

Very interesting place to visit. Total different experience if you like to try. Also if you like history. Otherwise, this prison is very small.
Also it cost $20 per adult for admission. I personally would say $10 - $15 is better.

Interesting place but small and poorly maintained. Did the escape room and it was fun but all over very quickly for the price.

This place is creepy! If you haven't visited and enjoy a bit of dark tourism, then this is the place for you! My husband and I visited during the long weekend and did the self guided audio tour. The buildings appear to be untouched, despite the fact it was used as a hostel for a period of time. The owners have impressively researched the history of the convicts and life in the prison. It is a sad part of Napier and NZ history that people were treated so inhumanly. I must also admit that whilst walking down the hall of the cells, the friendly prison cat, Basil, gave me the fright of my life when he came around the corner just after I read about the so-called prison ghost.
100% recommend this place if you want something to talk about when you leave Napier!

Enjoyed the tour and staff were very helpful - I did the tour without the sound effects as my hearing can be hit and miss at the best of times - but heard every word which is a first for me.

Loved being banged up here - took videos of the kids in their costumes which fitted perfectly.

Wicked, full of information,history, incredible to be apart of, you can feel the spirits that Still walk that prison and learning the stories can be heart felt...must do!!!

The main lady was full of information and the walk through was excellent. Really good audio tour. Highly recommend

Highly recommended place to take a group of mates or wh nau

A great place to visit. But after a few years you feel like you want to go home.

The kids loved the dress-ups and mug shots - a cool way to spend Easter Saturday.

Escape room was too easy cost our group 100$ and completed in less than 15 minutes not count down clock so guessed our time staff not very organized still worth a visit but did hope for better

The audio tour is the best option - great little prison

I did not enjoy. You can get an historical or Ghost audio tour. How ever my audio device stopped working after 5 mins. Tried to find a staff member to replace it but couldn't.

I found the staff member we initially dealt with hard to understand, his English was quite poor..

The prison had been used for various things since it was a prision. As an example there was a dilapidated metal garage type structure in the middle of one of the outside spaces. Not really an authentic prison turn of last century building. It was just run down buildings and outdoor spaces. Just as an example a broken down washing machine looked to have been abandoned outsde one of the buildings in full view of paying customers. Why?

Maybe i had higher expectations (i do love history and historic buildings) and my friend enjoyed it more than me, but for me barely a 1 star attraction.

Weirdest experience ever! Really lovely staff who were super helpful in choosing the right tour for me. Definitely a spooky atmosphere - but super cool. Highly recommend.

Well worth the visit... very Kiwi style and has some interesting stories to tell... great staff too.

SELF GUIDED TOUR. Reasonably priced and convenient. They give you an earpiece and you can walk through the prison, preserved from the 1800s. Full of information and history giving great insight.

Cool place to go and have a look but it is not for everyone to see. Good if you like looking at old prisons.