Which illusion museum in Berlin should you actually pick: Illuseum, DeJa Vu or 3D TrickArt?
Berlin has three illusion attractions and all of them sit in Mitte, close enough to walk between in about twenty minutes. Illuseum Berlin is on Karl-Liebknecht-Strasse near Hackescher Markt, the Déjà Vu Museum is a few streets north on Rochstrasse, and the ASTER 3D TrickArt Museum is over on Friedrichstrasse. They are commercial photo attractions rather than museums in the Museum Island sense, and two of the three duplicate each other quite badly. This guide sorts out which one fits your group, what each really costs, and when the answer is none of them.
About This Experience
All three sit in Mitte. Illuseum Berlin at Karl-Liebknecht-Strasse 9, the Déjà Vu Museum at Rochstrasse 14c, and the ASTER 3D TrickArt Museum at Friedrichstrasse 185.
Illuseum: S3, S5, S7 or S9 to Hackescher Markt, or U5 to Rotes Rathaus, both about 300 metres. Déjà Vu: Alexanderplatz then six minutes north, or tram M4, M5, M6. TrickArt: U6 to Stadtmitte or U2 to Hausvogteiplatz, about four minutes.
Illuseum: Sunday to Thursday 10:00 to 18:00, Friday and Saturday 10:00 to 20:00. Déjà Vu: daily 10:00 to 20:00. ASTER 3D TrickArt: daily to 20:00, last entry an hour before closing. None of the three has a weekly closing day.
At the door, Déjà Vu is 17.00 euros standard and 15.00 euros reduced, with a family ticket at 45.00 euros for two adults and one child. ASTER 3D TrickArt is 16.00 euros adult, 10.00 euros for children 5 to 15. Booked online, entry runs from $18.
Three small commercial photo venues, not collections. Illuseum leans educational and threads a marine conservation theme through its rooms, Déjà Vu leans digital and immersive, and TrickArt is painted backdrops that only resolve through a lens.
Ames rooms where two people appear to swap size, vortex tunnels, mirror mazes, holograms, and at TrickArt more than thirty hand painted scenes with floor marks showing where to stand and where the photographer should aim.
Check Live Availability & Prices
Illuseum entry is the cheapest way into this cluster and the easiest to slot into a Mitte afternoon. Live prices and dates are below.
Which Illusion Museum Ticket to Pick
Start with the honest part, because it changes what you book. Illuseum and Déjà Vu overlap heavily: between them you get two Ames rooms and two vortex tunnels, and visitors who did both on the same trip say so in their reviews. These are also short visits.
Reviewers regularly finish Illuseum in about 30 minutes, and one family described paying 44 euros for what felt like a very small exhibition. That is a value complaint, not a quality one. The rooms work, the photos are good, the staff are helpful.
Just do not book two of them, and do not expect an afternoon's worth of content from any single venue.
So pick one. Illuseum entry at $18 is the cheapest and the most kid friendly, and it is the one to choose with children under about eight who mostly want the visuals; the marine conservation thread also gives a parent something to talk about. The Déjà Vu Museum ticket at $19 gets you the largest and most varied of the three, with mirror maze, digital art rooms and kaleidoscopic installations that only activate when you move, which makes it the better single choice for a mixed age group or a family that wants one stop rather than three.
The 3D Trick Art Museum ticket at $18 is the outlier: it is purely a photo studio, there is essentially nothing to look at without a camera, and it earns the best rating of the group at 4.7 from 214 travelers because the people who buy it know exactly what they are buying. Teenagers get the most out of it.
That leaves the combo. The Déjà Vu Museum entry with a digital city tour is $33, which is roughly $14 on top of the museum ticket for a self-guided phone walk through central Berlin with no fixed start time. It has two reviews.
Two. There is no way to judge the walk from that, and the same money buys a well reviewed guided walking tour or a good lunch, so treat the bundle as convenience rather than value and only take it if you actively want a route on your phone for the rest of the afternoon. One more thing worth saying plainly: if your group is adults with no camera habit and no children, skip the whole category and spend the ticket money on the more serious museums in Berlin instead.
Nobody regrets that trade.
Berlin Illusion Museum Tickets
Four bookable options across the three venues. Prices and ratings are live from the booking platform.
from $18 Illuseum Berlin Skip-the-Line Ticket
- Illusion rooms off Hackescher Markt
- Skip-the-line entry
- Good in bad weather
from $19 Déjà Vu Museum Entrance Ticket
- Around 30 installations
- Hands-on throughout
- Family-friendly
from $33 Déjà Vu Museum Entry & Digital City Tour
- Museum plus city walk
- No fixed tour time
- Self-guided app
from $18 3D Trick Art Museum Tickets
- Two floors of painted sets
- Built for photos
- Quick visit
Side by Side
| Ticket | Duration | Price | Book | Rating | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Illuseum Berlin | 30 to 60 min | $18 | Check | 4.1 (4,017) | Younger children and the tightest budget |
| Déjà Vu Museum | About 1 hour | $19 | Check | 4.2 (1,483) | The single best pick if you visit only one |
| Déjà Vu + city tour | Museum plus self-guided walk | $33 | Check | 5.0 (2) | Wanting a phone route for the afternoon |
| 3D Trick Art Museum | 60 to 90 min | $18 | Check | 4.7 (214) | Teenagers and anyone here purely for photos |
What You'll See
Illuseum Berlin runs a vortex tunnel, an Ames room where two people swap apparent size as they cross it, a hologram section, and a marine conservation angle woven through the illusion content that you will not find at the other two. It also runs a weekly Magical Tuesday magic show and sells 3D wooden puzzles and logic toys in the shop, which is where a fair amount of the family spend ends up. The Déjà Vu Museum bills itself as the first of its kind in Germany and covers more ground: its own Ames rooms, a mirror maze, another vortex tunnel, holograms, and kaleidoscopic installations that only come alive when you move through them.
Alongside general admission it runs guided tours, illusion making workshops and school group programmes, so it is the one to contact if you are bringing a class.
ASTER 3D TrickArt is a different product wearing the same label. More than thirty hand painted scenes fill two floors, each with a marked spot on the floor showing where the subject stands and where the photographer should aim from. Stand anywhere else and the perspective collapses.
This is the one venue of the three where a solo visit makes almost no sense, because without a second person holding the camera there is nothing to experience. Come as a pair or a group, let the staff position you, and you will leave with the best photos of the three.
How a Visit Flows
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Before you go
Book one venue, not three
Decide on the basis of your group: youngest children to Illuseum, mixed ages to Déjà Vu, teenagers to TrickArt. Booking online saves a little; at Illuseum it will not get you in any faster, as the venue says itself.
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Arrival
Ticket desk and bags
All three are compact street level venues with a desk immediately inside. Reception hands over the route and, at TrickArt, an explanation of how the floor markers work.
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First 15 minutes
The signature rooms
Ames room and vortex tunnel come early at Illuseum and Déjà Vu. The tunnel genuinely unbalances people, so hold the rail and let anyone unsteady walk the outside edge.
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Middle stretch
Work the photo spots
This is where the visit is either good or a queue. Swap camera duties as you go, and at TrickArt take the staff suggestion on posing rather than improvising.
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Last 15 minutes
Holograms, mirrors, shop
Déjà Vu saves its digital rooms and kaleidoscopes for later in the route. Illuseum funnels you past the puzzle shop, which is worth knowing before the children see it.
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After
Straight back into Mitte
You will be out inside an hour in most cases. Hackescher Markt, Alexanderplatz and Friedrichstrasse are all a few minutes away, so plan something else for the same afternoon.
Know Before You Go
Not suitable for
- Solo travellers, especially at 3D TrickArt, where there is nothing to do without someone to photograph you
- Anyone expecting a museum with objects and labels rather than a set of photo installations
- Visitors prone to dizziness or motion sickness, since the vortex tunnels are built to unbalance you
What to bring
- A charged phone, and ideally a power bank; the camera is the point of the visit
- A second person to take the photos
- Proof of student, senior or disability status if you want the reduced rate at the door
- Comfortable shoes, because you are standing and moving for the whole visit
Not allowed
- Standing outside the marked floor spots at TrickArt, which ruins the perspective for everyone waiting
- Blocking an installation for a long photo session while a queue builds behind you
- Arriving less than an hour before closing at TrickArt, where last entry is a hard cut off
Insider Tips
Six things that decide whether this is a good hour or an expensive half hour.
- Do not book all three. Illuseum and Déjà Vu repeat each other, and people who did both report seeing the same Ames room and vortex tunnel twice.
- Avoid weekends and school holiday afternoons between 12:00 and 16:00. The most repeated complaint by far is too many people in too little space, all waiting for the same photo spot.
- Bring someone who will actually photograph you. A good share of the bad reviews come from people who turned up alone.
- At 3D TrickArt, take the staff advice on where to stand and how to pose. Reviewers say the photos are noticeably better when they do.
- Late on a weekday, close to closing, is the quietest window and the only time you can work through the scenes unhurried.
- Illuseum says on its own site that an online ticket does not speed up entry, so buy ahead for the small saving only, not to skip a queue.
Where You're Headed
Berlin Illusion Museum FAQ
Which illusion museum in Berlin is the best?
For a single visit, the Déjà Vu Museum. It is the largest and most varied of the three, mixing Ames rooms, a mirror maze, a vortex tunnel and digital art rooms, and its entry ticket is $19. If you are travelling with children under about eight, Illuseum at $18 suits them better. If your group is teenagers who want photographs, 3D Trick Art at $18 is the strongest of the three at what it does, and it holds the best rating at 4.7.
How much does an illusion museum in Berlin cost?
Booked online, entry runs $18 for Illuseum, $19 for the Déjà Vu Museum and $18 for the 3D Trick Art Museum, with a Déjà Vu plus digital city tour bundle at $33. At the door, Déjà Vu is 17.00 euros standard and 15.00 euros reduced, and ASTER 3D TrickArt is 16.00 euros for adults and 10.00 euros for children aged 5 to 15.
What is the difference between Illuseum Berlin and the Déjà Vu Museum?
Less than you would hope. Both have an Ames room and a vortex tunnel, which is the main reason not to visit both. Déjà Vu is bigger and adds a mirror maze, digital art rooms and kaleidoscopic installations, and it runs workshops and school programmes. Illuseum is smaller, cheaper and threads a marine conservation theme through its rooms, plus a weekly magic show on Tuesdays.
How long do you need at an illusion museum in Berlin?
Not long, and this is the honest weak point. Illuseum takes 30 to 60 minutes, the Déjà Vu Museum about an hour, and 3D Trick Art 60 to 90 minutes if you work through the scenes properly. Plan something else for the same afternoon rather than treating any of them as the day's main event.
Are Berlin illusion museums good for kids?
Yes, from about age five. Younger children enjoy the visuals, and from around eight they start to understand why the illusions work. Nothing in any of the three is frightening and there is no upper age limit. Déjà Vu offers a family ticket at 45.00 euros for two adults and one child; ASTER 3D TrickArt has family packages at 32.00 euros for one adult with two children and 38.00 euros for two adults with one child.
Where is the 3D Trick Art Museum in Berlin?
ASTER 3D TrickArt is at Friedrichstrasse 185 in 10117 Berlin Mitte. Take U6 to Stadtmitte or U2 to Hausvogteiplatz and walk about four minutes, or come from Friedrichstrasse station and walk roughly ten minutes south. It opens daily until 20:00 with last entry an hour before closing.
Can you take photos in Berlin illusion museums?
Photography is the entire product at all three, so it is encouraged rather than merely permitted. Bring a charged phone and a companion to hold it. At 3D Trick Art there are marked spots on the floor telling the subject where to stand and the photographer where to aim from.
Is an illusion museum in Berlin worth the money?
It depends what you want. As a rainy afternoon with children, or as a photo session with teenagers, one of the three is a reasonable hour. As a museum visit measured against what the same money buys elsewhere in this city, it is the weakest value in Berlin, and visitors do say so. Pick one venue, go outside peak hours, and treat it as a photo shoot rather than an exhibition.
What Visitors Say
We did Déjà Vu with an eleven year old and a fifteen year old and both were busy the whole hour, which almost never happens. The mirror maze got the most time. We had planned to add Illuseum afterwards and the staff there quietly said we would see the same tunnel again, so we went for cake instead.
Trick Art is exactly what it claims and nothing more. Two floors of painted walls, staff who position you properly, and about seventy minutes of decent photos. Do not go alone. The couple ahead of us had come without anyone to take pictures and left after ten minutes looking baffled.
Illuseum was fine and my six year old loved the size swapping room, but we were through it in half an hour on a Saturday afternoon and spent most of that waiting behind other families. Go on a weekday morning. The puzzle shop at the end cost us more than the tickets did.