Last Updated on July 2, 2026 by Adrienne
We’re big Paddington fans, so as soon as I heard about the immersive Paddington Bear Experience, I knew I wanted to work it into our London itinerary. I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect, but I would describe it as a combination of interactive theatre and elaborately-themed pretend play. This ended up being one of the highlights of our time in London for my 8 year old daughter, and I was very impressed with the actors and the attention to detail on the sets. Read on for details about our experience here and what to know before you go.
Location
The Paddington Bear Experience is located on the South Bank, right next to the London Eye and across the Thames from Westminster and Big Ben. The building it’s in has powerful air-conditioning, which was very much appreciated since we visited during a heatwave.
How Long to Allow for the Paddington Bear Experience
The official interactive tour takes about 70 minutes, and there’s an opportunity to play carnival games and take pictures with Paddington at the end. You may also wait a bit from check-in to the beginning of the tour, and if your kids are anything like mine they’ll want time in the gift shop, so all told I’d allow about 2 hours for the experience.
Tickets
While you can walk up and purchase tickets if they’re available, I would recommend getting tickets a week or two in advance because availability does get limited, especially over the summer and on school holidays. You can get tickets directly from the Paddington Bear Experience website or on third party sellers like Viator. In general, third party sellers have a mark-up but I noticed tickets for this experience were sometimes cheaper on Viator (especially for weekdays), so I’d check both places. Your ticket purchase will require you to select a timeslot but I found that – like many attractions in London – they were pretty flexible about entry times (we arrived early and they let us in).
What the Paddington Bear Experience is Like
The entrance to the tour is modeled like the ticket counter at a train station, so you check in and show your tickets and then go to “Paddington Station” to await your train. The trains (tours) depart every 15 minutes or so.
After a quick “train ride” where the staff goes over the ground rules, you’re met by Mrs. Brown who greets you and explains the day’s mission: to prepare for a Marmalade Day festival. This endeavor takes you through multiple rooms of the Brown house and various pretend play scenarios including re-assembling the living room after Paddington made a mess, helping Mrs. Bird bake a cake in the kitchen, and finally to the Peruvian jungle, where you go on a scavenger hunt for the special oranges needed for the marmalade. The actors were awesome and helped the kids get really into it, and the sets were very immersive, with incredible attention to detail.
The experience ends at the marmalade festival, where kids have the chance to play carnival games and take photos with the famous bear himself. There’s also a snack bar where you can buy Paddington-themed treats, including marmalade sandwiches. (I do feel like for the price of the tour they could include a small bite, especially since the whole experience had been building towards eating marmalade — some of the kids in our group were pretty disappointed when they found out it wasn’t included.)
I would say the Paddington Bear Experience is best for children 3 & up who love pretend play. There were some tweens in our group who seemed a little jaded, although they did eventually get into it. Younger children will enjoy the interactive elements, but may get a bit wiggly since there is a fair amount of standing still while watching the actors.
Looking for even more Paddington? We also saw Paddington the Musical on the West End (amazing!) and did an adorable Paddington-themed afternoon tea on a double decker bus. All told, these three experiences made for a really nice trifecta of Paddington activities during our time in London.
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