Guide: London's Best Family-Friendly Immersive Experiences (2025)
- Immersive Rumours
- Jul 7
- 8 min read
From races across the city against the clock and open-world towns obsessed with platypuses to expeditions into the darkest depths of Peru, here are our recommendations for the best family-friendly immersive experiences in London this summer holiday...
London has never been short on family-friendly activities. From world-class museums and zoos to West End shows and tourist attractions that cater to all ages, there are hundreds of options for a day out with the family across the city. Amongst them are a handful of standout immersive and interactive experiences that allow families to either become part of the story, or get involved to a degree not possible elsewhere. Below are our recommendations for the top five immersive experiences running in London this summer that will both engage and entertain the whole family...
The Paddington Bear Experience
Photo: Alex Brenner
An immersive walk-through show spread out over 26,000 sq ft in the heart of Central London, The Paddington Bear Experience invites guests to step inside the world of Michael Bond's classic stories for the first time as preparations for the Marmalade Day celebrations are underway at Windsor Gardens. Guests will get hands-on with a series of tasks throughout the experience as they meet a cast of characters from the much-loved book series, including Mrs. Brown.
There's a lovingly recreated version of the Brown's family home, complete with the blossom tree mural at the foot of their staircase, and an excursion to Peru where you help create Marmalade, amongst other interactive moments. Photo opportunities with Paddington are available at the conclusion of the experience, as well as a chance to buy your own Marmalade sandwiches.
The show is directed by Tom Maller, whose previous work includes some of London's biggest immersive shows of recent years (Peaky Blinders: The Rise, Doctor Who: Time Fracture, Secret Cinema's Blade Runner, Romeo + Juliet, and Casino Royale).
Photos: Alex Brenner
Help Paddington and the Brown Family prepare for a very special occasion: the Marmalade Day Festival. Just like Paddington, you’ll begin your adventure in the hustle and bustle of Paddington Station, where you’ll meet the friendly Station Master and hop aboard our full-sized train carriage – make sure you aren’t late! Journey through the sights and sounds of London, all the way to the Brown’s house at No. 32 Windsor Gardens. Step inside the Brown’s famous tree-adorned hallway and explore multiple rooms in their home, then venture beyond as you’re transported to the magical jungle of Peru – all to help Paddington prepare for the biggest party Windsor Gardens has ever seen! Finish by celebeating the Marmalade Day Festival at Windsor Gardens with Paddington and his friends where you’ll dance to vibrant calypso music, play fairground games and eat & drink festival treats – most importantly, you can try Paddington’s favourite Marmalade sandwich!
📍 Waterloo 💰 From £116.00 (Family of 4)
🧒 Suitable for all ages 🎟️ Book via paddingtonbearexperience.com
Phantom Peak - The Burning Blimp Festival
Photo: Alistair Veryard
Regular readers of Immersive Rumours will know how much we love Phantom Peak. Combining elements of escape rooms and immersive theatre, the show is a one-of-a-kind open-world experience that feels a lot like stepping into a real-life video game. Each new season of the show has 10+ story trails to work through, with each one taking anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes to complete.
As part of each trail, guests interact with both the town's many residents and numerous pieces of interactive tech scattered across the town to try and get to the bottom of what's going on. This season there's trails that parodying everything from Scooby-Doo to The Muppets and Furbies, on top of some huge developments in the show's overarching storyline, which focuses on a power struggle between the town's former Mayor and current leader, Jonas.
On top of the main story trails, there's plenty of other things going on to occupy your time, including Platyhooks (hook a duck but with platypuses), numerous carnival games, a puzzle hunt and the Miramaze, which is complete with a bungee cord assault course and ballpit. Every session of Phantom Peak is open to all ages, and the show's cast is great at interacting with younger guests. It's an ideal real-world substitute for a day of playing video games at home. and is the standout experience in London's immersive theatre scene.
Photos: Alistair Veryard
Phantom Peak is a fully immersive, open world experience - a living, breathing town where mystery lurks around every corner. Think of it as part escape room, part immersive theatre, part real-life videogame. You’ll meet mysterious strangers, uncover secret plots of rebellion, and find out what exactly happened to the old Mayor (coincidental accident, or cold-blimped murder?!) During your visit to the town, you'll meet the inhabitants of Phantom Peak; some diehard loyalists to JONACO, some less enthusiastically so. Such is the price of PROGRESS! Through interacting with them, you'll discover hidden secrets and clues that will help you to navigate the world! Full of secretive quests and quirky characters, you experience the world through a custom-made made web-app (no downloads necessary!) that guides your adventure through man-made canals and a vast, split-level old town.
📍 Canada Water 💰 From £115.00 (Family of 4)
🧒 Suitable for all ages 🎟️ Book via phantompeak.com
Jurassic World: The Experience
Photo: Universal Studios/Amblin Entertainment
Returning to London after previously being at ExCel London in 2023, Jurassic World: The Experience gives visitors the chance to step into a recreation of the world-famous dinosaur park and come face to face with some of the franchises best-known creatures.
Spread across two floors of NEON at Battersea Power Station, this walkthrough experience - which lasts between 45 and 55 minutes - is packed full of outstanding animatronics, offers endless photo opportunities, and lets visitors get up close and personal with a number of dinosaurs from across the Jurassic World series, including Blue (Jurassic World) and Bumpy (Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous).
Jurassic World: The Experience is one of the few attractions where guests actually expect things to go wrong, and true to form, the Park Rangers have a lot to worry about in the second half of the experience when some of the parks biggest carnivores, including the iconic Tyrannosaurus Rex, break free from their enclosures.
Those with very young children might find these scenes are too intense for them, but for bigger kids and adults, it offers a thrilling encounter that feels like stepping directly into the movie, and is on par with the climactic moments of film's various theme park attractions in terms of spectacle and awe.
Photos: Universal Studios/Amblin Entertainment
Jurassic World: The Experience, which returns to London due to phenomenal demand, will be the first of many live entertainment experiences to be staged at the new attraction. Visitors will walk amongst pre-historic giants and get up close and personal with countless different species across two floors of curated Jurassic World immersive environments within this new venue. Fans of the franchise and audiences of all ages will be immersed in scenes inspired by the beloved films including walking beneath a towering Brachiosaurus, exploring the lab of genetic development, coming face to face with Velociraptor Blue, and even get a rare up-close look at the most vicious dinosaur of them all, the Tyrannosaurus rex. Guests will also be able to interact with baby dinosaurs, discover and engage with actual fossilised dinosaur bones.
📍 Battersea Power Station 💰 From £147.50 (Family of 4)
🧒 Suitable for all ages (though it has intense moments) 🎟️ Book via feverup.com
Paradox Museum
Photo: Paradox Museum
Located just over the road from Harrods in Knightsbridge, Paradox Museum London invites families into a surreal playground of optical illusions and interactive rooms built to test their perceptions and spark creativity. With over 50 installations on offer, which have all been designed to blend science with imagination, it’s a tactile and highly-Instagrammable experience that's suitable for all ages and sure to delight kids.
Some of the museum's most popular exhibits include Zero Gravity, which gives the illusion of floating in space, the Paradox Sofa, where guests legs and torso appear to be split in two, the Camouflage Room, and an upside-down version of a London Underground platform, in which it looks like guests are hanging from platform signs.
For the summer, Paradox Museum is getting a Tropical Paradise makeover, which will see the museum be transformed into a summer haven, complete with themed exhibits, neon decorations, exotic plants and birds, colourful summer updates to key rooms like the Infinite Cosmos and Park Room, new photo moments in a beach-themed entrance and a 3D optical illusion swimming pool in the main event area.
On top of all this, there's also a new Passport Safari Game, offering kids the chance to take part in a hands-on, scavenger-style adventure. Young explorers can follow the clues, complete the stamps, and solve playful puzzles as they navigate the museum’s most mind-bending rooms. The game will be available as an optional add-on for all visits throughout the summer.
Photos: Paradox Museum
The Paradox Museum is an innovative venue that combines the world of science, art and human perception. With over 50 amazing, paradox-inspired exhibits, Paradox Museum offers more mind-twisting, eye-tricking experiences than any other edutainment destination in the world! On this self-guided experience, you will learn everything about the exciting science behind paradoxes, have a ton of fun and take photos so spectacular that your friends will not believe they’re real.
📍 Knightsbridge 💰 From £80.00 (Family of 4)
🧒 Suitable for all ages 🎟️ Book via feverup.com
Race Across The World: The Experience
Image: Race Across The World - The Experience
Race Across The World: The Experience, based on the hit BBC series, is the latest city-wide treasure hunt experience from CityDays. While the TV series this experience is based on has competitors racing for 50-plus days across multiple countries with little more than a map, a GPS tracker, and several thousand pounds to pay for travel, lodging, and food, this new London-based race runs anywhere from 2 to 4 hours and sees those taking part cover roughly 5km on foot through Central London.
Staples of the BBC series - including budget management and navigating without a map - have been carried over and make up the core experience, which feels like the closest adaptation of the TV series possible without requiring a passport or more than an afternoon of your time.
The fast-paced format and sense of discovery built into Race Across The World: The Experience keeps kids engaged throughout, and the focus placed on looking at the city in a different way means they're interacting with the streets and sights of London with a (hopefully) more considered view. Small details that you'd otherwise walk past without giving a second thought need to be studied, quiet backstreets and passageways that you never knew existed need to be explored, and with the clock ticking the entire time, there's a real sense of urgency throughout.
Photo: Race Across The World: The Experience
This high-stakes experience will offer players the chance to live out their Race Across the World dreams by navigating the streets of London, working as a team, outwitting their competitors, and unlocking hidden secrets of the city in an unforgettable race to the finish line! Just like in the show, Race Across The World: The Experience requires strategy, teamwork, and quick thinking, as players will be given a budget to manage as they race through the city. This budget can be spent on valuable clues to help navigate the next leg of the journey, giving players the freedom to decide how daring they want to be. It's a high-stakes race against the clock, where every decision counts and influences the race, but beware, each clue comes at a cost. Players will be scored based on their time and how much budget they have left, with their final score ranked on a live leaderboard throughout the day and week.
📍 Liverpool Street 💰 From £130.00 (Family of 4)
🧒 Suitable for all ages 🎟️ Book via feverup.com
For more on London's best immersive shows (both family-friendly and not), check out our Current/Upcoming Listings page.
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