London is no stranger to a good time. Whether you’re a born and bred Londoner, have recently moved to the capital, or are visiting London for a day or two, you’ll never run out of fun things to do: from West End shows to Drag Brunch, and from sports to live music, there’s something for everyone in the big smoke. Over the last couple of years, we’ve seen more hands-on entertainment emerge, too.
Immersive experiences have become popular over the last decade with things like Secret Cinema — cinemas that invite movie-lovers to immerse themselves in the action of the film — and Escape Rooms; a series of rooms where you have to solve a task in each one. These experiences require you, the willing participant, to play games, solve mysteries, and interact with live actors.
There’s something for everyone in our best immersive experience list. So let’s get started.
Jump to:
- Best immersive experiences for the family
- Best immersive experiences for friends
- Best immersive experiences for date night
- Best immersive experiences for foodies
Best immersive experiences in London at a glance
- Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience, from £11.50
- DreamWorks Tours: Shrek’s Adventure! London, from £24
- Stranger Things: The Experience, from £36
- Alcotraz Prison Cocktail Bar, from £36.99
- The Gunpowder Plot, from £40
- Sherlock: The Official Live Game, from £40
- The Great Gatsby – Immersive, from £45.50
- Peaky Blinders: The Rise, from £46.20
- Jeff Wayne’s The War of the Worlds: The Immersive Experience, from £50
- The Murdér Express Part Deux, from £65
Best immersive experiences for the family
Stranger Things: The Experience
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Fans of the hit Netflix TV show Stranger Things are going to love this immersive experience in North West London. Your journey begins in Hawkins Lab, where you’ll take part in an interactive adventure to save the day, alongside actors playing the show’s characters: Eleven, Dustin, Mike, Lucas, Max, and Will. After the adventure, you can chill out in iconic locations which are recreated from the show, like Scoops Ahoy, Family Video, and The Palace arcade. For this immersive experience, you’re invited to dress in your best ’80s gear.
Buy Stranger Things: The Experience tickets from £36 at Fever
The Gunpowder Plot
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Everyone knows this historic story, we celebrate it every year on Bonfire Night. The night when Guy Fawkes attempted to blow up Westminster Palace. Now, the story has been brought to life in The Gunpowder Plot. With Tom Felton (of Harry Potter fame) as Guy Fawkes, participants will wear VR headsets for 90-minutes as they take a boat down the Thames to the Houses of Parliament, then return to Tower Hill Vaults to witness Guy Fawkes’ brutal end.
Buy The Gunpowder Plot tickets from £40 at Ticketmaster
DreamWorks Tours: Shrek’s Adventure! London
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For this interactive tour only, Shrek doesn’t want you to stay out of his swamp, he wants to welcome you in! Enjoy 12 live shows from your favourite characters, like Puss in Boots, Donkey, Gingerbread Man, and, of course, Shrek and Fiona, and there are plenty of photo opportunities to snap pics of your family, too.
Buy DreamWorks Tours: Shrek’s Adventure! London tickets from £24 at Fever
Best immersive experiences for friends
Jeff Wayne’s The War of the Worlds: The Immersive Experience
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Jeff Wayne’s musical adaptation of H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds brought to the stage a fictional world under attack from a Martian invasion. Now, that fiction becomes a reality with this The War of the Worlds immersive experience. You’ll crawl, slide and weave your way through 24 different scenes, including ones in a steampunk bar and the Royal Observatory, before sneaking into a deserted house and escaping London by boat.
Buy Jeff Wayne’s The War of the Worlds: The Immersive Experience tickets from £50 at Fever
Peaky Blinders: The Rise
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If you’re as gutted as we are about Peaky Blinders ending, here’s another chance to enjoy the television show: a brand-new immersive experience. Camden is where you’ll find the recreation of the famous spots from the show. You’re free to decide how to spend the experience: whether that’s with Arthur down The Garrison, in Tommy’s office, or meeting the Italian mob in The Eden Club, which means, if you decide to watch the Peaky Blinders: The Rise more than once, each time will be different.
Buy Peaky Blinders: The Rise tickets from £46.20 at LOVEtheatre
Alcotraz Prison Cocktail Bar
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Inspired by America’s most infamous prison, Alcatraz, this adults-only immersive experience will see you smuggle alcohol into a prison-themed cocktail bar for you to whip up your own drinks concoctions.
You have to bring your own booze to this activity, but all mixers, juices, fruit and syrup will be provided — aren’t the prison guards nice to you!
Buy Alcotraz Prison Cocktail Bar tickets for £36.99 at Fever
Sherlock: The Official Live Game
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Like an escape room, Sherlock: The Official Live Game will test your and your group of friends’ brain power. You’ll visit actual sets from the BBC show Sherlock, and work out clues to solve mysteries in them, with some help from the cast, like Benedict Cumberbatch, Martin Freeman and Andrew Scott.
Buy Sherlock: The Official Live Game tickets from £40 at Fever
Best immersive experiences for date night
Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience
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One of our RadioTimes.com team experienced this exhibition in Manchester and absolutely loved it. Feel like you’re stepping into a piece of art with a 360-degrees digital exhibition of the works of the late and great Vincent van Gogh. There’s also a VR experience where you travel through eight paintings and find out their inspirations, as well as projection mapping and sound effects throughout.
Act fast with this one; it’s only showing until 11th July 2022.
Buy Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience tickets from £11.50 at Fever
The Great Gatsby – Immersive
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Say, old sport, what do you think about joining Jay Gatsby for a party like no other? The Great Gatsby immersive experience invites you to dress up to the nines in twenties attire and enjoy champagne as you watch a performance based on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby.
Buy The Great Gatsby – Immersive tickets from £45.50 at Ticketmaster
Best immersive experiences for foodies
The Murdér Express Part Deux
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What better way to spend your next date night than at an immersive theatre experience onboard an ornate 1920s-inspired train carriage? For this experience, you’ll be transported to the year 1937 when the world’s most valuable diamond has just gone missing from your carriage. Bodies are piling up, and it’s down to you to uncover the killer and the thief. This dining experience is perfect for foodies, too, as you’ll enjoy an amazing four-course meal cooked by a MasterChef professional.
Buy The Murdér Express Part Deux tickets from £65 at Fever
Are you a fan of the theatre? Check out our best West End shows and musicals list. Head to our Going Out section for more on ticket releases, events and festival line-ups.