Downtown Harrisburg
Downtown Harrisburg
3
Revenue impacts the experiences featured on this page, learn more.

Top ways to experience nearby attractions

The area
How to get there
  • Harrisburg Transportation Center • 8 min walk

Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as waiting time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.


We perform checks on reviews.
Tripadvisor’s approach to reviews
Before posting, each Tripadvisor review goes through an automated tracking system, which collects information, answering the following questions: how, what, where and when. If the system detects something that potentially contradicts our community guidelines, the review is not published.
When the system detects a problem, a review may be automatically rejected, sent to the reviewer for validation, or manually reviewed by our team of content specialists, who work 24/7 to maintain the quality of the reviews on our site.
Our team checks each review posted on the site disputed by our community as not meeting our community guidelines.
Learn more about our review moderation.
3.0
3.0 of 5 bubbles169 reviews
Excellent
29
Very good
46
Average
49
Poor
20
Terrible
25

oldstocks
Hershey, PA332 contributions
1.0 of 5 bubbles
Sept 2023 • Friends
This is the state capital? Yikes! Parking issues for a small town, limited handicapped parking and few van accessible spots. The joy of panhandlers and mental cases makes this one one to avoid for visiting or hotel stay. Any event results in closed streets in a town of one way streets and inadequate parking - square peg into a round hole. There were past official corruption issues so you can imagine what happened there.
Written 8 September 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Richard C
Virginia781 contributions
3.0 of 5 bubbles
Aug 2022
Walking downtown offers some beautiful architectural sites, but it can feel a bit deserted and there were several times I rerouted to look for a street that had more foot traffic. Welcome to the present day urban lifestyle.
Written 9 August 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Tai
1 contribution
1.0 of 5 bubbles
Jul 2022
Went to the July 4 food truck and fireworks festival on Riverfront Park. It was a beautiful day and evening so there was a large crowd in attendance. THere was no visible police presence.

A fist fight allegedly broke out, police broke it up with pepper spray, someone in the crowd yelled "gun!", someone else set off firecrackers in the crowd, a stampede ensued and NO ONE STOPPED THE FIREWORKS SHOW! People ran for their lives not knowing if it was fireworks or bullets. People lost their shoes, children got separated--even the Mayor's children got lost.

Then everyone who parked in the Walnut Street garage got trapped because the gates would not work and there is no staff on duty and no one responded to the garage number. A couple of people broke the gates to let people out.

At no time did we see police patrol the area. No emergency broadcast was made. Nothing was reported as safe on the city website, facebook or twitter.
Written 12 July 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

fiamma11
Tysons Corner, VA4,919 contributions
3.0 of 5 bubbles
Apr 2022
Overall, not a downtown to make a trip to; however, there are a few great spots which makes it worthwhile if in the area.
Written 28 May 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

mpofirefighter
Coram, NY207 contributions
3.0 of 5 bubbles
Nov 2021
By all means, walk around. On street parking is reasonably priced. Make sure that you go to the payment kiosk and put in enough time to cover your space. There is a roving parking enforcer writing out tickets. He will also assist you at the kiosk. The kiosk takes credit cards.
Written 15 November 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Roger R
3 contributions
1.0 of 5 bubbles
Sept 2021 • Family
I feel compelled to write this review as a result of my family vacation to Harrisburg on 9/4/21 for the Kipona fest. While there I observed filthy trash infested streets and heavy weed areas on Front Street along the beautiful River.
Prices of everything in this city were astronomical.
While there ; I stopped on 2nd Street at a bank, parked off to the side of the road, putting my four ways on to withdraw money from the ATM machine. Left my family in the car with the car running. It took about maximum 2 minutes. I returned to my car and had a $30 ticket on my car for parking on the curb and there wasn't even a curb there.
During my visit to Harrisburg that day it appeared that the city had been left dramatically decline and poorly managed and they were making up for it by dramatic price increases and taking advantage of visitors. I highly recommend bypassing the city and maybe spending some time in a city having much more appeal to the eye and wallet. ie Hershey, Lancaster, Baltimore unless of course you like filth and price gouging.
Written 6 September 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Abelle
1 contribution
1.0 of 5 bubbles
Aug 2021 • Couples
As a Pennsylvanian I felt shame when telling people I had never been to Harrisburg. Now I look back on those days and long for that ignorance. Walking around the city I feel nothing but fear. I have driven around for hours, can not find anything to do, while it is also a ghost town. I feel as if I am in the apocalypse, or stuck in a simulation. This is truly a life experience I could go without. The only reason I stay is to see Pvris in concert, but I’m not sure I’ll survive that either. Hopefully I live to tell the tale. Tell your family and close friends to avoid Harrisburg like it’s the delta variant.
Written 14 August 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Raleigh_D
10 contributions
2.0 of 5 bubbles
May 2021
There are real bad downtowns along the east coast cities. This is marginally better. But people living under open sky is a real challenge. Streets smelt of urine.
Written 1 June 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

MissMem
Memphis, TN1,160 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Sept 2020
The market in the older downtown area of Harrisburg is billed as "the longest operating market..." We had a blast there. Most of the vendors appeared to be Pennsylvania Dutch merchants. They offered the best in baked goods, fresh meats and fish and delicious produce. We bought several items and all were wonderfully tasty and very fresh.
Written 16 November 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

davidhI2406IG
Harrisburg, PA20 contributions
3.0 of 5 bubbles
Feb 2020
Harrisburg Is the state capital city that struggles with being mid sized. There are a number of restaurants on second street which offer outdoor seating (summer). Problem is homeless / low income city dwellers constantly walk by and pan handle. Same thing occurred with a walk along the river front. Perhaps my experience was not typical. However, it was my experience on more than one occasion. City island struggles to be something other than a ball park with parking...that is all it is.
Written 17 February 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

…
Showing results 1-10 of 162
Revenue impacts the experiences featured on this page, learn more.
Is this your Tripadvisor listing?
Own or manage this property? Claim your listing for free to respond to reviews, update your profile and much more.
Claim your listing

DOWNTOWN HARRISBURG: All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (with Photos)

Frequently Asked Questions about Downtown Harrisburg


Restaurants near Downtown Harrisburg: View all restaurants near Downtown Harrisburg on Tripadvisor