London Dungeon and Scotland Yard
 

What exactly is the London Dungeon? Is it just a tour or is it like an American "Haunted House" at Halloween? Is it worth it?

Scotland Yard - I know you can't tour anything unless you are an officer with an appointment (I think this is what I've read). My husband and I are officers in USA and would like to see the Crime Museum. Anyone (I guess who is an officer) ever managed to get in? Who did you contact?

If you can't tell, we like mystery stuff and thought these 2 things would add to the usual tourist attractions.

Comments?

The London Dungeon is a display of techniques of imprisonment and torture. It appeals to some schoolchildren: many adults find it trashy.

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Would the Sherlock Holmes Museum on Baker Street please you ? www.sherlock-holmes.co.uk/

Ben Haines

Why not contact the Metropolitan Police and ask them?

General correspondence and enquiries
The postal address for New Scotland Yard is:

New Scotland Yard
Broadway
London
SW1H OBG


Telephone: 020 7230 1212

BTW, the Met's website is
http://www.met.police.uk/

London Dungeon -- went back in 2000. It wasn't impressive. Kind of a second less popular take on Madame Tussauds torture chamber. There is some information on the plague and you do some running around. Kids may like it, however, I wouldn't go out of my way to see it with London having so many other outstanding things worth my time.

I doubt you'll be able to visit Scotland Yard - l have never been there, although if you contact them personally, they may decide differently.

The London Dungeons are quite good, although as people have said - they are seen as trashy.

Thanks Ben for the suggestion of Sherlock Holmes. I hadn't thought of that. Looks like it would take less than a couple of hours?

As for Scotland Yard, I have emailed twice and I'm being shuffled to different departments to help with my request. Just wondered if any officers had ever gotten in....

How long is the Dungeon tour? Keep the review coming on whether you liked them or not. Please!

We have only about 3 days (with one being the day we arrive) in London before heading to Walton Hall and countryside day trips. We aren't real museum types so any good concise "must see" itineraries (keeping in mind Sherlock or the Dungeon) and in what order so that we don't waste precious time? Haven't booked our London lodging so that's flexible at this point (4 total, 2 adults and a 2 14 yr olds).

OMG, I can't *imagine* wasting part of a mere 3 days on something like the London Dungeon. Why not check out their web site? My teenage son did, and soon agreed with the majority of the posters on this board, that it's just the stuff that was too gross and trashy to go in Mme. Tussaud's. Our understanding was that it's not experiential like a Halloween haunted house, just waxworks displays.

Why do something fake like that when you can go to the Tower of London, which is a real place a thousand years old, and get a tour by one of the many dedicated and talented Beefeaters, who will show you many of the places where these horrors acually occurred and tell stories that leave enough to the imagination?

Another real place that intrigued my teenager was the Cabinet War Rooms, the underground chambers where Churchill ran his WWII operations. It's a real time capsule of a place where plenty of mystery and intrigue occurred. The place is preserved or re-created just as it was, with the bank of color-coded telephones, wall maps showing ship movements, etc.

What - no one else has any comments...good or bad???? Or is everyone following what your mother told you "if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all"?

Please tell me the good, bad and ugly!

The London Dungeon used to be great until it was changed a few years ago. Most of the exhibits were taken down and were replaced by a cheesy ride. I love info on London's morbid past. Too bad you didn't get too see it when it was really interresting.
P.S. It is/was a museum filled with Madame Tousseaus wax reproductions of midevil tourture, devices & such through out the ages in England's history. There is still a very good section there about Jack the Ripper.
Haven't been to Scotland Yard though = )

"if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all"?

Not really - it is just that this particular tourist trap is asked about regularly on this forum. If you do a search you will find a LOT of information/reviews. Save your time and money and see London, not a sleazy "created" attraction. There are thousands of years of real history to experience in London, you don't need a fake place to make it real.

So it's changed in the last few years? My kids discovered it on the internet and a co-worker raved about it and thought we would like it. But she went there 8 or 9 years ago. So far it sounds like we should skip it in favor of the Cabinet War rooms as was suggested.

Anyone been to Sherlock Holmes museum that Ben suggested? Is it fake also?

Can someone explain the "right" way to do a search on here? (I did one before I started this thread and only found 5 or so posts briefly mentioning (not really explaining or giving much of an opinion) the London Dungeon or Scotland Yard that were from 2002 and earlier). I'm doing something way wrong I guess.

Help!

i went to the crime museum about ten yrs
ago. i just walked to new scotland yard
showed my id and they set up a tour. they appear to fit you in when they have an opening so you have to be flexable. try the website,the museum was well worth it.

Um, Melissa, the Holmes Museum would have to be "fake," as he was a fictional character! It doesmake an effort to reproduce Holmesian rooms and stuff as described in the books.

Ugh... by "fake", I meant like not worth the time or money because it doesn't portray the character or time period. Maybe I should have said "fakish"?

Thanks Georged for your comments on getting in. Maybe if they haven't responded in writing or email by then, we can at least walk up and see what happens.

... try "www.thedungeons.com" for the details on the the London Dungeon ... we were there in October, it was OK ... we had the 'London Pass', so it included free access to the London Dungeon ... but if we'd have paid £14 each we'd have been extremely disappointed ...

We are planning a trip to London & Paris next month and plan to take the Jack the Ripper tour of White Chapel. Sounds like this might be right up your alley too.

I am a long time Sherlock Holmes fan, and my visit to the Sherlock Holmes museum was time well-spent. I, too, only had 3 days in London that time, and it was my first visit. It's not actually AT 221B Baker Street (that has an office building on it) but down the street. It is set up JUST as it was in the books, down to little details... like the syringe Holmes used to inject his morphine, and the persian slipper he kept his tobacco in. There is a pleasant tea room downstairs (where the landlady would have lived) where I had a lovely tea with strawberries and cream... yummmmm...

Melissa,

Hi. I was fortunate enough to go to the Scotland Yard Crime Museum or Blacks Museum as it is called just last year. It was one of the most fascinating museums I have ever been to. However, the visit was arranged for me. I had to supply information ahead of time for a background check before being allowed in. The man currently running the museum is fascinating but does not like taking around "tourists." I would contact someone at ScotlandYard ahead of time.

Also took a tour, 3 years ago, of a Metropolitan Police Station and went on a ride along in the Scotland Yard response car. Again fascinating. I was told by the Sargent who invited me that if you are in law enforcement, any police station should be willing to give a tour and a possible ride along because it is often done here in the States for visitors from Britain.

Hope this helps some.