TL;DR:
A typical magic mushroom trip lasts 4–6 hours, but onset and duration vary based on factors like dosage, method of consumption, metabolism, and body weight. While most users experience euphoria, visuals, and introspection, some may encounter side effects like nausea or anxiety. Always dose responsibly and stay informed.
- Peak effects occur midway through the trip, with onset in 30–60 minutes
- Consuming mushrooms as tea can speed up onset
- Larger doses and slower metabolisms generally extend trip duration
- Side effects can include dizziness, confusion, or anxiety
- Federally legal alternatives like Amanita muscaria are available from Delta 8 Resellers
How long does a mushroom trip last? For many users, the active experience of a mushroom trip takes about 4-6 hours.
However, many factors can influence the length of a mushroom trip, from how you ingest the mushrooms to the dosage and much more. Your metabolism, weight, and the specific species of mushroom are just a few examples.
Want to learn more about what to expect from a mushroom trip? You’re in the right place. Let’s dive into the details about magic mushrooms and the experience they offer, with a focus on how long the active ingredients can affect you.
The Basics of the Magic Mushroom Experience
What Are Magic Mushrooms?
Magic mushrooms are the common, casual name for mushrooms containing psilocybin and psilocin, two psychedelic chemicals. These mushrooms are dried and consumed in that form, or further processed to produce powders, capsules, and other products.
You might also hear “magic mushrooms” used to refer to other types of psychoactive and psychedelic mushrooms that don’t include psilocybin or psilocin, like Amanita muscaria mushrooms.
While not exactly the same as mushrooms containing psilocybin and psilocin, these other types of magic mushrooms generally have somewhat similar effects in the big picture.
However, this guide focuses specifically on psilocybin mushrooms, as the specific effects, mechanisms of action, and other factors are different between these mushrooms and other mushrooms with similar but distinct effects.
How Do Magic Mushrooms Work?
When users take dried mushrooms or other mushroom products, their bodies begin to process the prevalent psilocybin into psilocin. Psilocin binds to certain serotonin receptors in the brain, as Medical News Today explains, to produce its effects.
What Does the Magic Mushroom Experience Feel Like?
The intended effects of magic mushrooms include:
- Elevated mood and euphoria, such as a sense of well-being, happiness, peace, or awe.
- Altered sense of time and space, such as changes in how the passage of time is perceived (whether slower or faster) and how your physical environment appears.
- Visual hallucinations, like geometric shapes, intricate details, and more vivid colors.
- A sense of connection to the universe, other planes of reality, and/or other people, animals, and plants.
- A loss of sense of self, which can contribute to the above effect.
- Deep and introspective thinking, developing profound or seemingly profound insights about oneself, others, nature, or the world at large.
How long does a shroom trip last? The short answer is roughly 4-6 hours, but we’ll explore that in more depth in the next section of this blog.
The side effects of magic mushrooms can be seen as negative effects that aren’t desired by users of magic mushrooms. These effects may be more common at higher doses, especially for inexperienced users. Magic mushroom side effects include:
- Anxiety and, in certain cases, panic attacks.
- Dizziness.
- Nausea.
- Drowsiness.
- Impaired coordination.
- Confusion.
- An overall negative experience, one that is frightening or depressing – often called a “bad trip.”
Are Magic Mushrooms Legal?
Psilocybin is on the Drug Enforcement Agency’s (DEA) Schedule I list of controlled substances, making it illegal on the federal level. However, psilocybin is legal for medical use or decriminalized in many states, and is legal for recreational use in Colorado.
As of July 2025, there were multiple states with recent or pending legislation intended to change the legal status of psilocybin. The legal framework for psilocybin is complex and regularly changes as more states remove or weaken penalties related to its possession.
How Long Does a Magic Mushroom Trip Last?
Mushroom trips generally last 4-6 hours, although several factors can influence how long they take to take effect and the duration of effects. The peak of effects usually occurs toward the middle of the experience, a few hours in.
The come up or ramp up to the peak can take as few as 30 minutes or an hour or more. The come-down phase, where effects start to fade away, can last an hour to a few hours. Some users feel slight lingering effects, often related to their mood or state of mind, for as long as 24 hours afterward.
The variables that affect the length of a mushroom trip include:
- How you consume the mushrooms. As Healthline points out, making a mushroom tea can lead to effects within 5-10 minutes of ingestion. Making a tea helps release the active chemicals into the liquid, making it easier for your body to process them.
- Body weight. A person with a higher body weight may require a larger dose for an experience of similar length and intensity as compared to someone with a lower body weight.
- The size of the dose. Smaller doses can cause milder effects as well as a shorter duration of the trip itself. Larger doses can increase both the potency and the length of the experience. It’s important to limit doses and avoid the temptation to take a very large dose, as this can lead to too-intense effects and a bad trip.
- Taking mushrooms on either a full or empty stomach. Taking mushrooms on a full stomach can lead to a delayed onset of effects, which extends the length of the trip in a sense. Taking mushrooms on an empty stomach can lead to a quicker onset of effects as well as a more intense experience.
- The specific species of mushrooms. Several types of mushrooms contain psilocybin, and some of these species have more active ingredient per unit of weight than others.
- Personal metabolism. People with faster metabolisms may have shorter trips, while people with slower metabolisms can have longer trips.
- Use with other substances. Taking other substances along with mushrooms can change their effects, making experiences less or more intense as well as longer or shorter.
Federally Legal Magic Mushrooms From Delta 8 Resellers
Delta 8 Resellers is proud to offer federally legal magic mushrooms, like Amanita muscaria, from top industry brands. Whenever available, we share the results of third-party lab testing for our products, so you can check out their quality, purity, and potency yourself.
