Napier Prison/ Citywalksz, Napier, NZ Review

Every child should see this place and it may stop them from becoming criminals. Dank and musty on a rainy day the tour delivers a real sense of what it was like behind the old walls.

Enjoyed our Easter break in Napier - weather was amazing. Best thing we did was visit the old Napier Prison followed by Te Mata Peak. The Prison kept our kids captivated with the stories and they didn't want to leave.

The lady there, she called herself a Matron she is brilliant...she reminds me of Ursula Carlson the comedian. 5 star!!!

Definitely worth a visit. Thrilling but endless aftertaste, after all, the country can t see the prison. This small prison has some small history. I heard that it s still ready to start the escape of the secret room. It should be terrible.

Recommend going if in Napier. Bit pricey but an awesome experience. So much history in that scary place

Been to a few prison tours around the world. We did a self guide tour probably should of done guided tour. It went on a bit so maybe next time will try guide.

I recommend this place for an insight into life behind bars. No bed of roses. Cold and dark and miserable brought to life in the history tour.

We all enjoyed the tour and we hadn't realised that if you have hearing aids they can give you an audio wand with no sound effects which made my dad's day. So much easier to hear.

We do blogging and vlogging and this was an ideal background to reach our viewers.

We were allowed to take our little furbaby in with us on a lead which is really good of them. Staff could not be more friendly and tour was interesting.

Good place to visit with interesting historic facts

A really good place to visit for some history, an audio tour and stories of the background of those incarcerated over the years. The staff were friendly, knowledgeable and very easy to talk with. Well worth the visit and $20 entrance fee.

The place is eerie. Almost spooky. Especially in the hangman's courtyard. The staff are lovely and helpful :-)

Very interesting place and a little spooky. Was definitely worth the visit and highly recommend it. I did the self tour and was not disappointed. Be careful if you 'feel' or see supernatural things/beings. There is definitely strong forces around.

Very interesting, liked the uneven-ness of the place, so much history there. The audio guide was helpful, but I prefer to read the placards. The historic graffiti, while recent history, is similar in theme to graffiti in Tower of London. They've done a great job of keeping it instead of throwing it away. Also, enjoyed the front gates being locked and being answered through the small viewing door (port hole?). Lots of see there.

Pretty average for $20, could do with some more effort and money going into the up-keep. Audio tour basically just reads all the information signs for you.

A great place of history and stories.

Whether you believe in ghosts or not this place is awesome to visit and get to know the history of the place. You can do self guided tours, ghost tours, and escape rooms. But be prepared they are tricky and you might just find yourself locked up for good.

Interesting piece of history. Good tip for unusal experience.

Fantastic day out with the family, our guide was very informative. Kids were shocked to learn that hanging was a thing in New Zealand, and glad that it no longer happens. The dark room was an added bonus and spooked us, haha. Also did one of the escape rooms and had so much fun! Highly reccomend if you want to learn about some Hawkes Bay history.

Great fun! Go child free and be ready to experience something truly unique

Kids loved the photo ops and dress-ups. Good time was had by us all.

Seen better days with no visable investment being made to develop the site as a tourist attraction . Not really worth the walk

Certainly worth the visit, just obviously a very sad place

Good fun and a great way to spend an afternoon. The tour can be completed in an hour or so but there is so much more to read and then the dress-ups and mug-shots are a must as well.

What a neat visit. No wonder so many escaped not what I was expecting from a prison.

Super busy on weekends with the travel local thingy - makes it more interesting.

No doubt I'll regret saying this - but I enjoyed my time in Prison! The discounted tour after our Escape Room escape fail was the icing on the cake. Both great fun.

Nice tour, very interesting. Learnt allot about three prison. Learnt how recent we were still doing executions and that this place was still going in the 90s. Enjoyed looking at the graffiti.

Really enjoyed our visit to the prison and learning about the history. Kids enjoyed it too. Good walkable location. Highly recommended value for money!

Realistic in all aspects - good weekend option when in Napier.

Certainly not pretty but well-kept and tidy with good staff who go the extra mile. Audio tour was excellent and the content must have taken a while to research.,,,

I've done two of their escape rooms here and I've been pretty impressed. I've done several rooms around the world and though this one doesn't have any flashy or high tech clues, they are really good - and the game flow is sensible with just enough trickery to make it fun. If I return to Napier, I'll definitely have a go at their other rooms and would recommend them to anyone who enjoys escape rooms.

I have read the reviews before i wrote mine and i'm unsure how anyone would consider this location not worth seeing.... We made a trip from Auckland to see this place and we were not in anyway disappointed, we were given a map of the grounds as we decided to take a tour on our own. there was more than enough information about the huge history of the prison and everyone was SUPER nice to us. The price of $20 per person is cheap as attractions go in New Zealand and worth every cent! The owners brought the Prison in a very run down state so they have done an amazing job to not only fix it up but also keep it as it was. We are already planing another trip there as we are sure we missed some things and we would love to even stay a night there to ghost hunt... thanks so much for a great time Napier Prison, i would give 100 stars if i could :)

Listened to some visitors who had a family member with them who had been on the "inside" and had turned their life around and was now in a Managerial position. Interesting.

Very interesting and informative even if it is a tad morbid

Was closed when we went but will have to go back when its open

Well yes it is really nice place to visit and know all about the history. How the prisoners been treated or how used to escape or find new ideas. Well you can also see the impact of earthquake where the floor is now parallel. The place is well preserved. Tourists guide is better than just going all alone and wondering about everything. Tourist guide is really good with all the information. We loved it all.

We came to the prison on a last minute whim and throughly enjoyed it! The audio tour was good and there s certainly a lot of history and interesting stories packed into such a small prison. My husband and I did the self guided audio tour one afternoon recently. There was free parking available right outside the front gate, and the prison was very easy to find and well sign posted

A good afternoon out for me and the girls. No charge for under 5's so it was a cheap outing and they loved firing the little pistols and dressing up as cops and robbers.

My in-laws were here from China and were thrilled they could do a tour in Mandarin.