Jul 29, 2022
Creepy and historic! What a find! - This was super fun and… bonus, a bit creepy! We did the self guided history tour with audio guide which was great. Loved the run down historic nature of the place. So much history!
Don’t forget to do an escape room while you’re there (book ahead) family fun - yay!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Nov 25, 2020
Amazing experience!!! - Had an amazing experience, everything was well organised. Enjoyed the escape room activity and completed the challenge (Ishaan thank you :p)
We took the ghost tour and it was worth the time we spent over there. Had a great chat with Ishaan and he gave us awesome reference for lunch. Thank you Ishaan for your hospitality. It is definitely a must place to visit if you are planning a trip to Napier.
10/10
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Nov 18, 2020
Just amazing - Interesting tour and so pleased we took the advice of friends as we didn't want to be travelling on busy buses with others.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jul 22, 2022
Great rainy day activity - We did the history tour which was very interesting. Hard to believe it was still operating into the 1990s. A family of five with teens, we tacked on an escape room experience, which is such a cool idea for an old prison. Alas, we were not clever enough to escape within the 60 minutes. In fact, we'd probably still be there if there wasn't a time limit!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jan 4, 2022
Great tour , helpful friendly staff - On a busy public holiday with hard working staff, we really enjoyed our tour. The tour was informative and fun and the staff- 3 young adults were friendly, welcoming and helpful. Would definitely recommend.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Nov 29, 2022
Disappointing - The prison has a really interesting story, but the experience is really badly done.
It’s very cheap and shoddy. $30 gets you a handheld audio speaker with a very limited history of the prison. It would have been nice to have been able to learn about the social history, the life stories of some of the prisoners, the construction of the prison, the experience of the prisoners during and after the earthquake etc. none of this is covered at all. The information boards also have only a small amount of detail and large areas of the prison are barricaded off with builders fences making the experience a bit like walking around a dilapidated building site. It was a shame as it could have been so much more. Certainly not worth the admission charge. They also offered a “ghost tour” and an escape room experience. I think the owners need to decide what they are trying to be and do it properly.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Mar 19, 2023
Not worth the $$$ until they open it all up, just a mess - Absolutely ridiculous that they are charging 30$ per person for a self guided audio tour. A lot of the prison is inaccessible and either just closed off or being repaired. It’s a mess and there is no organisation at all. It’s run down and definitely not worth paying to visit, it should be free until they are finished whatever they are doing.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jan 15, 2023
DO NOT Waste your money - I rarely feel ripped off or scammed but that is exactly how I felt after we spent $120 for four people. The place is in complete disrepair, not old and interesting but filthy dirty and falling down. Much of the prison was fenced off and inaccessible due to scaffolding all over the place. There was no clear sense of an exhibition with some cells just used as junk rooms. What signage was there was falling down and faded. The audio commentary was difficult to hear and the story telling not only hard to hear but repeated some of the signage around.
The toilets are a disgrace, at the end of an old cell and were filthy dirty with little privacy. The most shocking thing to me was the disarray of the memorial garden built by teens in 2005. Two of these kids died not long after but there is no respect in maintaining it in their honour.
We were so disgusted with this place that on the way back down the hill we warned off three different groups of visitors. It was our only way of dealing with our anger at this ‘attraction’.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Dec 25, 2022
Worst place to visit - The grotiest place to visit
No way us it worth $30
I would not recommend this tour at all
The buildings need to be demolused
Znd the staff are just weird
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Mar 18, 2018
To hard to work it out. Waste of money... - <p>To hard to work it out. Waste of money - Did not use it and couldn't find help</p>
Review provided by Viator