East London has quietly become home to the UK’s largest immersive entertainment district, and its headline exhibition is about as ambitious as they come.
The Timewalk Exhibition, now open at Immerse LDN on the Royal Docks waterfront, takes visitors on a 60-minute journey through 12,000 years of human history, weaving together 21 ancient civilisations across five vast, cinematic worlds.
14 September 2026 10:00 + more dates
Forget glass cabinets and hushed galleries, this is history told through full-scale architectural reconstructions, spatial soundscapes, and an original score, all inside a venue that’s still in the middle of transforming an entire stretch of London’s waterfront.
Here’s everything you need to know before you go!
A 160,000 sq ft playground built for spectacle
Immerse LDN sits along a kilometre of ExCeL London’s newly redeveloped waterfront in the Royal Docks, and once fully complete, it’ll span more than 160,000 square feet.
The district forms part of a £300 million investment into the wider ExCeL campus, and it’s expected to pull in an extra 2.5 million visitors a year once every phase is up and running.
Since launching in August 2024 with a Friends experience and a Formula 1 exhibition, the district has steadily expanded, and Timewalk marks its most ambitious cultural offering yet, and the UK debut for its creators, Türkiye-based studio DEM Museums.
Stepping into five vanished worlds
Each room functions as its own self-contained world, built at full architectural scale and layered with directional sound design, so the transition from one lost civilisation to the next feels less like walking through an exhibition and more like stepping through a portal.
- The Maya: Wander through dense jungle temples built to decode ancient astronomical mysteries and spiritual ritual
- Babylon: Pass directly beneath a recreation of the legendary blue-glazed Ishtar Gate, deep in the splendour of ancient Mesopotamia
- Ancient Egypt: Sail down a recreated Nile at sunset, past sacred monuments built for the Pharaohs
- Rapa Nui: Come face-to-face with towering Moai statues and the mysteries still surrounding Easter Island
- Göbeklitepe: Step into the world’s oldest known temple complex, built at the very dawn of human civilisation
The whole experience is narrated by actors David Schofield and Olivia Williams, and was designed by a team of more than 250 award-winning immersive artists, designers, and composers.
The tech behind the time travel
What sets Timewalk apart from London’s recent run of immersive exhibitions is that it drops VR headsets entirely and puts 360-degree projection at the centre of the experience rather than treating it as one element among many.
The journey opens in the Timewalk Tunnel, a cosmic corridor of drifting nebulas and sand-like particles that links the birth of the universe to the birth of human civilisation, before guests reach a room of RFID-enabled stone monoliths, where tapping an audio guide against an engraved icon unlocks details on lesser-known civilisations like the Shang and the Sumerians.
From there, each of the four main halls is built around a physical centrepiece that anchors the projections around it: a scale replica of the Ishtar Gate in the Babylon room, a boat cruising an illusion of the Nile in Egypt, tree trunks representing the Maya forest, and a monolithic moai statue for Rapa Nui.
Before exiting, visitors pass through an interactive area that uses body-tracking technology to let digital characters mirror their movements in real time, plus a photobooth to mark the end of the journey.
Practical tips before you book
Timewalk runs daily from 10 am to 7 pm, with the full experience lasting around 60 minutes, and it’s currently booking through 30 September 2026.
Book through the Fever app or the box office, since Fever is the only authorised ticket seller and tickets bought through resale sites like Viagogo can be cancelled without refund.
General admission runs from £22.90 and children’s tickets from £18.50, with children aged 0 to 3 going in free.
Arrive no more than five minutes before your scheduled slot, since the venue has very limited indoor waiting space, and if you’re running late, staff will try to slot you into the next available entry, though it isn’t guaranteed.
There are no seats inside, so budget for a full 60 minutes on your feet, and lockers are available if you’d rather not carry bags through the projection rooms.
Cash isn’t accepted anywhere on site, food and drink from outside aren’t allowed in (sealed water is fine), and strobe lighting features throughout, so it’s worth knowing that in advance if anyone in your group is photosensitive.
The venue is fully wheelchair accessible and air-conditioned throughout, with narration available in 25 languages, plus a specially created child-friendly version for younger visitors, though the exhibition’s loud spatial audio design means parental supervision is recommended for little ones.
You’ll find Immerse LDN at ExCeL London’s Waterfront in Royal Victoria Dock.
If you’re driving, parking needs to be pre-booked to guarantee a spot, at £15 for up to four hours or £30 for a full day, with access via the A13 only.
Public transport is simpler: Custom House station on the Elizabeth line and DLR sits right by the entrance, with step-free lift access straight from the platform.
📍 Immerse LDN, Excel Waterfront
🎟️ Get more details and purchase your tickets online, starting at £22.90
