The Postal Museum, London: A Sensory-Friendly Haven for Autistic Families
Updated: Aug 29
The Postal Museum in London offers an interactive, tactile experience ideal for autistic and ADHD children.
Discover our sensory friendly guide and pro tips for autistic families thinking of visiting this great London Museum.
Why the Postal Museum offer a great London day out for autistic families
The Postal Museum is a vibrant museum which often flies under the tourist radar. It is only a short walk from Russell Square Tube Station making it a great option if you are exploring London with Autistic Children for a weekend.
The museum is split across two sites (in the same road) and has a range of fascinating and interactive exhibits on the history of London's incredible postal service.
The Postal Museum offers a sensory aware approach
The museum makes a deliberate effort to be welcoming to families with autistic kids. As well as friendly helpful staff who recognise the sunflower lanyard, they also provide:
Sensory Maps
To help you prepare your child for their visit download the Postal Museum Sensory Map beforehand. It will help you locate loud areas (like hand dryers) and quiet breakout zones.
Sensory Objects:
You can borrow ear defenders and sensory bags from the welcome desk to help your child stay calm as they move around the exhibits.
Interactive moments:
Throughout the museum you will find a costumes to try on and a number of interactive games. These are fun visitor challenges appropriate across the age ranges.
My eldest really loved the challenge of sorting letters into postcode boxes before the timer ran out and they fell back to the bottom tray. and they fall to the bottom was a hit with us.
Avoiding disappointment:
Weekends and holidays are very popular and queue do form for the on the day tickets. We recommend prebooking rebook your tickets in advance* to avoid delays on the day. These tickets from Get Your Guide are fully flexible and refundable up until 24 hours before your visit.
Don't miss the sensory immersion of the fantastic Mail Rail Ride!
The highlight for all of us was the fantastic Mail Rail ride. Making clever use of the original network track that transported mail across London, the Mail Rail experience reveals the secret story of the postal service's subterranean world.
The ride uses specially adapted carriages to speed you around the tunnels, stopping at various points so passengers can watch fun and informative films and see scenes from the past come to life.
Mail Rail Ride Sensory Triggers:
🚇Claustrophobia:
The mail rail tunnels are small, and the carriages are very cramped with limited head and leg room. We found it a tight squeeze for two adults and two kids. If your child has claustrophobia or struggles with confined spaces, this may be a challenge.
🔊Changing light levels and loud noises:
The ride includes pitch darkness, loud screeching noises from the tracks, and a simulated power cut that lasts about 30 seconds.
SORTED! An Autism Friendly Play Space for Ages 8 & Under
In addition to the main Postal Museum exhibits and Mail Rail ride you can also take your younger kids to SORTED!
SORTED! is an autism-friendly haven where children "self-organise" into play based activities of their own choosing. I cannot tell you how much our autistic boys loved this immersive space!
Why SORTED! works for young autistic kids
SORTED! is a miniature town that recreates a postal ecosystem; with streets, trolleys, pulleys, and chutes for sorting and transporting thousands of parcels.
Our boys spent ages at the sorting booths, throwing parcels down the chutes, pulling up buckets of parcels using pulleys and whizzing down the slides.
It’s the perfect environment for kids with a strong need to organise, sort and move.
It was amazing to watch all these little people take on different roles in this imaginary postal army, variously posting, collecting, sorting, receiving, selling and transporting these parcels and letters all around the room.
Whoever designed this space absolutely gets children, and has created an sensory friendly world for autistic kids - as long as they can cope with other children around them also sorting, moving and touching the parcels they have handled.
Important Note: SORTED! has limited capacity
We highly recommend booking your SORTED! tickets in advance.
Sessions last 45 minutes and they only run a handful each day, with numbers strictly limited to keep the group sizes small. While this ensures a calm, relaxed space it also means that the sessions on weekends and holidays regularly sell out in advance.
How to Book Tickets for the Postal Museum and SORTED!
General entry and Mail Rail Ride
I would strongly advise booking a timed ticket in advance*. At the same time make sure to book your time slot for the Mail Rail Ride.
If pre-booked alongside a general museum ticket their website states the average queue time for the Mail Ride is 20 minutes. However we visited in November, got there half an hour after it opened and only waited 5 minutes.
Worried the Mail Rail Ride will be too overwhelming?
The museum recognises that the Mail Rail ride may not be accessible for everyone, and offers a discounted ticket which excludes this - it is available to purchase from their own website.
SORTED!
Tickets for the SORTED! play space need to be booked separately from your main entrance ticket*. Make sure you check slots are available for your date / time before booking the main tickets. You can book SORTED! places in advance directly on the museum's website.
Postal Museum Accessibility & Relaxed Events
Postal Museum London Autism Early Birds & Relaxed Events
The Postal Museum runs fantastic "Autism Friendly" relaxed events throughout the year. At these events they close the museum to the general public, turn down the sensory triggers, and create a calm, inclusive atmosphere.
Tickets are very reasonably priced (often around £3) and include the option of taking Mail Rail train ride too. They need to be booked directly from their own website.
The museum also offers the following to autistic families:
Free Carer Entry:
You are eligible for one free carer ticket per disabled visitor (bring your DLA/PIP letter as proof) - although not for the Early Bird Sessions as these are already heavily discounted.
Non-Ride Tickets:
If the Mail Rail isn't suitable for your autistic child then you can purchase a discounted ticket that excludes the ride.
Getting to the Postal Museum
The Postal Museum is a manageable walk or short bus ride to the museum from Russell Square and Farringdon.
There is very limited on-street parking by the venue, so if you can use public transport that is probably best.
Travel Tip: For the easiest journey, use Trainline to book travel into King's Cross or Farringdon*.
Read next:
In London for more than one day? Beat the queues and book advance tickets for the fun Hop on Hop Off Bus Tour of London*
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