Lukiškių kalėjimas 2.0 — Attraction in Vilnius

BEWARE this tour is very badly organised. There is no office to ask and no one around. It says online that it starts inside the prison grounds which is where is waited, in the square. There is literally no where or no one to ask anything. After getting until 2.28 i asked another tour guide who just entered the courtyard, scruffy looking with a rude attitude, he was rather impolite and unhelpful says it starts over there with a vague point. I spotted a tiny office with a tiny sign saying that the tour starts here. It is in an enclosed area which looks like a staff area. The sign can only be viewed from one direction also and is A4 sized. I got to the area at 2.30 and thought that the tour guide must be late. About two minutes later a red hair Lithuanian girl who speaks fast came back through the room speaking English and she just ignored us. I was sat there with my 10 year old son waiting for the tour and no-one else in the room. Later (keep reading) she identified herself as Indre but would not show here ID card so maybe she is lying. She actually had the audacity to claim that she didn't see us, this was literally impossible as we were sat directly looking at the room that she came out of in order to walk through our room to get to the next room. There were no other tours until 3pm so we were clearly there for her tour. Complete idiot and useless staff member. We waiting until 3pm and the next tour was Lithuanian. Spoke to the guy with blonde ridiculous hair and he told me that he would contact her. He did but she still didn't come out. It was now freezing cold and we were sat waiting in the courtyard for this girl that already ignored us once so i did not hold out much hope. I gave up and found a bar and they eventually found a guy who helped us with glasses. The only person with a brain cell in the entire prison (pun intended). He found the tour guide and we got to them at last. Most annoying part is that the girl was already contacted by the blonde haired guy but refused to go out of her way to come and get us. Later she would state that she was in the middle of the tour and could not come out, the building is actually not that deep and it is quite easy to get to an exit. God knows if she would have ever bothered to find us, and if she did come to the courtyard she would probably "not see us" again. Objectively the tour is pretty boring as all you are doing is looking at empty cells. I expected some cool USSR signage and stories or displays but there is nothing. Just cell after cell, the price is high also at €20.00 each even for a child. I would not waste your time. I have visited Lithuania 20 times as i now have family there. Sadly this type of thing can be common as they just can't be bothered to put in the effort that we do in the UK. They are always trying to cut corners and save money, in the UK there would have been a full time little office saying customer service. Also a ticket office to buy tickets on the door as not everyone has the internet or can access it easily when away. Some people turned up wanting tickets and waited until 3pm and the guy told them no tickets internet only. Again just like me they had not seen any signage as there simply isn't hardly any. Come on organisers and pull your finger out and get some decent signs. They also do not want an office on site as that would mean more ability for people such as myself to claim a refund. Instead there is no chance of getting a refund even if you miss half the tour. EDIT- look how quickly the manager has got back to me below after posting, clearly they were tipped of that they messed up. In their reply below they even more confuse matters by saying that the start point is usually in the church building downstairs unless signs state otherwise. So what i take from that is that there are usually no signs at all. Seems like a bit of a scam for tourists in all honesty. Spend your money elsewhere is you...

BEWARE this tour is very badly organised. There is no office to ask and no one around. It says online that it starts inside the prison grounds which is where is waited, in the square. There is literally no where or no one to ask anything. After getting until 2.28 i asked another tour guide who just entered the courtyard, scruffy looking with a rude attitude, he was rather impolite and unhelpful says it starts over there with a vague point. I spotted a tiny office with a tiny sign saying that the tour starts here. It is in an enclosed area which looks like a staff area. The sign can only be viewed from one direction also and is A4 sized. I got to the area at 2.30 and thought that the tour guide must be late. About two minutes later a red hair Lithuanian girl who speaks fast came back through the room speaking English and she just ignored us. I was sat there with my 10 year old son waiting for the tour and no-one else in the room. Later (keep reading) she identified herself as Indre but would not show here ID card so maybe she is lying. She actually had the audacity to claim that she didn't see us, this was literally impossible as we were sat directly looking at the room that she came out of in order to walk through our room to get to the next room. There were no other tours until 3pm so we were clearly there for her tour. Complete idiot and useless staff member. We waiting until 3pm and the next tour was Lithuanian. Spoke to the guy with blonde ridiculous hair and he told me that he would contact her. He did but she still didn't come out. It was now freezing cold and we were sat waiting in the courtyard for this girl that already ignored us once so i did not hold out much hope. I gave up and found a bar and they eventually found a guy who helped us with glasses. The only person with a brain cell in the entire prison (pun intended). He found the tour guide and we got to them at last. Most annoying part is that the girl was already contacted by the blonde haired guy but refused to go out of her way to come and get us. Later she would state that she was in the middle of the tour and could not come out, the building is actually not that deep and it is quite easy to get to an exit. God knows if she would have ever bothered to find us, and if she did come to the courtyard she would probably "not see us" again. Objectively the tour is pretty boring as all you are doing is looking at empty cells. I expected some cool USSR signage and stories or displays but there is nothing. Just cell after cell, the price is high also at €20.00 each even for a child. I would not waste your time. I have visited Lithuania 20 times as i now have family there. Sadly this type of thing can be common as they just can't be bothered to put in the effort that we do in the UK. They are always trying to cut corners and save money, in the UK there would have been a full time little office saying customer service. Also a ticket office to buy tickets on the door as not everyone has the internet or can access it easily when away. Some people turned up wanting tickets and waited until 3pm and the guy told them no tickets internet only. Again just like me they had not seen any signage as there simply isn't hardly any. Come on organisers and pull your finger out and get some decent signs. They also do not want an office on site as that would mean more ability for people such as myself to claim a refund. Instead there is no chance of getting a refund even if you miss half the tour. Seems like a bit of a scam for tourists in all honesty. Spend your money elsewhere is you...

BEWARE this tour is very badly organised. There is no office to ask and no one around. It says online that it starts inside the prison grounds which is where is waited, in the square. There is literally no where or no one to ask anything. After getting until 2.28 i asked another tour guide who just entered the courtyard, scruffy looking with a rude attitude, he was rather impolite and unhelpful says it starts over there with a vague point. I spotted a tiny office with a tiny sign saying that the tour starts here. It is in an enclosed area which looks like a staff area. The sign can only be viewed from one direction also and is A4 sized. I got to the area at 2.30 and thought that the tour guide must be late. About two minutes later a red hair Lithuanian girl who speaks fast came back through the room speaking English and she just ignored us. I was sat there with my 10 year old son waiting for the tour and no-one else in the room. Later (keep reading) she identified herself as Indre but would not show here ID card so maybe she is lying. She actually had the audacity to claim that she didn't see us, this was literally impossible as we were sat directly looking at the room that she came out of in order to walk through our room to get to the next room. There were no other tours until 3pm so we were clearly there for her tour. Complete idiot and useless staff member. We waiting until 3pm and the next tour was Lithuanian. Spoke to the guy with blonde ridiculous hair and he told me that he would contact her. He did but she still didn't come out. It was now freezing cold and we were sat waiting in the courtyard for this girl that already ignored us once so i did not hold out much hope. I gave up and found a bar and they eventually found a guy who helped us with glasses. The only person with a brain cell in the entire prison (pun intended). He found the tour guide and we got to them at last. Most annoying part is that the girl was already contacted by the blonde haired guy but refused to go out of her way to come and get us. Later she would state that she was in the middle of the tour and could not come out, the building is actually not that deep and it is quite easy to get to an exit. God knows if she would have ever bothered to find us, and if she did come to the courtyard she would probably "not see us" again. Objectively the tour is pretty boring as all you are doing is looking at empty cells. I expected some cool USSR signage and stories or displays but there is nothing. Just cell after cell, the price is high also at €20.00 each even for a child. I would not waste your time. I have visited Lithuania 20 times as i now have family there. Sadly this type of thing can be common as they just can't be bothered to put in the effort that we do in the UK. They are always trying to cut corners and save money, in the UK there would have been a full time little office saying customer service. Also a ticket office to buy tickets on the door as not everyone has the internet or can access it easily when away. Some people turned up wanting tickets and waited until 3pm and the guy told them no tickets internet only. Again just like me they had not seen any signage as there simply isn't hardly any. Come on organisers and pull your finger out and get some decent signs. They also do not want an office on site as that would mean more ability for people such as myself to claim a refund. Instead there is no chance of getting a refund even if you miss half the tour. Seems like a bit of a scam for tourists in all honesty. Spend your money elsewhere is you...