The 15 Treasure Hunts & City Games in England That Repay the Ticket

1.Fun, Flexible Treasure Hunt Around Manchester with Cryptic Clues & Hidden Gems

★★★★★★★★★★5.0 · 253 reviews · 2 hours 30 minutes (approx.) · from $20.80Our pick

A self-guided Treasure Hunt Manchester on your phone, with cryptic clues, flexible start times, and a walk through key sights and surprising corners.

“Myself and a friend did the tour with our two 13 year olds, we are both from Manchester but don't get into the city very often and wanted to show our kids the sights. Everything we saw was new to me! We all really enjoyed it, was a shame the libraries weren't open to have a look inside, but the benefit of alot of places still being closed was the streets were so quiet you can take time to look up and appreciate all the architecture. Highly recommended.”

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2.Fun, Flexible Treasure Hunt Around York with Cryptic Clues & Hidden Gems

★★★★★★★★★★5.0 · 248 reviews · 2 hours (approx.) · from $20.80

Solve cryptic clues on your phone and wander York at your own pace, from Museum Gardens to the Shambles.

“Brilliant app, great clues and a super way to get a look around York. I 100% recommend, the clues were simple yet complex enough for my 8 year old to help. There are other free hunts around the city (like the black cats) but they aren’t tied to landmarks in the same way. Would be better if each solved clue unlocked some audio file or facts about where you were too.”

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3.Fun, Flexible Treasure Hunt Around Bath with Cryptic Clues & Hidden Gems

★★★★★★★★★★5.0 · 208 reviews · 2 hours 30 minutes (approx.) · from $20.83

Solve Bath’s cryptic clues on a self-guided phone treasure hunt, hitting Bath Abbey, Roman Baths, and Royal Crescent in 2.5 hours.

“Fun way to see the sights, understand the history and fill a couple of hours. Group of girls determined to succeed and find the answers!”

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4.York Treasure Hunt Adventure: The Mystery of The Gunpowder Snitch

★★★★★★★★★★5.0 · 203 reviews · 3 hours (approx.)

A self-guided York city mystery where you solve 16 cryptic clues across top landmarks, then watch the villain reveal in a wow finale.

“We both learned lots of York history whilst taking in some amazing historical and beautiful sights. Great idea for seeing parts of York you might miss!”

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5.Fun, Flexible Treasure Hunt Around Oxford with Cryptic Clues & Hidden Gems

★★★★★★★★★★5.0 · 202 reviews · 2 hours 30 minutes (approx.) · from $20.83

Self-guided Oxford treasure hunt with cryptic phone clues. Start anytime, solve maps at your pace, and hit major sights.

“Quite boring!!! Clues are confusing until the very last one…and you need to get to the last one, believe me. Tour isn’t that interesting, historical spots are not so interesting or the best. Anyway, if I could ask my money back, I would.”

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6.Shepton Mallet Prison Escape Room – The Cell

★★★★★★★★★★5.0 · 187 reviews · 1 hour 15 minutes (approx.) · from $38.20

Escape The Cell in a real former prison at Shepton Mallet, then explore the site. 60 minutes to crack it in small teams.

“Great fun. The dark and handcuffs added an additional element of complexity! Tia was an excellent guard. All in all a lot of fun and a legit location for an escape room”

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7.Interactive Jack the Ripper Night Walk: London’s Murder Mystery

★★★★★★★★★★5.0 · 171 reviews · 2 hours 30 minutes (approx.) · from $22.99

Interactive Jack the Ripper night walk through Whitechapel, solving the identity mystery. 2.5 hours in English, ends at Mitre Square.

“Interesting information, good walk and friendly tour guide. Could have used some volume increase as it was difficult to hear everything she was saying all the time.”

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8.Fun, Flexible Treasure Hunt Around Birmingham with Cryptic Clues & Hidden Gems

★★★★★★★★★★5.0 · 167 reviews · 2 hours (approx.) · from $20.83

Captain Bess pirate treasure hunt in Birmingham. Follow cryptic web clues from Town Hall to Jewellery Quarter in 2 hours.

“We spent a thoroughly enjoyable day exploring Birmingham while doing this treasure hunt. A great way to see the city and parts of it that we would otherwise have missed. This is about the 5th one of these types of hunts that we've done and there will be more! Highly recommended!”

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9.Fun, Flexible Treasure Hunt Around Chester with Cryptic Clues & Hidden Gems

★★★★★★★★★★5.0 · 162 reviews · 2 hours (approx.) · from $20.83

Self-guided Chester treasure hunt with Captain Bess, phone clues, and flexible pacing through Cathedral, Rows, and Roman sites.

“The technology worked pretty well throughout the hunt, although right at the end it stopped working for all of us - frustrating. The route was well chosen and interesting but we thought some of the clues were too hard, children got frustrated”

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10.Fun, Flexible Treasure Hunt Around Brighton with Cryptic Clues & Hidden Gems

★★★★★★★★★★5.0 · 154 reviews · 2 hours 30 minutes (approx.) · from $20.83

Self-guided Brighton treasure hunt with Captain Bess cryptic phone clues. Flexible start, 2.5 hours, return to India Gate.

“It took a while to understand how the clues work. Once we understood the first one we knew what to look for.”

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11.Fun, Flexible Treasure Hunt Around Cambridge with Cryptic Clues & Hidden Gems

★★★★★★★★★★5.0 · 142 reviews · 2 hours 30 minutes (approx.) · from $20.83

Play a Cambridge treasure hunt on your phone, solving cryptic clues at your pace through classic landmarks and quiet backstreets.

“We took our 12 yr old Grandson and we all thoroughly enjoyed the morning, there is a bit of going back and forth over the same ground at the beginning but necessary. A tip I would give is, look behind sometimes ! Great fun”

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12.Private Escape Room with a Zombie in London

★★★★★★★★★★5.0 · 128 reviews · 1 hour 30 minutes (approx.) · from $45.14

Private zombie escape room in London at Bunker 51. Solve riddles in 1 hour, get a digital team photo, play with up to 8.

“It was birthday gift for 12 year old and he loved it! It was customised for 12 and 10 year old!! It was good fun for everyone!!”

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13.Colombia’s Finest Outdoor Murder Mystery London

★★★★★★★★★★5.0 · 122 reviews · 2 hours (approx.) · from $26.39

A private outdoor murder mystery scavenger hunt in London with clues, fresh air, and laughs. 2-3 hours.

“Really simple and fast setup and experience before starting the hunt. Great fun and slick treasure hunt experience.”

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14.Stratford Treasure Hunt The Mystery of Shakespeare’s Lucky Quill

★★★★★★★★★★5.0 · 115 reviews · 3 hours (approx.)

Stratford-upon-Avon treasure hunt with 18 cryptic clues, maps, and a self-paced mystery walk to uncover Shakespeare’s Lucky Quill.

“Really enjoyed doing our Stratford Upon Avon Mystery Tour. Never ever done anything like this before but so glad we completed it. Great way of seeing all the major highlights of Stratford especially as it was our first visit here. We chose to complete the tour without stopping off as weather was cold and rain expected anytime so we plodded on and did it in exactly 3hours. We are a couple in our late 60's early 70's and didn't find it too arduous inspite of arthritic knees! Great fun overall and would certainly look to do one in another city. We live in Liverpool and fancy doing that tour next.”

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15.Shrewsbury Prison Escape Room – The Cell

★★★★★★★★★★4.5 · 107 reviews · 1 hour 15 minutes (approx.) · from $37.98

Shrewsbury Prison The Cell escape room: 60-minute puzzles plus self-guided prison tour. Games master helps, and it can be cold.

“The experience was well organised. When entering the cell it looked deceptively simple, after investigating there were lots of engaging puzzles to solve in order to escape The Cell, it was not easy, but we did it. The self guided tour was eye opening, with lots of interesting facts regarding the running of the prison when it was in use and its inmates.”

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