Madame Tussauds London Review: A Complete Guide For Visiting In 2023
Thinking of visiting Madame Tussauds and looking for an up to date Madame Tussauds London review?
You’ve come to the right place. We visited recently and thought it would be helpful to pass on our tips for visiting Madame Tussauds.
Our review covers all of the information you need to know about visiting the London Madame Tussauds.
It also gives some recommendations at the end for places to eat near Madame Tussauds and places to stay near Madame Tussauds.
If you are on Instagram, make sure to give us a follow! You’ll find more of our videos of the Madame Tussauds visit on our Instagram account in our Merlin highlight.
We were gifted tickets for the purpose of writing a helpful and up to date review of Madame Tussauds. This post contains affiliate links. If you click on one and book or buy something, we may earn a small commission but this is at no extra cost to you.
What is Madame Tussauds?
Madame Tussauds is one of the biggest attractions in London for families and one of the most well-known wax museums in the world.
It has been welcoming visitors since 1835 when it was founded by a French wax sculptor called Marie Tussaud.
It may have been open for over 200 years but it is constantly evolving. If you haven’t visited Madame Tussauds in London in a while, you are in for a surprise.
There is something for everyone from pop stars to sporting heroes, the Royal Family, Star Wars and Marvel.
Madame Tussauds and the Big City Saver
Before we give you all the information you need to a successful visit to Madame Tussauds, we thought it would be helpful to let you know about the Big City Saver and the Combo ticket deals.
Madame Tussauds is operated by Merlin Entertainments who also run a number of top attractions in London and across the UK. I’ve listed all of their attractions below.
The reason it is worth know about the other Merlin attractions (apart from the fact they are also great to visit) is that you can save money on your tickets if you combine a visit to one attraction with another.
In case you feel that you may want to visit more than one Merlin attraction, it might be worth looking at either a Big City Saver (for the London attractions) or a combo ticket.
If you are visiting more than one Merlin attraction, you will make big savings with one of these passes.
London Merlin attractions
- Sea Life
- Shrek’s Adventure (see our full Shrek’s Adventure review here)
- London Dungeons (find out what is a suitable age to visit the London Dungeons)
- London Eye (see our London Eye review).
OFFER:
Shrek’s Adventure – Get an extra £12 off. Book tickets from £20.00. Offer runs on select dates for the rest of 2023. See here for tickets. Promo code: SALAFF2023.
London Dungeon – Get adult tickets for £25 and up to £10 off per person on selected dates. See here for tickets. Promo code: LDAFF2023.
Other Merlin attractions in the UK
If you think that you may visit more than one Merlin attraction in the UK during the year, it might be worth considering a Merlin Annual Pass.
Here are some of the other Merlin attractions in the UK.
- Bear Grylls Adventure
- Blackpool Tower
- Sea Life (multiple sites)
- Legoland Discovery (Manchester and Birmingham)
- Alton Towers
- Warwick Castle
- Chessington World of Adventures (read our review of Chessington World of Adventures)
- Legoland Windsor (read our review of Legoland Windsor)
- Thorpe Park
By the way – if you are in London and planning on visiting other London attractions, take a look at the London Explorer Pass. It includes a large number of top London attractions. Add 2,3,4,5,6 or 7 attractions and make huge savings. See how it all works here.
It includes one of the biggest attractions in London – the Tower of London. See our thoughts on visiting the Tower of London with kids.
Here are some quick FAQs about Madame Tussauds before we give our Madame Tussauds London review.
Where is Madame Tussauds in London?
Madame Tussauds wax museum has been in the same location on Marylebone Road since the late 19th century.
The address is:
Madame Tussauds
Marylebone Rd
London
NW1 5LR
Did you know there are now 21 Madame Tussauds locations around the world?!
Getting to Madame Tussauds
Closest tube station to the London Madame Tussauds
Baker Street is the closest tube station to Madame Tussauds. It is on the Bakerloo line (brown line).
Madame Tussauds is clearly signposted in the main entrance hall of the tube station.
Right outside the tube station you will see a statue of Sherlock Holmes. Beyond him you will see the large green domed roof of what used to be the Planetarium which is now part of Madame Tussauds.
If you have a London Eye and Madame Tussauds combo ticket (or London Dungeons and Madame Tussauds), it is really easy to get to Madame Tussauds.
The best way to get from London Eye to Madame Tussauds is by taking the Bakerloo line from Waterloo straight up to Baker Street.
It will take around 10 minutes on the underground (and about 20 minutes door to door excluding wait time for your tube).
Parking near Madame Tussauds
There is no dedicated parking for Madame Tussauds but there are car parks nearby.
A couple of car parks near Madame Tussauds are:
NCP London Marylebone and NCP London Harley Street.
Bus to Madame Tussauds
There are a number of bus routes that drop you off within a 5 minute walk of Madame Tussauds. They are:
2, 13, 18, 27, 30, 74, 113, 139, 189, 205, 274 and 453. You can find out more about the bus routes here.
the easiest way to reach Madame Tussauds is to the take tube.
Tickets for Madame Tussauds
Pre-booking online can save you money. At the time of writing this review of Madame Tussauds, standard tickets were £37.00 per person on the day or £33.50 if booked in advance.
Family tickets worked out at £31.00 per person.
You can buy your Madame Tussauds London tickets here.
However, there are ways to reduce the cost of your Madame Tussauds tickets.
How can I get discounted tickets for Madame Tussauds?
Other than saving 10% by booking ahead online, you could try searching for Madame Tussauds discount codes on the usual sites like Wowcher and Groupon. Hint – there are rarely any discount codes available.
For a guaranteed way to save money, you could look at the Big City Saver or buy multi-attraction tickets. There are savings of up to 40% to be had if you book more than one attaction.
The more attractions you visit, the cheaper it will be. You don’t have to visit all the attractions in one day with the Big City Saver. Your pass can be valid for up to 90 days from the day of your first attraction visit.
Did you know that the London Dungeons are right next door to (in the same building as) Shrek’s Adventure and opposite the London Eye? They are all located at County Hall near Waterloo.
Madame Tussauds 2 for 1 voucher
You can buy 2 for 1 tickets from DaysoutGuide – but you have to be careful about the small print.
Obviously, you need to purchase a train ticket but the most important thing to note is that almost every school holiday is excluded. This means you wouldn’t be able to use the tickets during February half term, Easter, May half term, Summer holidays, October half term and Christmas Day!
You also have to purchase the tickets in advance.
Madame Tussauds London opening times
The opening times for Madame Tussauds very depending on the day and the time of year.
During the school holidays and at weekends, the last entry to Madame Tussauds is a bit later.
It is best to check on their website to see the exact opening hours for the day you want to visit.
How long does Madame Tussauds take?
We have been asked by quite a few people – ‘How long does it take to go around Madame Tussauds?‘
This depends entirely on you. You can spend 60 – 90 minutes visiting Madame Tussauds and feel that you have seen everything. We spent 90 minutes there and managed to see the Marvel movie and spend a bit of time browsing the gift shop.
You may want to spend a bit more time there but you should budget for AT LEAST 60 minutes.
Best time to visit Madame Tussauds
Being one of the most popular attractions in London, weekends and school holidays can get very busy. If you can visit during the week outside of the school holidays, we would recommend that.
We visited at the very end of the summer holidays at 4pm on a Tuesday and we did not find it busy at all.
If you can only go during the school holidays or at the weekend, we would recommend going early (at opening time) or later in the day.
Who is at Madame Tussauds London?
As mentioned above, the exhibits change to keep up with the times. It must be quite a challenge keeping up with the changing Prime Ministers in the UK though!
There are 11 ‘zones’ in Madame Tussauds with over 150 lifelike figures. You will be able to meet sporting heroes, world leaders, movie stars and the Royal Family – to name a few.
Some of the ‘zones’ are Kong: Skull Island, Alien Escape and Marvel Hall of Heroes. Our favourite zones were:
Star Wars
We are huge Star Wars fans and so it was amazing to find a whole section dedicated to Star Wars!
We absolutely loved flying the millenium Falcon at light speed with Chewbacca.
Marvel 4D
A special mention goes to the 4D Marvel movie. If you haven’t bought the 4D experience as part of your ticket (see combo ticket here), you can buy an extension ticket on the day of your visit.
There is an additional charge (£5.00 per person) to see the 4D Marvel movie but we thought it was worth it. I’ve always wondered what became of the large dome used by the Planetarium and now I know. It is perfect for 4D movies!
Spirit of London
We loved the black cab ride through the history of London from the early days of Shakespeare and the Great Fire of London through to the modern day London. You can read more about the Spirit of London here.
Our Madame Tussauds London review
We’ve pretty much covered everything you need to know about visiting Madame Tussauds in London so what did we think of it?
The great thing about Madame Tussauds is that the exhibits are constantly changing so you can visit more than once.
I last visited Madame Tussauds in London in 1985 and as you can imagine, A LOT has changed since then.
I’m not just talking about the waxworks. These are obviously updated to include current celebrities.
There are now interactive displays and even rides which make for a much more fun experience. There is something for everyone and what is great for families is that you can visit at your own pace.
People wonder whether Madame Tussauds is suitable for children. There are a couple of age restrictions such as the Alien Experience which is recommended for ages 15+. Also children under 90cm need to be accompanied by an adult on the Spirit of London ride. But that’s about it.
My kids didn’t know every single one of the waxworks but that didn’t detract from their experience.
Anyone they didn’t recognise, they would ask about them and it was a learning experience for them.
The ones they did recognise, they were all over. Literally!
And this is one of the things we loved about Madame Tussauds. You are actively encouraged to get up close and personal with the waxwork figures and take selfies. There aren’t many places that will let you do this.
I couldn’t resist this one!
Restaurants near Madame Tussauds
If you are visiting close to a meal time, we would recommend eating before or after because there isn’t a restaurant in Madame Tussauds.
There are a few family-friendly chain restaurants near Madame Tussauds. We like The Real Greek, Honest Burger and Pizza Express for a quick and easy meal.
For great Chinese food and Dim Sum in particular, The Royal China on Baker Street is a good choice.
Fancy French food can be found at Orrery. Diwan is great for Lebanese and Pachamama offers really tasty British-Peruvian fusion food.
For general restaurant recommendations, take a look at our restaurants in London for families. We also have a guide to restaurants where kids eat free in London.
Hotels near Madame Tussauds London
Families visiting London might be interested in these London hotels for families.
- Treehouse Hotel – (for families they set up in-room teepees for children to sleep in).
- The Blandford – there are family rooms with 2 double beds.
- The Langham -This is also somewhere you can have one of the best afternoon teas for kids in London.
For a cheaper option, we recommend the following London Premier Inn hotels. For your info – the closest ones to Madame Tussauds are the Premier Inn Paddington or the Premier Inn London Euston.
More inspiration for days out in London with kids…
Best museums in London to visit with kids
Visiting London with kids on a budget
Christmassy things to do in London with kids