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Museum of Illusions

Market Street

Demonstrations of visual illusions

Where?

image of invisible-cities

Get there

Public transport: tram/bus to ‘Exchange Square’ or ‘Market Street’, 3 mins. Private Transport: Arndale or Northern Quarter carparks, both poorly‐rated. Accessibility issues for some exhibits, but a good lift.

Review

But why the full entry? Because The Museum of Illusions is fun and, even on a quiet day, it was obvious everyone felt so. Expensive, yes—you can book online for a little less, or pay at the counter upstairs. The other complaint is that it gets busy at peak times. The visitor profile leans towards the young or families, but no more so than some other museums. The signage is very good—use websearches to learn more. Some clambering on some of the exhibits—but a lift and the signage/assistants can help, so still good for people with access difficulties. Perhaps no fun for the visually impaired. It’s a short, one‐way walk through one subject. The museum is not special to Manchester, across the world are over sixty of these from Kuala Lumpur to Seattle—some may say that tells what kind of company Manchester keeps (2025 for the Manchester museum). If you have a phone or camera, take it because you’ll want photos—I’m not gonna give the game away. You did go there, didn’t you—not a delusion?