Welcome to this month’s round-up of Extraordinary Experiences across all experience sectors and around the globe.
January may be one of the bleakest months – in the northern hemisphere at least – but don’t let a bit of cold weather deter you from exploring everything the experiential world has to offer. It might be cold outside, but this month’s round-up is full of red hot experiences across an array of sectors. In LA petrol heads can learn about the history of American icon the Mustang, while in Maranello, F1 champ Alberto Ascari’s life is charted in an XR experience.
History buffs can take a deep dive into the ancient city of Pompeii and learn about how inhabitants of the lost city lived before Vesuvius erupted at a new VR adventure in London masterminded by MAD, the brains behind the Tutankhamun experience. Also in London (and Manchester) is a large-scale free-roam VR experience taking visitors back to 1450, giving them a first-hand look at how ancient wonder Machu Picchu was built by the Incas.
Art is also on the menu this month. At Düsseldorf’s Kunstpalast museum you can pay to be insulted by grumpy guide Joseph Langelinck (played by performance artist Carl Brandi) who won’t be impressed if you can’t reel off the names of the Old Masters at speed. In Abu Dhabi, teamLab Phenomena has two new artworks to impress guests: Massless Suns and Dark Suns, and Megaliths in the Roots Garden, which change and evolve when you interact with them.
All of the senses are being given the special treatment, with scent put front and centre at the Fragrance Museum in Guangzhou, where you can create your own signature perfume at a blending station based on notes found at 300 scent discovery points dotted around the venue. In New York good vibes are the order of the day at The Hum, where low-frequency sound waves calm the nervous system, release muscle tension, and slow the heart rate.
18. AURA Eglise Saint-Roch
Open now
Location: Quebec City, Canada
Experience Sector: Immersive Entertainment
Moment Factory’s ethereal AURA light and sound show has gone permanent with its fourth iteration at Eglise Saint-Roch in Quebec City, offering locals and tourists a chance to see it year-round. Just days after opening thousands of visitors flocked to the spot to enjoy the immersive experience. Championing site-specific storytelling via awe-inspiring projections, enveloping light displays and an original orchestral score, each AURA incarnation is unique to and inspired by its setting, with Quebec building on previous activations at Notre-Dame Basilica in Montreal, the Dôme des Invalides in Paris, and Grace Cathedral in San Francisco.
For Quebec, Moment Factory consulted with a local historian to learn more about the history of the area and the building. “He told us the story of the Saint-Roch district; from the first chapel that was founded on the banks of the Saint-Charles River, to the streetcar that ran on the road next door,” said creative director Patricia Ruel, who hopes the AURA initiative will bring people back to abandoned sacred spaces. “The idea is not to convert people, but to bring the community back to occupy the place, to make it serve a purpose,” she said. Those keen to learn more about the church’s history can do so via AURA’s interactive web app.
17. Fame Factory
Open now
Location: London, UK
Experience Sector: Themed Attractions
Pop artist Andy Warhol famously said that everyone will be “famous for fifteen minutes”, but at the shiny new Fame Factory in London, you get a whole hour to bask in celebrity glory. The brainchild of Immerse London, the 60-minute walk through experience lets you live like a star for an hour and revel in all the attention while you’re at it. The experience starts with you being fawned over by professional actors, who will make you feel like an A-lister. Putting you in control, you can choose what you’re famous for, walk the red carpet and take part in an Instagram-worthy photoshoot that will make all your friends emerald with envy.
The journey starts in a private jet (obvs) where you’ll be schmoozed and possibly sold a luxury yacht. You’ll then be styled in celebrity-appropriate togs before having your headshot taken, so get ready for your close up… The results will wind up on the cover of Heat magazine where you’re the star. You’ll also get the chance to be signed to an agency who will represent you and hustle hard for the top brand collabs, for a cut of course. The experience also includes the chance to shoot promo content via a green screen and strut your stuff on the red carpet while the paparazzi clamour to take your picture and journalists interview you.
16. American Icon: A Mustang Immersive Experience
Open now until 9 February 2026
Location: Los Angeles, US
Experience Sector: Immersive Entertainment, Themed Attractions
Petrol heads will love this one – LA’s Boyle Heights neighbourhood is putting the Mustang front and centre of a new immersive experience that charts six decades of Mustang history. Putting visitors in the driving seat, American Icon: A Mustang Immersive Experience offers a full-throttle deep dive into the creation and evolution of the classic car and the place it occupies in popular culture. Boasting a series of immersive rooms built with 360-degree projections, high-speed turntables, and full 4D motion seats, the experience lets you get behind the wheel and catapults you into the centre of the Mustang universe.
Taking place at Ace Mission Studios, you’ll get to drool over an impressive line-up of vintage Mustangs, including models featured in Gone in 60 Seconds, Transformers and Kick-Ass. The experience moves from Detroit’s Motor City grit to a blue sky stretch of Sunset Boulevard. Younger fans can get stuck into an interactive gallery featuring hands-on stations and car test drives. Don’t miss the 4D thrill ride, a full-motion escape sequence built around the Mustang GTD that’s a mash up of a stunt show, video game and theme-park ride. It ends with a documentary highlighting the people who made the Mustang into an American icon.
15. Xuelei Fragrance Museum
Open now
Location: Guangzhou, China
Experience Sector: Immersive Learning
With layering taking the fragrance world by storm, at the Xuelei Fragrance Museum in Guangzhou you can create your own signature scent that reflects your personality. Spanning a colossal 9,500 square metres set over five floors, it’s the largest perfume museum in the world. Even its shape, with its tall central atrium that lets in natural light, has been inspired by the process of perfume distillation. Inside you can explore the cultural history and significance of perfume and the close connection between scent, memory and perception via 18 thematic galleries that chart global aromatic traditions and the history of perfume-making.
The museum boasts over 300 scent discovery points where you can sample different fragrance notes, while a dedicated library features 400 fragrance samples. In a hat tip to its location, Eastern aromatic heritage is showcased through curated displays. Don’t miss the scent-mapping experience, which involves locking in your favourite top, middle and base notes on a digital ‘scent card’, which are combined to form your own ‘fragrance travel report’ that’s displayed in the museum’s Time Machine of Scent gallery. This is used to create and bottle your own signature scent to take home at an AI-assisted blending station.
14. Massless Suns And Dark Suns
Open now
Location: Abu Dhabi, UAE
Experience Sector: Immersive Art
TeamLab Phenomena Abu Dhabi is on fire right now, having welcomed two new immersive artworks. The first, Massless Suns and Dark Suns, invites visitors to explore light as a tangible medium by interacting with glowing spheres that blur the boundaries between light and darkness. The second, Megaliths in the Roots Garden, is on display downstairs, where you’ll see tree roots stretching down from above, floating freely in the air. Around them, clusters of stone rise from the floor creating a striking midpoint between nature and man-made forms.
Both artworks evolve in real-time, reacting to the visitors’ presence, creating a unique, co-created experience that goes beyond the barriers of traditional art. The pair highlight the museum’s MO of creating living artworks, meaning no two visits are the same for fans. “These new additions not only expand the possibilities of interactive art, but also invite visitors to immerse themselves in ever-evolving phenomena that spark wonder and leave lasting impressions,” said Takashi Kudo, communications director of teamLab Phenomena.
13. Parad-ice Music Festival
Opens: 10 January until 4 April 2026
Location: Trentino, Italy
Experience Sector: Music, Live Events
For those seeking a concert with a difference, who don’t mind getting a bit chilly in the process, then the Parad-ice Music Festival in Trentino might be just up your snowy street. With a backdrop of Alpine glaciers, the concerts take place at an altitude of 2,600m in a giant igloo with space for 200. Not your average gig, the musical instruments are made from ice. Carved by locals Lino Mosconi, Giorgio Tomaselli and Matteo Aielli from Ponte di Legno and Vermiglio, the ice guitars, violins and cellos give off their own unique sounds.
The Paradise Orchestra, made up of local rock band Los Locos Armando’s, pianist Massimo Faes, and female troop the Frosty Trio, dedicates each concert to pop or rock icon or band, and plays modern and classic arrangements with special guests. Singing in Italian and English, the Paradise Band, meanwhile, is led by Lino Mosconi on guitar, and features Saro Vilalri on drums, Carlo Ausserer on bass and Valeria Cordella on violin. Playing every Thursday through Saturday, the Presena Glacier is accessible via the Paradiso cable car from Passo Tonale.
12. Machu Picchu: Journey To The Lost City
Open now until 28 February 2026
Location: Manchester and London, UK
Experience Sector: VR, Immersive Entertainment
If you’ve dreamt of exploring the ancient wonder of Machu Picchu but aren’t able to get to Peru then this VR experience developed by creative studio Virtual Worlds might be the next best thing. Called Machu Picchu: Journey to the Lost City, it’s taking place both in Manchester and London and offers history buffs a 45-minute large-scale free-roam VR experience. Inside you can travel back to 1450 AD to the ancient Inca Empire. Created by 3D specialists and historians, the VR journey allows you to witness the marvel up close, climb steep peaks, wander through the Temple of the Sun and explore the sacred site’s famed terraces.
During your voyage you can uncover the secrets of the Seventh Wonder, witness sacred rituals, explore sacred temples and mythical landscapes, and learn about the history, architecture and culture in an interactive way through cinematic storytelling and cutting-edge technology. Along the way you’ll be in the safe hands of AI guide Teri, who provides an engaging educational narrative in five languages including English, French, and Spanish. From soaring with condors above the Andes to stepping inside an Incan home during a solar eclipse, the experience captures the scale and spirit of a lost civilisation.
11. Museum Of Illusions
Open now
Location: Santa Monica, US
Experience Sector: Themed Attractions, Immersive Entertainment
Having already blazed a trail around the globe, the ever-popular Museum of Illusions – the world’s largest-growing museum chain – has opened a second California site in Santa Monica. Boasting over 80 interactive exhibits inspired by the city’s film industry ties, California Art Deco and beach culture, the 12,000 square-foot museum at 1232 3rd Street features eye-catching installations, mind-twisting illusions, interactive rooms and 3D holograms designed to challenge perceptions.
Designed for all ages, the museum teaches visitors about vision, perception, the human brain and science, helping them to understand why the eyes see things that the brain can’t comprehend by playing tricks on their mind while showcasing the science behind illusions. Combining art, education and entertainment in an immersive experience, the museum opened its first California location in San Diego last year. Its Santa Monica sister brings the Museum of Illusions to 70 locations worldwide spanning 26 countries across four continents.
10. RealMadrid Games
Open now
Location: Madrid, Spain
Experience Sector: Sports, Competitive Socialising
Moment Factory is much in demand – while making magic with its AURA experience in Quebec City, the Canadian collective has also redesigned the fan experience at Spanish soccer stars Real Madrid’s famous Bernabéu stadium. Called RealMadrid Games, it’s a multi-level interactive journey through the corridors of the newly transformed stadium. The permanent multimedia activation sets a new standard for stadiums and arenas worldwide by extending the fan journey beyond match days, fostering deep engagement through immersive interactivity and transforming underused spaces into a dynamic, year-round attraction.
Through a gamified approach, the experience transports visitors to the heart of the club, bringing its eight principles to life with interactive play, while strengthening the connection between the fans, the team, the stadium, and the city of Madrid. Designed for fans of all ages and skill levels, RealMadrid Games engages visitors through friendly competition. Two levels of the stadium’s corridors have been transformed using the studio’s expertise in interactive tech, video projections, dynamic lighting, ambient music, and responsive sound effects. Participants create their own avatar and advance from rookies to elite team members by tackling practice drills, team challenges, and adrenaline-fuelled gameplay.
9. Grumpy Guide Tours
Open now
Location: Düsseldorf Germany
Experience Sector: Museums, Immersive Learning
It all started with Karen’s Diner, the Australian-born chain where you’re guaranteed terrible service and shouty staff. It seems our appetite for being insulted is insatiable as news reaches us that performance artist Carl Brandi’s condescending tours of Düsseldorf’s Kunstpalast museum have gone viral. For just €7 you get to meet Brandi’s alter ego, grumpy guide Joseph Langelinck, who has become an internet sensation for his fiendishly harsh, 70-minute tours where he’ll berate groups for getting their phones out and criticise their intellect if they fail to name the artists behind the masterpieces.
Langelinck’s specific brand of rudeness has gone down a storm, so you need to be quick if you want to snap up a ticket to one of his tours. While he may be harsh, he never insults individual visitors and never comments on people’s appearance. Museum director Felix Krämer was inspired by Karen’s Diner when he commissioned Brandi for the gig. During his act he plays on the German stereotype of being a disgruntled intellectual snob for laughs. Dissolving the barrier between actor and the audience, Brandi criticises the curators’ choices during the tour, having a dig at the people who decide what art we see and how we get to enjoy it.
8. Black Cats And Chequered Flags
The quirkily titled Black Cats & Chequered Flags celebrates the life of one of Formula 1′s earliest champions, Alberto Ascari, using a combination of virtual reality and mixed reality. Directed by Elisabetta Rotolo and Siobhan McDonnell, it takes F1 fans on an interactive deep dive into the life of Ascari, who won both the 1952 and 1953 championships with Ferrari. This tribute to Italy’s most successful F1 driver looks back at his childhood and his relationship with his father, his superstitious nature (hence the black cat), and his rise to fame. The 20-minute experience is free for visitors to the Ferrari Museum in Maranello.
Created by MIAT, it starts with you donning a vintage pit crew uniform before taking part in a mixed reality mini-game where you and your teammates are tasked with completing a ‘50s-style pit stop, which involves swapping out the old tires, hammering the new ones in and refuelling and cleaning the car using hand-tracking. The virtual reality element charts Ascari’s life on and off the track, including the impact that the death of his father Antonio in a racing accident had on the young future champion. During the experience you can don his famous blue helmet, gloves and goggles, race with Ascari on the Monza circuit, and lift his trophy.
7. Laura Lima: The Drawing Drawing
Opens: 27 January until 29 March 2026
Location: London, UK
Experience Sector: Immersive Art
Making waves at ICA this month is The Drawing Drawing, the first London solo show by Brazilian multidisciplinary artist Laura Lima. The exhibition unfolds across the Upper and Lower Galleries in a series of installations involving sculpture, movement, live performers and public participation. At the heart of exhibition is an interactive sculptural installation of the same name, which reimagines the traditional framework of the life drawing class. Lima is known for her subversive artworks that explore the relationship between bodies and their environment, questioning social expectations via staged situations where people and objects interact in unconventional ways.
The Drawing Drawing features a selection of Lima’s performative sculptural works. Blurring the lines between audience and artwork, in her installation drawing is redefined. Visitors are invited to put pencil to paper in a life drawing class in which the core elements of the setting are recognisable, but any conventions of subject and object, and perspective and representation, are destabilised. Also on view will be her 2013 work Ascenseur, involving a partially visible live performer. Audience and performer bodies are integral to Lima’s works. Incorporating live elements, her sculptural works tend to unfold independently of her.
6. Dungeons & Dragons: The Immersive Quest
Open now until 1 February 2026
Location: Texas, US
Experience Sector: Themed Attractions, Competitive Socialising
D&D fans rejoice! A fully immersive experience based on the legendary game is bringing all the medieval vibes to Texas. Called Dungeons & Dragons: The Immersive Quest, it’s the brainchild of Vibrant Studios under license from Hasbro, and transforms one of the world’s greatest role-playing games into a real-life fantasy adventure where participants become the heroes of their own stories. Fans begin their journey through the 16,000-square-foot, multiroom experience by choosing the type of adventurer they want to become. They then embark on a mission to retrieve a magical gem from a fearsome dragon – naturally.
The hour-long adventure blends live theatre, cinematic storytelling, engaging soundscapes and interactive challenges. Wannabe dragon slayers choose their own adventure, journeying through D&D locations such as the Yawning Portal in Waterdeep before squaring off against the dragon. Along the way you’ll explore ancient dungeons, navigate magical environments, and face a series of challenges while encountering creatures from the D&D universe, including the reholder, the roper, and the gelatinous cube. Mission complete, players can enjoy themed food and drink, take selfies with Strongheart and stock up on D&D merch.
5. Ludo
Open now
Location: Nuevo Nayarit, Mexico
Experience Sector: Immersive Dining
We love the sound of Ludõ, the playful new immersive dining concept from Cirque du Soleil, which combines art, water, acrobatics, storytelling, cutting-edge technology and multi-sensory gastronomy within a 27-metre-high circular theatre. Taking place within Mexico’s VidantaWorld in Nuevo Nayarit, billed as Latin America’s first luxury theme park, the all-singing, all-dancing aquatic dining experience is inspired by the lotus flower. The venue features state-of-the-art acoustics and lighting, and 360-degree visibility from every seat, giving everyone a front row view of the action unfolding in front of and all around them.
Meaning ‘play’ in Latin, the show follows Ludovico, a theatre director who travels into a mystical cenote in search of his lost creativity and sense of wonder. The dining experience explores themes including memory, creative freedom and connection. The food is in the capable hands of Alexis Bostelmann, executive chef at Grupo Vidanta, with each dish crafted to weave in with the show’s story, which aims to push the boundaries of live entertainment. “Ludō is a world where memory, imagination, and play float in suspension. Water is the heart of the story – it’s the space where transformation happens,” said director Michel Laprise.
4. Six Flags Qiddiya City
Open now
Location: Saudi Arabia, UAE
Experience Sector: Theme Parks
A long time in the making, epic new theme park Six Flags Qiddiya City has finally opened its doors near Riyadh in Saudi Arabia. The theme park in Saudi’s mega entertainment, sports and cultural district boasts a number of record-breaking attractions, including Falcons Flight; the world’s tallest, fastest and longest coaster designed by Intamin; Iron Rattler; the world’s tallest tilt coaster; and Spitfire; the world’s tallest inverted coaster. The park is home to 28 different rides and attractions, 18 of which are designed for families and younger visitors.
Six Flags Qiddiya City represents the first Six Flags theme park outside of North America. Its various rides and experiences are spread across six immersive lands, each of which has a different theme, from Steam Town, Twilight Gardens and Discovery Springs, to City Thrills, Valley of Fortune, and Grand Exposition. According to the park’s president, Brian Machamer, the new venture “showcases everything Qiddiya City stands for: bold imagination, unforgettable experiences, and a new benchmark for global entertainment.”
3. Fantasy Box
Open now
Location: Macau, China
Experience Sector: Immersive Entertainment
Macau might be famous for its casinos, but the hedonistic hub is now home to a new 1,400 square metre multi-purpose cultural venue created to celebrate international and Chinese culture. Called Fantasy Box, the venue recently opened at five-star hotel MGM Macau. MGM collaborated with extended reality specialists Disguise to design 10 customisable content styles for Fantasy Box’s seven-metre high curved LED wall. Each scene can be customised by MGM’s team, who can adjust specific elements such as colour, speed, and branding to keep the content fresh and distinctive.
Since launching, Fantasy Box has hosted various events, including immersive art experience Brilliant Stars – The Civilisation of Ancient Shu, an exhibition themed around the Sanxingdui and Jinsha archaeological sites in Sichuan province. Making the most of digital art techniques, interactive technology, and visual storytelling, the experience gave visitors a comprehensive overview of the Shu kingdom, a civilisation dating back three millennia. Fantasy Box was designed to accommodate a wide range of cultural events including concerts, film screenings, exhibitions, and banquets and delivers a high-definition visual experience.
2. The Last Days Of Pompeii
Open now until 15 March 2026
Location: London, UK
Experience Sector: VR, Immersive Entertainment
History and immersive experiences go hand in hand, and this time it’s the lost city of Pompeii that’s under the spotlight in London. Exploring the destruction of the ancient Roman city in 79AD at the white hot hands of Mount Vesuvius, The Last Days of Pompeii: The Immersive Exhibition was created by Spanish firm Madrid Artes Digitales (MAD), who were behind The Legend of the Titanic and Tutankhamun. It comes complete with a thunderous soundtrack that rumbles through every room. The experience begins by tracing Pompeii’s history before the big eruption via the daily lives of city dwellers to the hours before the tragedy unfolded.
It includes a room containing moving casts of Pompeii locals just before they were shrouded in ash. A VR film, meanwhile, shows a gladiatorial battle involving flaming pillars that retract into the floor as the amphitheatre floods with water. Expect giant boulders of flaming pumice raining down on Pompeii, smashing buildings into tiny fragments. There’s also a collection of ancient artefacts to pore over that provide a window into everyday life in ancient Rome, while the Villa of Mysteries metaverse experience lets you roam around a preserved ancient villa on the outskirts of Pompeii featuring frescoes of Roman gods and mythical creatures.
1. The Hum
Open now until 28 February 2026
Location: New York
Experience Sector: Immersive Audio, Wellness
We love an eyes-closed audio experience, so aren’t surprised that wellness pop-up The Hum is making a big buzz in the Big Apple. Billed as the world’s only full-body, 360°, haptic musical experience where sound becomes pure sensation, you’ll find The Hum nestled inside tech wonderland tm:rw in Times Square. The experience connects you to the frequencies of sound beyond hearing, bridging science, technology, wellness, and entertainment. It invites frazzled New Yorkers to escape the noise and bustle of the city for five minutes of ‘me time’ to relax, reset, and recharge their minds as their bodies become a resonance instrument.
Offering anyone needing a quick break from Times Square’s intensity, The Hum is a unique alternative to meditation that provides instant calm and focus by stimulating the body’s natural relaxation responses. The experience was designed to help reduce people’s stress levels and have them leave feeling refreshed and grounded. As the name suggests, during the experience music isn’t just heard; it’s felt through your entire body via vibrations from a haptic audio device. The Hum makes use of vibro-acoustic therapy, which uses low-frequency sound waves to calm the nervous system, release muscle tension, and slow the heart rate.
