The Best Immersive Attractions in London

History with a sizable side-helping of humour and horror. That’s the London Bridge Experience, a subterranean jump-scare joyride that brings the city’s blood-curdling back-story to eye-popping, goose-pimpling life. Disembodied screams echo all around as you encounter frighteningly OTT versions of gruesome London legends both real and imagined, including Jack the Ripper, Guy Fawkes, the disembodied head of William Wallace, and Mrs Lovett with her delicious meat pies. Suitably shaken, descend into the haunted house-style maze – built on top of an actual medieval plague pit, no less – for the grand finale. Or, if you have phobias that involve spiders, scary clowns or chainsaws, maybe don’t.

Find out more about the London Bridge Experience here.

Top tip: the London Bridge and several other immersive London attractions are included with The London Pass®, which could save you up to 50% on sightseeing around the city.

Here’s one for the IG addicts. Located directly across the road from Harrods, the Paradox Museum’s collection of some 50+ optical illusions will challenge your sense of perspective, turn your world upside-down and generally leave your head in a spin, as well as providing some truly unusual photos for the family album! Try (and fail) to keep your balance in the Paradox Tunnel, become a master of disguise in the Camouflage Room and try not to go to pieces on the Paradox Sofa. There’s even a Zero Gravity Room that creates the impression you’re floating in space. Trippy.

A name that hardly trips off the tongue is the least of your worries at this immersive London attraction near Liverpool Street Station. Prepare yourself for a multi-sensory assault par excellence as you enter the post-apocalyptic world of H.G. Wells’ sci-fi classic. You join the story in the immediate aftermath of a Martian invasion and – spoiler alert – the alien visitors ain’t friendly. What follows is an adrenaline-fuelled fight for survival, in which your decisions might decide the fate of the entire human race. Walk, crawl and, if necessary, run your way across Victorian London, immersed in explosive blockbuster effects that'll have you coming over all Tom Cruise in no time. 

Don your deerstalker and prepare to sleuth your way out of this fiendishly tricky Sherlock Holmes-themed escape room, based on the BBC adaptation starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman. Puzzle-solving is the name of the game as you’re transported to the world of Baker Street, a place where character actors may hold vital clues and you have just 60 minutes to crack the codes and solve the case.

Sherlock: The Official Live Game is included with The London Pass® and entry also entitles you to a 10% discount on Sherlock-themed cocktails at the secret Mind Palace speakeasy.

Brace thyself for a nerve-shredding journey into the darkest corners of London’s history. Set on the south bank of the Thames, London Dungeon’s 13 interactive shows are an absolute scream. And we mean that quite literally. You might find yourself hiding out with the gunpowder plotters in rat-infested tunnels one minute, and being accused of witchcraft the next. And don’t even get us started on the torturer’s favorite toys, among them the charming chappy chopper and pear of anguish. Yikes.

For those who haven’t fainted clean away by this point, there’s one more trial to endure. Want to hear the noise a neck makes when it cracks? You’re in luck: the dungeon’s Drop Dead thrill ride aims to recreate the experience of the notorious Newgate Prison gallows, complete with blood-curdlingly realistic sound effects. Not, in other words, for the faint of heart.

Read our comparison of London Dungeon vs The London Bridge Experience.

Here’s an immersive London attraction that does exactly what it says on the tin. In Monopoly Lifesized you work with your team to secure the most valuable properties, dodge jail and bankrupt the competition. It’s just like the real thing, except with a massive board (15mx15m, to be precise) and lifesize tokens (top hat, racing car, Scottie dog) to lead the way (and drop the occasional hint). Here’s the twist: to acquire the property you’ve landed on you’ll need to enter a dedicated puzzle room and complete a challenge related to the location. Fiendishly good capitalist fun.

Located on the top floor of Kensington’s magnificent Science Museum, Wonderlab is one of London’s finest immersive attractions. There are over 50 hands-on exhibits across seven themed zones, with plenty to fire the imaginations (and hone the scientific skills) of kids of all ages. Watch lightning strike right before your eyes, build flying machines and load-bearing bridges, complete electrical circuits, catch explosive live chemistry shows and much more. There are even giant slides, each made of different materials designed to demonstrate the power of friction. In short: it’s educational, but it’s so much fun that the kids will never notice!

Meet Donkey, Princess Fiona and the titular green ogre himself on this madcap immersive adventure through the land of Far Far Away. Fans of the Shrek franchise will be in clover with a fairytale journey that features 10 themed live shows, including interactions with a magical 4D flying bus, a mirror maze, Rumplestiltskin’s carriage and Shrek’s murky swamp. There’s even a pause for refreshment at the Poison Apple Pub halfway through. You’ll find Shrek’s Adventure on the south bank of the Thames (sharing roof space with the London Dungeon and SEA LIFE London Aquarium), and a stone's throw from the London Eye.