Madame Tussauds

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Madame Marie Tussaud was a wax sculptor who, in 1765, made a famous waxwork of Louis XV’s mistress, a creation which was to launch her illustrious career. A cast of this mould is now the oldest exhibit at the famous waxworks in London’s Marylebone Street.

If an old friend happened to mention that he’d recently bumped into Barack Obama, David Beckham, Madonna, Cameron Diaz, The Queen and Shrek within a few minutes of one another, you’d probably seriously consider phoning a psychiatrist. Until, that is, he added “at Madame Tussauds”, when you’d instantly realise he was completely sane all along. It’s a conversation that might well persuade you that in your search for good holiday rentals, London is the place to go.

During her life, Tussaud personally modelled some extraordinarily important people, including the French revolutionary Voltaire, the philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau and even Benjamin Franklin (who had been keeping a close eye on the revolutionary events sweeping through France in the late eighteenth century).

Today, the museum displays hundreds of exquisitely sculpted life-sized models, with new arrivals being added continually. Zoned into several major areas, you’ll discover celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Kate Moss and Nicole Kidman in the ‘A-List Party’ area, or Prince William and the rest of the Royal Family in the ‘Royalty’ zone. Other areas include ‘Scream’, where the infamous ‘Chamber of Horrors’ resides, the ‘Sports Zone’ where you can stand shoulder to shoulder with legendary figures like Lewis Hamilton, Muhammad Ali and Pele, and ‘Music Megastars’. Here you can take a snap of yourself standing beside superstars past and present like Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, Amy Winehouse and Britney Spears. The models are both curiously eerie and addictively compelling. Considering that every wax figure takes over 800 hours of meticulous sculpting to produce, each one amounts to a labour of love. If you’re thinking ‘holiday rentals London’ Madame Tussauds should be on your list of must-see venues, especially if you have children.

The museum is open daily between 9.30am and 5.30pm (9.00am and 6.00pm during weekends and school holidays). Baker Street is the nearest underground station and buses 13, 18, 27, 30, 74, 82, 113, 139, 189, 205, 274 and 453 all travel to the museum. At the door, tickets cost £25.54 for adults, £21.46 for children, and £88.78 for a family (online, these prices are £22.99, £18.90 and £79.59 respectively).

For some of the best city-based holiday rentals London is in a league of its own, offering luxuriously equipped apartments and stunning tourist attractions like Madame Tussauds. And despite being in one of the most dynamic and culturally rich cities in the world, holiday rentals (London and surrounding areas) are frequently surprisingly modestly priced.