Neither, for most families. The two cost almost exactly the same, about £100 online for two adults and two children, and neither will be the thing anybody remembers about the trip. If you are going anyway, the answer is decided by one number: your children's ages. Under 12, Madame Tussauds. Twelve and over, the Dungeon.
Both are run by the same company, both stand beside other attractions in the same group, and both price by demand, so the figure you see changes with the date and how full the slot is. Madame Tussauds is a wax museum next to Baker Street station. The London Dungeon is a walk-through theatre show in County Hall, beside the London Eye, with actors, gore and a drop ride.
Our full pages on Madame Tussauds London and the London Dungeon describe what is inside each. This page does the arithmetic, the age limits and the bundles, which is where families lose money.
The two prices are four pounds apart
Here is the comparison the operators do not print side by side. Both sets of figures were read on the official ticket pages in September 2026, and both are "from" prices that rise on busy dates.
| Madame Tussauds | The London Dungeon | |
|---|---|---|
| Adult, online from | £27 | £27 |
| Adult, at the door | £39 | £35 |
| Child, online from | £24 (ages 2-15) | £22 (ages 5-15) |
| Child, at the door | £35 | £29 |
| Under-2s | Free | Not admitted at all under 5 |
| Two adults, two children, online | £102 | £98 |
| Two adults, two children, at the door | £148 | £128 |
| Advertised advance saving | Up to 31 per cent | Up to 23 per cent |
Four pounds, online, for a family of four. Anyone who tells you one of these is the cheaper option is comparing the wrong columns. What does differ, and by a lot, is the penalty for turning up without a ticket: £46 at Tussauds and £30 at the Dungeon. Book, whichever you pick.
The upgrades are where the money goes. Tussauds sells a Flexi Fast Track at £37 online and a Champagne Bar ticket at £42. The Dungeon sells Anytime Entry at £35, a cocktail package at £33, a photo package at £34 and a VIP ticket at £50. None of those changes what you see.
Photo: Jordiferrer · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons · resized
The Dungeon turns small children away at the door
This is the hard rule and it catches families out every week. Nobody under five gets into the London Dungeon at all, and the age the venue itself recommends is twelve and over. Children of 5 and above may go in at a parent's discretion, and everyone under 16 must be with an adult of 18 or over. The drop ride has a minimum height of 1.4 metres, so a nine-year-old may be turned away from that even after paying full price.
Families book online, travel to County Hall with a three-year-old, and are refused at the entrance. The ticket is non-refundable. If anyone in your party is under five, the decision is already made for you.
Measure the child before you buy a Dungeon ticket. The drop ride's 1.4 metre minimum applies on the day, not at booking, and the ride is one of the two things children talk about afterwards. A child of nine or ten who is short for their age pays the same £22 and misses it.
Madame Tussauds has no minimum age, admits under-2s free, and charges the child rate from age 2. That does not make it good value for a three-year-old, who will not recognise a single figure, but it does mean nobody is refused.
Which one suits which age
| Age | Our view |
|---|---|
| Under 5 | Tussauds by default, since the Dungeon will not admit them. But at £24 for a two-year-old, spend it elsewhere: see our toddler guide |
| 5 to 8 | Neither. The Dungeon is dark and loud and much of its humour is adult; the figures at Tussauds mean nothing to this age |
| 9 to 11 | Tussauds, if anyone. The Marvel and football figures land, and the 4D film holds attention |
| 12 to 15 | The Dungeon. This is exactly who it is built for, and the age at which the jokes and the drop ride work |
| 16 and over | The Dungeon with a group of friends, Tussauds if you enjoy posing for photographs |
For older children generally, our guide to London with teenagers contains a good many better ways to spend £100.
What £100 buys instead
This is the part most comparisons leave out, and it is the reason our answer is "neither". A family of four has roughly £100 to allocate. Here is what else that buys, using prices from the official sources.
| Instead | Two adults, two children |
|---|---|
| Kew Gardens, booked online at the peak rate | £54, because children aged 4 to 15 are £2 each online |
| The cable car, return | £40.50 |
| Wonderlab at the Science Museum, day pass | From £54, with the museum itself free |
| The Tower of London, children aged 5 to 15 | £111, and under-5s free |
| London Museum Docklands and a boat there | Free entry; you pay only the fares |
Kew and the cable car together come to £94.50 and fill a whole day outdoors. The Tower costs £9 more than Tussauds and is the real thing. And a day of free museums costs nothing but lunch. If wet weather is the reason you are considering an indoor attraction at all, our list of rainy day activities for children is cheaper in almost every line.
How to avoid paying twice
Both attractions belong to the same group as the London Eye and SEA LIFE, and both are sold in bundles. The bundles are genuinely worth money, but not for the reason the marketing gives, and the arithmetic is worth five minutes.
The operators quote savings against the walk-up prices, which nobody sensible pays. Compare against the cheapest online prices instead:
- London Eye plus Madame Tussauds, £49 an adult. Advertised against £78 bought separately. Booked separately online at the lowest rates it is £29 plus £27, so £56. The real saving is about £7.
- London Eye, Tussauds and SEA LIFE, £54 an adult. Against £29, £27 and £28 booked separately, which is £84. The real saving is about £30, and this is the one bundle that pays.
- The five-attraction ticket at £69, adding the Dungeon and Shrek's Adventure. Only worth it if you intend to do all five, which for most families means two long days indoors.
The trap is the middle case. Buying the two-attraction bundle at £49 and then adding SEA LIFE separately at £28 costs £77, when the three-attraction bundle is £54. If you want any two of these, check the price of three before you pay. Our assessment of whether the London Pass is worth it applies the same test to the sightseeing passes.
One booking rule saves more than any bundle. Online tickets at both attractions can be moved to another date free of charge, up to three times, as long as you do it before your slot. So book the cheapest early slot you can find months ahead and change the date later, rather than waiting until you know your plans.
If you are going anyway
A few practical things that decide how the visit feels.
Time needed. Tussauds says most visitors spend around an hour and a half to two hours. The Dungeon runs as a timed walk-through of about that length, but you cannot speed it up or leave early without asking, because you move with a group.
Bags. The Dungeon has no cloakroom, bags over 30 litres and suitcases are refused, and there is nowhere on site to leave them. It also has one set of lavatories, at the start. Both facts matter more than they sound: our page on left luggage in London covers where to put a suitcase first.
Language. The Dungeon is entirely in English and turns on wordplay and British cultural references. A family whose English is limited will enjoy the sets and understand almost none of the jokes, which is half of what they paid for. Tussauds has no such problem, because it is a room full of famous faces.
Where they are. Tussauds is on Marylebone Road at Baker Street. The Dungeon is in County Hall on the South Bank, next door to the London Eye and the aquarium, which is why the bundles exist and why one South Bank day can absorb several of them.
The thing that ruins the day at each
At Tussauds, it is the queue for photographs inside. The figures are the attraction, everybody wants the same shot, and at half term the rooms become a slow shuffle from one tripod's worth of people to the next. Booking the earliest slot of the day is the only real defence.
At the Dungeon, it is a frightened child. The venue warns that it is dark, smelly, noisy and enclosed, with sudden scares, and it will not refund a ticket because a nine-year-old could not cope. If you are unsure, talk it through at home first, and be honest about the answer. Our guide to London with kids has the age bands for everything else in the city.
Frequently asked questions
Is Madame Tussauds or the London Dungeon better for a family?
Neither is good value, and they cost within four pounds of each other online for two adults and two children. If your children are under 12, Madame Tussauds; if they are 12 or over, the Dungeon, which is built for that age. Under-5s cannot enter the Dungeon at all.
How much is Madame Tussauds for a family of four?
From £102 online for two adults and two children aged 2 to 15, against £148 at the door. Those are "from" prices and rise with demand and with how close to the day you book, so the figure on a Saturday in the school holidays will be higher than the floor.
What is the minimum age for the London Dungeon?
Nobody under five is let in. Twelve and over is the age the venue recommends, children of five and above may go in if a parent decides so, and anyone under sixteen needs an adult of eighteen or over with them. The drop ride has a separate minimum height of 1.4 metres.
Do the combination tickets actually save money?
The three-attraction ticket does. At £54 an adult it undercuts booking the London Eye, Madame Tussauds and SEA LIFE separately online, which comes to about £84. The two-attraction ticket at £49 saves only about £7 against the cheapest online prices, because the advertised saving is measured against walk-up prices.
Can I change the date of a Madame Tussauds or London Dungeon ticket?
Yes. Online tickets at both can be rescheduled free of charge up to three times, provided you do it before the start of your booked slot. That makes booking a cheap slot early and moving it later a better strategy than waiting for certainty about your plans.
Sources
- Madame Tussauds London - General admission tickets and prices (checked September 2026)
- The London Dungeon - General tickets and prices (checked September 2026)
- The London Dungeon - Frequently asked questions and age guidance (checked September 2026)
- The London Eye - Tickets, passes and combination prices (checked September 2026)
- Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew - Tickets (checked September 2026)
- Transport for London - Cable car fares (checked September 2026)
- Science Museum - Wonderlab day passes (checked September 2026)