Madame Tussauds London - what to expect & the best deals (2024)

The Royal Palace is a special experience at Madame Tussauds where you invited to walk through the gates of the palace, snap a selfie with The Prince and Princess of Wales, before having your audience with The King and Queen in the Throne Room.

Beautiful models of our late Queen Elizabeth II andPrince Philip are also together for you to see, with the Queen dressed in a recreation of the white and silver lace dress, worn at her official Diamond Jubilee.

Madame Tussaud was French and lived in Paris, attending the court of Versailles. After starting her wax museum in Paris she moved to London in 1802. The rest is history, other wax museums imitate but none match the original.

At Madame Tussauds London, you will come face-to-face with some of the world’s most famous faces. The exhibits are regularly updated and reviewed as celebrities come to prominence or are just forgotten about. You know you have “made it” when Madame Tussauds invites you along to pose for your own waxwork to be created.

Madame Tussauds is the only wax attraction to get full celebrity endorsem*nt, with involvement in the sitting, through the sculpting process and side-by-side unveils! The incredibly lifelike figures created by our world-renowned sculptors, use the same techniques as Madame Tussauds herself did 200 years ago.

You can hug, touch, kiss - get up close and personal with celebrities, take photos with your favourites.

Zones and experiences at Madame Tussauds

Madame Tussauds is made up of eight separate 'zones' including: Music, Awards Party, The Royal Palace, Marvel Hall of Heroes, Star Wars, Film, Sport, and Culture.

In addition there are also five interactive experiences including: Marvel Universe 4D, Chamber of Horrors, Alien Escape, Kong: Skull Island and Spirit of London Ride.

Opening times

Daily 9am to between 4 and 6pm depending on the day of the week.

Location

Marylebone Road, Marylebone, London NW1 5LR

Nearest Underground station

Baker Street 100 yards

(Bakerloo, Circle, Jubilee, Metropolitan and Hammersmith & City lines).

Because of the numbers wanting to visit Madame Tussauds, controlling the flow of people entering the building is important for safety as well as your comfort.

As a result Madame Tussauds is infamous for its long queues waiting to gain entrance. If you just turn up on the day to buy a ticket it can easily be a 2 hour wait at peak times. There are several entrance doors for different types of ticket giving different levels of priority for admittance all at very different prices.

1) Walk-Up Tickets

If you turn up on the day you probably get the worst deal of the lot. You'll have to wait the longest time to gain entrance and you will pay the full entrance price which can be 30% more expensive than purchasing tickets in advance. At peak times walk up entry can mean a wait of up to 2 hours to gain entrance.

2) Advance Purchase Standard Tickets (purchased from Madame Tussauds' website)

By purchasing your tickets in advance direct from the Madame Tussauds website as well as getting up to a 30% discount on your ticket price (against walk-up entry) you also enjoy potentially less queuing.

At purchase you select a 15 minute window in time when you want to gain entrance. For standard entry at peak time you should gain entrance within 45 minutes of the time window you stipulate.

The price of tickets bought online for Madame Tussauds are variable; you will normally find two different prices on the same day but you should still be able to find quite a few tickets available at the lower price.

Rates are variable according to season and day of the week. Peak rates apply during school holidays and at weekends.

3) Advance Purchase Priority Tickets (purchased from Madame Tussauds' website)

For a stiff premium, that can be double the price of the standard ticket you can also pre-purchase a priority ticket that should get you into Madame Tussauds even at peak times within 10 minutes.

Again, like the standard ticket on-line purchase you select a 15 minute window in time when you want to gain entrance. However, normally there is a fixed ticket price for all time slots.

4) Advance purchase stage door fast track tickets (purchased from Madame Tussauds' website)

The Stage Door Fast Track ticket is the top tier ticket giving immediate entrance on arrival and VIP priority to access some of the exhibits and free popcorn for the 4D cinema. You still select a 15 minute window in time when you want to gain entrance.

Prices for the Stage Door Fast Track Ticket are 2 to 3 times the price of the walk-up ticket.

5) Big City Saver - combining Madame Tussauds with up to 4 other major attractions in London

Madame Tussauds is owned by a company called Merlin who own and operate several other major attractions in London.

Combine Madame Tussauds with other Merlin attractions: get huge savings with 1, 2, or all 4 of the remaining Merlin London attractions:

London Eye

The London Dungeon

Shrek's Adventure! London

SEA LIFE London Aquarium

Big City Saver pass by Merlin - what is it about?

6) Third party discounters and combination tickets

For stand-alone tickets for Madame Tussauds the best price guarantee offered by the Madame Tussauds is pretty good. If you find somebody offering lower priced tickets than Madame Tussauds let us know!

However, very few visitors buy Madame Tussauds tickets in isolation. Great deals from third parties of all kinds are available - the best are those where you cannot identify how much exactly you are paying for the Madame Tussauds tickets hidden with in the package - thus neatly bypassing the Madame Tussauds best price guarantee for stand-alone tickets.

The most fruitful places to seek out these great deals are:

- Discounted combination tickets combining two or sometimes up to seven London attractions in one discounted package. Both third party discounters and Merlin who own Madame Tussauds offer these.

- London's popular hop-on hop off sightseeing buses will make available discounted attraction tickets when bought in advance together with their hop on, hop off bus tickets.

- There are several London attraction passes and discount schemes where Madame Tussauds appears as a supported attraction.