Geneva’s Natural History Museum (Muséum Genève) has been our go-to museum on rainy days for the last 7 years! We have, over the years, pushed a sleeping baby around the exhibits here, watched our toddlers crawl / run / topple over, and we have spent plenty of time running after them too!

What a wonderful museum this is!  Set across 4 floors, the permanent exhibitions include: local fauna, animals of the world and an extensive mineral collection.

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«Célébrons! 50 ans du Muséum à Malagnou»

Until January 2018, the Muséum Genève was celebrating its 50 year anniversary – Célébrons! 50 ans du Muséum à Malagnou – and it did so with two fabulous temporary exhibitions:

• the breathtaking 🦕«Dinosaurs»🦕– with several dinosaur skeletons to gawp at and a myriad of interactive activities, the MBFF team were absolutely enthralled! We even came away with the perfect “selfie with a scary dinosaur” souvenir, courtesy of the museum (and a “dinosaur tooth” or two!);

•  «Fourmis» – after «Dinosaurs», the museum turned its attention to much smaller creature – 🐜ANTS🐜 ! If you’d like to learn all about these fascinating little animals and experience a giant anthill, then free up a day before January 2019! (this exhibitions was extended due to its success);

For more information about other temporary exhibitions running alongside the main one, see MUSEUM AGENDA.

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Eating options

The museum has a spacious café (recently renovated) with good lunch options (no picnics allowed, but on a warm day, there is plenty of space for a picnic outside).

Another option is the fabulous family-friendly Luiga restaurant, located just down the road from the museum. This Italian restaurant is spacious, serves delicious food and is very family friendly (baby-changing facilities, high chairs, children’s play area). It doesn’t take reservations, but we have never waited long for a table. You’ll get a truly Italian welcome . . .  we were introduced to this restaurant through Geneva friends, so thank you to them! / open 7 days a week, from 12h / address: rue Adrien-Lachenal 24a, 1207, Geneva / tel: (+)41 22 840 15 15 / website;

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Workshops for children

The Muséum Genève offers workshops for children on Wednesday afternoons from 14h to 16h30 and on some Saturdays too. Check the museum’s website for more details;

🦇La Nuit du Chauve-Souris🦇 is an annual evening event organised at the museum . . . lots of fun activities for the whole family!

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Gift Shop

There is a great gift shop at the entrance; a great place to pick up some birthday presents, stickers, postcards or posters!

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Family facilities at the museum

As well as the restaurant/café on-site, there is a cloakroom, a place to leave pushchairs (not supervised) and there are baby changing facilities.

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Other activities in the area

You are unlikely to spend ALL day at the museum (more likely a couple of hours, depending on age and attention span of youngsters!), so here are some ideas (tried and tested by the MBFF family!) of what to do in the vicinity:

PLAYGROUNDS – did you know that school playgrounds remain open at the weekend in Switzerland? No? Neither us; we learned this fact from various Swiss resident friends! One fine weather day, after a Muséum visit, we playground-hopped (we just stumbled upon each playground!) all the way to the Parc de la Grange . . . here is a photo-montage of what we found that day:

Le Parc des Eaux-Vives (Parc de la Grange) – a 30 minute stroll from the Muséum brings you to this beautiful park. You’ll find a small café, plenty of grass for running around . . . for young children, think to have scooters and drésiennes at hand to get here without whining!

Lac Léman – also accessible à pied, is Lac Léman and its iconic Jet d’Eau. Baby Plage is located near the lakeside entrance to the Parc de la Grange – a perfect spot for playing in the sand and watching the boats . . .

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Opening hours

The Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle is open every day except Monday, 10h to 17h;

CLOSED: Mondays, Christmas Day and New Year’s Day;

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Price

It is FREE to visit the permanent exhibition space!

Temporary exhibitions have an entrance fee, but they are FREE on the first Sunday of each month (be sure to ask for a children’s booklet to accompany the visit).

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Practical information

address: 1 route de Malagnou, 1208, Geneva, Switzerland

tel: +41 (0) 22 418 63 00;

website: http://institutions.ville-geneve.ch/fr/mhn/

FB page: here;

parking: Villereuse car park (paying) is just next door, otherwise you may find some free parking at the weekend on the adjacent streets;