Europe
United Kingdom (UK)
England
Warwickshire
Stratford-upon-Avon
Things to do in Stratford-upon-Avon
The MAD Museum

The MAD Museum, Stratford-upon-Avon: Hours, Address, The MAD Museum Reviews: 4.5/5

See all things to do

The MAD Museum

See all things to do
See all things to do
The MAD Museum
4.5
1,586
#6 of 100 things to do in Stratford-upon-Avon
Art Museums
Read more
10:00 - 17:30
Monday
10:00 - 17:00
Tuesday
10:00 - 17:00
Wednesday
10:00 - 17:00
Thursday
10:00 - 17:00
Friday
10:00 - 17:00
Saturday
10:00 - 17:30
Sunday
10:00 - 17:30
Write a review
About
Stratford upon Avon is most famous for being the birthplace of poet and play writer William Shakespeare, but why not try something completely outside of the box and visit the towns newest most exciting attraction- The MAD (Mechanical Art & Design) Museum.As soon as you step into this quirky attraction you'll be greeted with whirling robotics, churning clogs, rolling ball circuits, ingenious design and crazy sounds! The MAD Museum does what it says on the tin, showcasing an absolutely MAD assortment of Kinetic Art, Automata and Steampunk contraptions, gadgets and gismos. Venture into an eccentric world of moving art; The MAD Museum is a wonderful place to watch and interact with an astonishing assortment of both modern and old fashioned, yet highly innovative and elaborate machines! For the young ones: Dancing lasers, rolling ball machines, roaring mechanical dinosaur heads and whirligigs all with lots of buttons to press! The MAD Museum offers an exciting visit with an educational bias, relevant to curriculum modules such as Design & Technology and Science. We give children an experience that is worthwhile, educationally beneficial and also a lot of fun!
Suggested duration
1-2 hours
Suggest edits to improve what we show.
Improve this listing
Tours & experiences
Explore different ways to experience this place.
Full view
What is Travellers’ Choice?
Tripadvisor gives a Travellers’ Choice award to accommodations, attractions and restaurants that consistently earn great reviews from travellers and are ranked within the top 10% of properties on Tripadvisor.
Revenue impacts the experiences featured on this page, learn more.

Top ways to experience The MAD Museum and nearby attractions

The area
Address
Best nearby
We rank these restaurants and attractions by balancing reviews from our members with how close they are to this location.
Restaurants
193 within 5 kms
The Cork & Tile Portuguese
103
83 m€€ - €€€ • Mediterranean • European • Healthy
Plantarium Cafe
208
0.2 km€€ - €€€ • Dessert • Cafe • Contemporary
Loxley's Restaurant & Wine Bar
5,893
0.2 km€€ - €€€ • European • British • Wine Bar
Lambs Restaurant
2,811
0.2 km€€ - €€€ • International • Vegetarian Friendly • Vegan Options
Honey Blue
168
0.2 km€ • Cafe • Contemporary • Vegetarian Friendly
Shakespaw Cat Cafe
794
73 m€€ - €€€ • Cafe • British • Vegetarian Friendly
HR Coffee Bar
601
0.2 km€ • Cafe • British • Vegetarian Friendly
El Greco
2,645
0.2 km€€ - €€€ • Mediterranean • European • Greek
The Opposition Bistro
1,963
0.2 km€€ - €€€ • European • British • Vegetarian Friendly
Edward Moon
1,836
0.2 km€€ - €€€ • European • British • Vegetarian Friendly
See all
Attractions
95 within 10 kms
Henley Street Antiques Centre
25
34 mAntique Shops
Stratford-upon-Avon Library & Registration Service
2
50 mLibraries
Henley Street
312
60 mHistoric Walking Areas
Shakespeare's Birthplace
5,173
0.1 kmHistoric Sites • Architectural Buildings
Magic Alley Stratford upon Avon
148
0.1 kmSpeciality Museums
The Shakespeare Centre
141
0.2 kmLibraries
Tudor World
1,209
0.2 kmHistoric Sites • History Museums
The Jester
148
0.1 kmMonuments & Statues
Harvard House
202
0.1 kmHistoric Sites • Architectural Buildings
The Shakespeare Heritage Trail
8
0.1 kmHistoric Walking Areas
See all
Detailed Reviews: Reviews order informed by descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as cleanliness, atmosphere, general tips and location information.
Popular mentions
We perform checks on reviews
Tripadvisor’s approach to reviews
Before posting, each Tripadvisor review goes through an automated tracking system, which collects information, answering the following questions: how, what, where and when. If the system detects something that potentially contradicts our community guidelines, the review is not published.
When the system detects a problem, a review may be automatically rejected, sent to the reviewer for validation, or manually reviewed by our team of content specialists, who work 24/7 to maintain the quality of the reviews on our site.
Our team checks each review posted on the site disputed by our community as not meeting our community guidelines.
Learn more about our review moderation.
4.5
1,586 reviews
Excellent
1,149
Very good
339
Average
65
Poor
25
Terrible
9
Sophie I
1 contribution
A wonderful, magical place
Family
What a wonderful, magical place! My son (5 year old) loved it so much he chose to come here again on the last day of the holiday. A great mix of things to watch and hands-on opportunities and a good compromise for little ones who don't get Shakespeare yet!
Written 12 August 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
John H
3 contributions
It was one of the best days of our holiday in Stratford.
Found MAD listed as a place to visit and boy was it worth it.
This venue is a brilliant place with many interactive things to see and play with for adults and chlidren of all ages.

My wife and I went in and had such a great time we did not emerge for 3 hours.

The ingenuity of the artists/constructors is fantastic. Being able to make your own marble runs using various shape guides on a magnetic wall was great fun.

There were children of all ages playing there, to give you an idea I am 70 and some of the children who were too small to stand played on the floor.

I can not recommend this highly enough. It was one of the best days of our holiday in Stratford.
Written 11 August 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
Lee L
17 contributions
Not much to see...
My son was bored within 10 minutes.
This place may be enjoyable for younger children, 11 and below.
Staff were polite enough and the place was clean.
Written 8 August 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
NewCumbrian
Carlisle Cumbria44 contributions
Creative hold for kids
Family
Kids loved all the wacky mechines and played for ages in the "create your own" room. Reasonably priced, £22 for the family. Great gun
Written 8 August 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
AJP99
Birmingham, UK18 contributions
Fun for big kids
Friends
Loved the chance to see the kinetic art, videos and automations: it brought out the big kids in us.

We would have loved to see more and hope that you have the capacity to extend in the future.
Written 6 August 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
Timbo3765
Pershore, UK623 contributions
Great place to while away a couple of hours
Took 3 grandchildren here during the holidays for the first time. Friendly welcome and reasonably priced to go in. Lots of weird automatons to see and interact with. They particularly liked the area to do your own ball bearing run. There is no cafe here indeed drinks etc are not permitted inside the museum which I think is a missed opportunity. There is certainly enough to keep kids occupied for a couple of hours no more so bear this in mind. The museum is upstairs but there is a lift.
Written 2 August 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
MG
Hello Timbo Great to hear you all had a good time at Mad. As you may have seen we just haven't got the room for a café and it's also a safety issue with having a large amount of electrical exhibits around the Museum, luckily Henley Street has quite a few cafés so you don't need to go far for a drink. Thank you for taking the time to do a review and we hope to see you all again.
Written 4 August 2022
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of TripAdvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
Vanessa W
5 contributions
Brilliant! Hidden Gem of Stratford
Family
Visited today with my husband and my children age 12 and 10. All of us absolutely loved this museum and rated it in our top 3 of things we did in Stratford Upon Avon during our trip! It’s not big but great that most of it is interactive, we spent well over an hour exploring. Lady on the entrance was helpful and friendly. We used Tesco Clubcard vouchers to pay which was great but It’s worth the full entry price.
Written 28 July 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
MG
Hi Thank you for taking the time to leave a review and it's great to hear we were in your top 3 and that you all enjoyed your time at Mad. Thank you :)
Written 4 August 2022
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of TripAdvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
Melissa-Rollison
Hethersett, UK47 contributions
Great fun
Family
Great find, highly recommended

Kids and adults all loved it. So much to watch and be mesmorised by. Who doesn't love pressing buttons to make fun stuff happen!!
Written 24 July 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
MG
Hello Melissa Thank you for leaving a review, we're glad you all had a great time at Mad and enjoyed the Exhibits so much. Thank you :)
Written 26 July 2022
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of TripAdvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
Simon B
6 contributions
Forget Shakespeare - THIS is the reason to visit Stratford.
Friends
What a place ! I knew next to nothing before visiting and within moments I was wondering why I didn't know anything of these amazing machines or the incredible designers or makers before.

For the first time ever, I wanted to see every single piece in a museum and read every single panel. So many WOW moments, moments which brought laughter and real pleasure. Mesmerising, amusing and mind blowing.

Loved the hands on area - just wished that I had every child I knew with me because I know how much they'd love it. The little cinema has some incredible films (some of which I immediately found and saved on You Tube). Great little shop with loads of unique items with a range for everyone's pocket.

Special mention must go to the staff who were warm, welcoming and helpful. Thank you very much indeed guys for really topping off my visit. My first time, but definitely won't be my last.

(And oh ... make sure you visit the loos ... 😊)
Written 23 July 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
MG
Hello Simon Thank you so much for taking the time to leave such a wonderful review of your visit to MAD. It' s truly heart warming to read such a wonderful review, it really sums up what we feel (and you) Mad is all about. The artists and the fantastic exhibits they have have created are great and deserve to be looked at and admired for the time and effort that goes into making them. I have always said that we have always been blessed with all the staff that work at Mad, it's a great team effort and everyone one of us loves working here. Thank you again and we hope you can come and visit us again soon. MG
Written 26 July 2022
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of TripAdvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
naab00
Derby, UK49 contributions
Really fun, engaging “museum” - far from boring! It’s not to be missed!
Family
This was such a good place to go!
Staff: very helpful & enthusiastic.
Content: fascinating, held the attention of adults and additional needs/learning disability kids well - many younger children primary-aged and older will love it.
Price: very reasonable, and ticket allowed return later in the day.
It’s not a huge museum but there’s plenty of it for a good couple of hours.
And it’s not very prominent but it is surprisingly central, right in the middle of Stratford.
There are tons and a good variety of hands-on “wow” type activities. Very clever.
Written 21 July 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
MG
Hello Naab Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a brilliant review about your visit to Mad, we're so glad you found it fascinating, fun and engaging. We hope you can visit again sometime. Thank you
Written 22 July 2022
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of TripAdvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
2
…
Showing results 1-10 of 1,563
Revenue impacts the experiences featured on this page, learn more.
Anything missing or inaccurate?
Suggest edits to improve what we show.
Improve this listing
Frequently Asked Questions about The MAD Museum
The MAD Museum is open:
  • Mon - Fri 10:00 - 17:00
  • Sat - Sun 10:00 - 17:30
Buy tickets in advance on Tripadvisor. If you book with Tripadvisor, you can cancel at least 24 hours before the start date of your tour for a full refund.
We recommend booking The MAD Museum tours ahead of time to secure your spot. If you book with Tripadvisor, you can cancel up to 24 hours before your tour starts for a full refund. See all 6 The MAD Museum tours on Tripadvisor