London Madame Tussauds Tickets: how to buy and what to see

I always remember visiting Madame Tussauds as one of the most fun experiences I had in London. Don't miss this magical place, especially if you're travelling with family or friends, where you'll laugh, be amazed and discover more than 250 characters.

The best option

London Madame Tussauds Wax Museum Tickets

the best tickets to Madame Tussauds in London with access to all the halls

Pose with the world's most famous characters in this fantastic museum. Enjoy the different sections, such as the one dedicated exclusively to the Star Wars saga.

From £35 at Hellotickets

At the hilarious Madame Tussauds museum in London you can take the best photos with the world's most popular characters. Get your tickets to the wax museum and get up close and personal with the countless hyper-realistic figures. From Madonna to Albert Einstein, Jhonny Deep to Queen Elizabeth II.

Enter the magical Star Wars universe and take a selfie with Yoda or Princess Leia. You can also hop in the classic London black taxi and take a tour of London's history with the Spirit of London Ride, included in your tickets.

Recommended if... you are going to London with family and friends and want to have a few laughs.

I recommend you buy your tickets in advance online, as the queues are huge every day. You can choose between standard (general) or premium tickets. And if you are spending several days in London, you can buy the London Explorer Pass, which includes this ticket and many others.

Buying your ticket at the Madame Tussauds ticket office is possible, but it is a museum that attracts 2.5 million visitors a year and queues can last up to 3 hours. My advice is that if you are thinking of buying your ticket there, go very, very early.

With this ticket to the wax museum you'll enjoy a tour of the entire waxworks exhibition. You'll also be able to sit back in a typical London taxi as you take a virtual tour of the city's history on the Spirit on London Ride.

You can also immerse yourself in the Star Wars galaxy with Yoda, Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia in a stunning exhibition created in collaboration with Disney and Lucas Film.

Looking for direct access to Madame Tussauds Museum and all its activities? Get the Premium Ticket and enjoy a VIP experience. With this ticket you'll skip the queues and get the most out of your visit to the museum.

The premium ticket will open the doors to the Madame Tussaud's museum and all its immersive experiences. You can attend the Sherlock Holmes Experience, experience a cinematic journey through the Star Wars saga and enjoy free popcorn while watching a 4D film alongside the legendary Marvel comic book characters.

There is also a third possibility to access the Madame Tussauds Museum, which I encourage you to consider if you are going to spend several days in the city. As you will discover in this other article I have written on London Passa tourist pass is really practical, as it includes access to the main attractions in London saving a lot of time in queues and quite a lot of money in entrance fees.

The London Explorer Pass is London's must-have pass, as it offers a choice of up to 7 attractions out of the 31 available, including Madam Tussauds.

The Magic London Pass, on the other hand, is the best pass for family travel as it includes access to 4 dream attractions: London Eye, the spooky rides you'll discover with London Dungeon tickets, the fun adventures of Shrek's Adventure and London's amazing aquarium, Sea Life London.

Vicky's Top Traveller Tip

Consider purchasing a sightseeing pass to save on your trip if you want to visit other attractions such as the London Eye.

As for the layout of the Madame Tussauds museum, I will tell you that it is divided into several thematic sections, all of them equally interesting, but I leave them here so you can organize your visit and emphasizing the characters that you most want to know.

Explore

This is the collection that includes immersive experiences in the Marvel and Star Wars universes, and where you can see singer Dua Lipa and Princes Harry and Meghan up close.

Our Stars

Featuring celebrities from the worlds of film, social media and music, and where you'll check out the measurements of Kim Kardashian's sleeping quarters. You'll take selfies with the incombustible Beyoncé, the delicate Audrey Hepburn, and two of nature's primes, George Clooney and Brad Pitt, among many others.

Culture and History

Here, you'll travel through history through the Spirit of London Ride and the looks of some of the people who made history, such as Albert Einstein, Hitler, Van Gogh and Nelson Mandela, as well as being able to compare your height on a catwalk with some of the world's greatest top models, such as Cara Delevigne.

Other experiences

Thanks to this section, you can come face to face with the dreaded Alien or King Kong and his animatronic head over 5 metres tall, and become Sherlock Holmes or a real YouTuber for a day.

Who would have thought centuries ago that Marie Tussauds, born in France, would become one of the most popular names in the world when she learned to mould in wax while working as a housekeeper. From her first exhibition in 1776 at the Palais Royal in Paris, her success was such that she was called to work as art mistress to the sister of King Louis XVI and ended up living in the Palace of Versailles itself!

When her mentor died, Tussauds inherited his entire collection of wax figures and her fame and recognition led to her nickname of Madame Tussauds and to the opening and installation, in 1884, of what is today the largest collection of celebrity figures in the world, the Madame Tussauds Museum.

Here are some useful tips to help you make the most of your visit.

How to get to the Madame Tussauds museum

The museum is well served by the city's public transport system. Located on Marylebone Rd, you can get to Madame Tussauds by various combinations of underground, train or bus:

Public transport in London

The best way to get around London is with your Oyster Card, a season ticket that you can buy and top up at any London Underground station. Nowadays, you can also use your contact-less debit or credit card on London's public transport (tube or bus) and the cost of your journey will be deducted from your bill.

Madame Tussauds opening hours

Madame Tussauds is open every day of the week, Monday to Sunday, but before you venture in check the website for opening times according to the calendar date you are travelling on. Within the opening hours of 8.30am to 6pm, opening times may vary according to the months and days of the year.

Services available at Madame Tussauds museum

• Marylebone: As if that wasn't enough, you can take advantage of your visit to Madame Tussauds to see other attractions in the district where it is located, Marylebone. This area, south of Regent's Park, has the largest concentration of Georgian houses in London. Several terraced houses by John Nash, the famous English architect, grace the southern end of the city's busiest royal park.
• Regent's Park: To complete a perfect day of sightseeing and to relax a little after your long tour of the museum, don't miss a visit to Regent's Park, less than 900 metres from Madame Tussauds. Its beautiful Queen Mary's Gardens are fabulous for a pleasant summer afternoon, as well as its lake, with a great variety of water birds.
• The Sherlock Holmes House Museum: Just 200 metres from the museum, at 221b Baker Street, you can discover where Arthur Conan Doyle's most perceptive detective ever lived. Converted into an exhibition, the Sherlock Holmes Museum building, dating from 1815, has been furnished exactly like the flat described in the books.
• Marble Arch: A little further away, but only a kilometre away from Madame Tussauds, you can discover the Marble Arch, a great triumphal arch that witnesses a daily whirlwind of traffic and which, also designed by John Nash in 1827, once served as the entrance to Buckingham Palace.
• Oxford Street: If you have shopping to do, take the opportunity to stop by London's 'Fifth Avenue'. Just over a kilometre from Madame Tussauds, on Oxford Street, you'll find almost anything from the most basic souvenirs to the latest designer fashions. It's a must-visit at Christmas, when the streets are decked out in lights and decorations creating a really special atmosphere.

Vicky's Top Traveller Tip

Make the most of your visit to Madame Tussauds by discovering the surrounding area: a wonderful park and a typical English neighbourhood that is always overlooked by tourists.

I hope I have solved all your doubts about the museum, how to organise your visit, the best of the surroundings... But if you are thinking of visiting any other attraction, my recommendation is to value the London Eye. Here you have an article where I gather all the information about the London Eye. London Eye Tickets: how to buy, prices and schedules.

It's also a great idea to take a one-hour cruise on the Thames, as it will allow you to rest a bit after your long walks while you continue to contemplate the London skyline from the water. You have all the information in this guide about the best Thames river cruises in London

But if you want to take a bit more of English culture as a souvenir, I encourage you to visit other historical places such as Westminster Abbey or the Tower of London. You'll find all the details on how to visit them in these two articles: Westminster Abbey tickets: how to buy and prices and Tower of London tickets: how to buy, prices and opening times.