What will you be doing on your trip to London?
Attending an A-List party? Going to a star-studded film premiere? Challenging your sporting heroes or taking to the stage with music’s megastars? Will you be knighted by the Queen or address the world’s leaders?
Do all these things and much, much more as you mingle and interact with the world’s most famous figures at Madame Tussauds.
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| Opening times: | Madame Tussauds is open seven days a week. Normal opening hours are 9:30 – 5:30. Peak opening hours are 9.00 - 6.00. Peak times are every weekend and UK school holidays. Please refer to www.madame-tussauds.co.uk for full details. Christmas Eve 9.00 - 2.30, closed Christmas Day, Boxing Day 10.30 - 6.00 and New Year's Day 9.30 - 6.00. |
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Lonely Planet review of Madame Tussauds

It's unbelievably kitsch and terribly overpriced, yet it draws over 3 million people every year and sits high on the 'must-do' list of any visitor to London. Different strokes for different folks, as they say, but if you like the idea of wax celebrities, movie stars and fantastically lifelike figures of the Windsors, you're in for a treat. Madame Tussauds dates back more than two centuries when the eponymous Swiss model-maker started making death masks of the people killed during the French Revolution. She came to London in 1803 and exhibited around 30 wax models in Baker St, on a site not far from the building that has housed the waxworks since 1885. The waxworks were an enormous hit in Victorian times, when the models provided the only opportunity for visitors to glimpse the famous and infamous before photography was widespread and long before the advent of TV.Madame T's are very keen on public surveys telling them who the punters would like to see most, resulting in such highlights as a photo op with the Kate Moss figure (of a very poor similitude), an eco Prince Charles statue, the Blush Room where A-listers stand listlessly and where the J-Lo figure blushes if you whisper in her ear. Bollywood fans are treated with a smiling Shahrukh Khan and 'Big Bruvva' lovers can get into the Diary Room and take the video home. There are tons of temporary exhibits, such as the Pirates of the Caribbean chamber, potting holes with Tiger Woods, and so on.Permanent photo opportunities include the political leaders in World Stage and the array of celebrities in Premiere Room. The famous Chamber of Horrors details the horrors of Jack the Ripper and is usually a huge hit with children. Finally you can take a ride in the Spirit of London 'time taxi', where you sit in a mock-up of a London black cab and are whipped through a five-minute historical summary of London, a mercifully short time to endure the god-awful scripts and hackneyed commentary. The old Planetarium is now the Stardome that screens an entertaining and educational animation by Nick Park, creator of Wallace and Gromit (it involves aliens and celebrities).In case you were wondering what happens to the models of those people whose 15 minutes have passed, contrary to popular belief, they are never melted, but simply resting in storage.If you want to avoid the queues (particularly in summer) book your tickets online and get a timed entry slot. They are cheaper this way too.
Visit London review of Madame Tussauds

Partake in a popular pastime at Madame Tussauds gawping at celebrities. See life-size waxworks of Kate Moss, Kylie Minogue and Angelina Jolie. But make sure you leave time for the Spirit of London, which takes you from Tudor times to the present day aboard a black cab. Great fun!
Latest 5 reviews of Madame Tussauds
Don't just turn up on a Saturday
Visited pm Saturday 4th October on a "spur of the moment" whim. Knew there would be a long queue outside but reached the entrance in no more than 30 minutes. What we didn't realise is that the queue continues inside and there was a notice just inside (which could not be seen from the street) saying 1 hour from here! You can assume that there are a number of people at this point who wished they haven't bothered. However on our visit they do offer "queue jumping" to those who correctly answer questions about Madme Tussauds -just learn the answers beforehand! (i.e. most currently popular exhibit (Johnny depp), when was madame Tussaud born? etc.). At the street entrance they show admission prices but only those which include admission to other attractions i.e. Madame Tussauds and The Dunegeons L35, MT and TD and the London Eye L50 etc. It's not until you get to within 15 minutes (wait) of the ticket desk does it actually tell you it's L25 per adult. This is far too expensive -my advice would be to scan voucher websites etc. and get some discount vouchers -I understand Fanta are currently doing a buy one get one free ticket promotion. However, ignoring the cost, the attraction is quite good. Even on our busy visit we could move around no problem and some of the wax works are really realistic. The scary walk (can't remember the exact name) is good, as is the London taxi ride. However I probably won't return -unless the exhibits have changed, my visit is on a weekday (much reduced queues), have some kind of much reduced ticket deal and I've pre-booked (which basically gets you straight in (no queuing at all).
Great entertainment for a few hours!
My mum and myself prebooked our fast track tickets for access to both Madame Tussauds and the London Dungeons (during late sept '08) after i'd heard some not too good things about the horrendous queues/waiting time. We ended up deciding on a monday morning slot. Even though the school holidays were over, it wasn't over a weekend or during the peak afternoon time I still didn't want to take any chances.
Needn't have worried though- there was no queue what so ever which was great. Within a few mins after having our ticket payment checked by reception and purchasing a big glossy souvenir book for a keep sake we were in. It was still fairly busy inside though with a mixture of both many British and foreign travellers..but everyone was courteous/patient to eachother whenever somebody wanted to get a decent view for a picture or to have their pic taken with one of the "celebs".
Madame Tussauds is split in so many sections covering big rooms. Lots of celebs from the past and present day covering music, tv, film, royals, cultural heroes, sports and world leaders. Theres also a Big Brother style diary room for you to enter where people can view what you get up to on a screen outside which is also videoing you. For a price you can later purchase a dvd of this. Chamber of horrors showed grusome punishments and famous murderers from British history and as for going through scream..well it wasn't too scary but then I did make my mum go in front and she did shreik once or twice,lol.
As if that wasn't enough there's also a train ride that whizzes you around showing you yet more of London's fascinating history- wax work style of course (theres a chance later on to purchase a pic of you taken on this ride). When you come closer to the end there's a room dedicated to showing you the process of creating all the wax works from start to finish and for a small price you can also have a wax work of your hand done. Lastly there's the gift shop.
As a round up both my mum and I really had a enjoyable time here and took longer than we thought we would (3 hrs) due to me wanting to get pics of everyone. It was great to come home and say to peeps with a big cheesy grin on my face look theres me with Brad pitt and so on. Most of the wax works looked quite realistic/easy to recognise, others were made slightly better looking/taller than the real people..e.g Ant & Dec. For the odd few wax works that maybe wern't so recongnisable to most folk..like political/cultural leaders there was information about who it was beside them so at least you wern't left wondering. It's certainly not that cheap to go here but as a special one off it's a must top day out if your visiting London.
Fun
It may be a bit weird to go and look at wax models of celebs, but if you can stand the queue, this is worth the visit. The price of tickets is a bit steep though.
Get there early!!!
Okay, it is very expensive ( even though I bought the tickets online together with The Eye )but we really did have a good time. Get there early ( half an hour before it opens at least ). Sometimes it is hard to distinguish between the people and the statues it gets so crowded. I think it"s a once in a life time experience because we had a ball and I don"t regret doing it, but I won"t be back.
It is not worth it
I suggest do not waste your time by going to this museum (they call it museum????). It is extremely expensive, at least 30 minutes queue, no information about the waxworks, it is very crowded inside. There are uninteresting political figures (three from Greece?????????) Most of them are not internationally recognised figures. Some of them badly made you cannot figure out who they are. I say do not waste your time and money. There are so many museums in London (British Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum) and they are free to visit.
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Studio Secrets: The Show Workshop
Recurring event
Pupils will discover how the attraction was founded back in the 18th century by Madame Tussaud before learning the secrets of how portraits are made. To truly get a hands-on experience, pupils will be involved in three interactive workshops, each lasting 15 minutes, and taught about the different materials we use to create our incredible likenesses including how we recreate skin tone and hair and how we work with hundreds of precise measurements to ensure the physical accuracy of our portraits.The Stardome: The Wonderful World of Stars Special event
Recurring event
Madame Tussauds London has joined forces with one of the world's top animation studios - Oscar winning Aardman Animations - to create an all new visitor experience for Madame Tussauds' iconic landmark dome building. The Aardman tale explores the notion of earthly fame, but with an otherworldly twist. The film transforms the dome into a wondrous galaxy filled with stars and colour. Legendary earthlings - from Marilyn Monroe to Muhammad Ali - are enthusiastically studied by aliens, who are a bit muddled about their subject matter. The excited aliens embark on a quest to understand those who have achieved eminence.
Prices and Booking for Madame Tussauds
Prices:
| Adult: | £12.50 to £25.00 per ticket |
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| Child: | £9.00 to £21.00 per ticket |
| Family: | £72.00 to £78.00 per ticket |
| Concession: | £13.50 to £25.00 per ticket |
Location Information Madame Tussauds
| Address: | Marylebone Road, London London NW1 5LR |
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| Telephone: | 0870 4003000 |
| Email: | csc@madame-tussauds.com |
| Website: | www.madame-tussauds.co.uk |
| By road: | Tube: Baker Street |
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