We are 🐯 HUGE ANIMAL LOVERS here at MBFF . . . And so we are lucky to have some 🦌 fabulous animal parks, farms and kennels 🗻 au Pays du Mont-Blanc, [ ⇒ for more information about 🗻 animal parks au Pays du Mont-Blanc (and a little beyond), see separate article here ] As we are at the crossroads with 🇫🇷 Further France, 🇨🇭 Switzerland and … Continue reading ANIMAL PARKS & AQUARIUMS further afield
We are lucky to have some fabulous 🛷 pistes de luge au Pays du Mont-Blanc, some in town centres, some up the mountain . . . [ ⇒ for more information about 🛷 pistes de luge au Pays du Mont-Blanc (and nearby), see separate MBFF article here ] Colour code for listings Pays du Mont-Blanc 🇫🇷 Further France 🇨🇭 Switzerland 🇮🇹 Italy 🇫🇷 Pistes de luge in … Continue reading PISTES de LUGES beyond le Pays du Mont-Blanc
Have you ever been to the 🖼 MAMCO Genève? This 🖼 modern and contemporary art museum is located in an old industrial building in the Plainpalais area of Geneva, and it offers fabulous guided visits for families on Wednesdays and on the first Sunday of each month. MBFF has been a few times, and we love it! What is the MAMCO ? The 🖼 MAMCO (Musée … Continue reading A visit to the MAMCO Genève en famille (GENEVA)
🐠🐊 AQUATIS aquarium-vivarium opened just over 4 years ago, and I had been wanting to take the boys ever since! And so MBFF was delighted to be invited just before the Christmas holidays. I kept it a secret from the boys until we arrived, just to add to the excitement; both boys being huge animal lovers (yes, including 🐊 reptiles and 🐸 amphibians!), I knew … Continue reading AQUATIS aquarium-vivarium en famille (LAUSANNE)
We are lucky to have some 🖼 wonderful museums 🏔 au Pays du Mont-Blanc, many housed in architectural gems (old, renovated and new) . . . and as well as their permanent collections, they also offer 🖼 temporary exhibitions and 🎨 workshops for children and families over the school holidays! We are also lucky if we live in (or are visiting!) the 🏔 Pays du Mont-Blanc, as we … Continue reading MUSEUMS & EXHIBITIONS in nearby SWITZERLAND
[ note 2023 – this exhibition has been and gone, but I’ll leave the article on the website, as the photos are so magical ! Also, similar interactive exhibitions will come to the Beaulieu in Lausanne ! ] Just before the holidays MBFF had the great privilege of being invited to experience the world-famous sensory exhibition Van Gogh Alive – the experience in Lausanne . . … Continue reading « VAN GOGH ALIVE – the experience » en famille (LAUSANNE)
It’s official in Geneva: 🌺 SPRINGTIME has ARRIVED ! The 🌳 Marronnier de la Treille’s first leaf appeared last week, on Thursday 9th March 2023 – and this is seen in the Helvetian city as the first official day of 🌺 spring! (see below for further explanations). And here are the 🌺 first buds on our Sallanches co-property tree too: 🌷 Springtime: when 🌱 crocuses & snowdrops … Continue reading SPRING & SUMMER BLOSSOMS and FLOWERS au Pays du Mont-Blanc (and beyond)
Currently SHUT ! A couple of 🍁 autumns ago now, MBFF had a super adventure: we were invited to test out 🚃 VerticAlp Emosson ! We had the most gloriously ☀️ sunny day to experience this phenomenal feat of engineering, which also has a rich history. I would say that 🍂 autumn – before closure for the season at the end of October – is the … Continue reading VERTICALP EMOSSON – a vertiginous day out en famille! (SWITZERLAND)
There are several 🧬 BIG SCIENCE EVENTS that occur regularly 🏔 au Pays du Mont-Blanc and beyond, and we have the annual 🧪 La Fête de la Science in autumn ! 🧪 La Fête de la Science – in October (annual); 🧪 La Nuit des Sciences – every two years in Geneva; 🧪 CERN Open Days – every few years, the CERN opens to the public; This got me thinking … Continue reading SCIENCE MUSEUMS, EVENTS & ACTIVITIES for families au Pays du Mont-Blanc (and beyond)
🍁 Autumn is a lovely season to visit 🌳 parks and gardens: on the trees, a rich palette of gold, rust, brown, red, orange and yellow . . . underfoot, 🍂 a blanket of leaves crunching and sent fluttering when the children find a mound to run through . . . a crisp, and often ☀️ sunny day to accompany your exploits: playing and running, tree-climbing, LandArt, cabane-making . … Continue reading AUTUMN PARKS & GARDENS au Pays du Mont-Blanc (and beyond)
The MBFF tribe had driven past the starting point to the 💦 Gorges Mystérieuses de la Tête-Noire on numerous occasions, on our way to the 🇨🇭 Bisse du Trient family hike, or en-route to 🇨🇭 Martigny or 💦 the Bains de Saillons . . . but until a few summers ago, I hadn’t ventured any closer to this “ mysterious gorge ” . . . but I had certainly wondered what … Continue reading FAMILY HIKES: les Gorges Mystérieuses de la Tête-Noire (Switzerland)
We made our first visit en famille to Geneva’s 🌷 botanical gardens (CJBG – Le Conservatoire et Jardin Botaniques de la Ville de Genève) on a crisp and sunny 🍁 autumn’s day a few years back . . . and we loved it so much that we couldn’t wait to head back there in early spring! Just how had this magical garden eluded us for so long? (we … Continue reading Conservatoire et Jardin Botaniques de la Ville de Genève (CJBG) – Geneva’s botanical gardens
The 🐧 Muséum Genève, Geneva’s natural history museum, was our go-to museum for ☔️ rainy days when our boys were small! We have – over the years – pushed 💤 sleeping babies around the exhibits there, watched our toddlers crawl, run and topple over there, and we have spent plenty of time running after them too! (now we actually have time to read the information!). … Continue reading MUSÉUM GENÈVE – Natural History Museum (Geneva)
We first visited 🐶 Barryland – Musée et Chiens du Saint-Bernard with a dog-loving and inquisitive 3 year old and a snoozing (mostly!) newborn baby in a pram . . . this visit coincided with the arrival of Saint-Bernard puppies! A year later we visited again and this visit coincided with another litter of 🐶 cute puppies, but also with the most wonderful 🐣 Easter egg hunt … Continue reading BARRYLAND – Musée et Chiens du Saint-Bernard (Martigny)
The hike along the 💦 Bisse du Trient is perfect for families with young children or older relatives who are searching for a short and easy (and relatively flat) hike at slightly higher altitude than the valley floor! The path starts from the 🇨🇭 Col de la Forclaz (Vallée du Trient, Switzerland) and meanders through the shade of a 🌲 pine and mélèzes (larch) forest, to reach the ☕️ Buvette … Continue reading FAMILY HIKES: Le Bisse du Trient (SWITZERLAND)
We are 🐯 HUGE ANIMAL LOVERS here at MBFF . . . and we are lucky to share our home with a couple of affectionate (and fairly tolerant!) 🐱🐱 felines. But perhaps some of you don’t have the home set-up to accommodate animal friends, or perhaps allergies are preventing you from doing so . . . Luckily – whether you live 🗻 au Pays du Mont-Blanc or you are visiting – … Continue reading ANIMAL PARKS & FARMS au Pays du Mont-Blanc (and a little beyond)
You have perhaps heard that saying ☔️ “ there’s no such thing as bad weather; just badly dressed people “ ? Well, I heard this several times on a couple of work trips to 🇮🇸 Iceland . . . and that may well be, but even the strongest of resolves can be broken by 🌧 DAYS and DAYS of rainy weather in the mountains (especially when you … Continue reading RAINY DAYS au Pays du Mont-Blanc
🏔 Au Pays du Mont-Blanc we are lucky to have 💦 several swimming lakes with stunning mountain views . . . while the perfect spot for strolling and biking in autumn and winter, come the balmy days of spring and summer, the water warms and the lakes start to get busy with bathers and ⛵️ watersport enthusiasts . . . at Lac de Passy and Lacs des Ilettes you’ll find: … Continue reading LAKES & WATERSPORTS au Pays du Mont-Blanc
🏔 Au Pays du Mont-Blanc and in the 🏔 Chamonix Valley, we have lots of great 💦 swimming pools, and over the ☀️ summer months you’ll find that they organise plenty of animations for families and children. In addition, over the ☀️ summer months you’ll find some 💦 outdoor pools open to the public, and there are 💦 ephemeral water slides, water games, wibit parks and … Continue reading SUMMER SPLASH! – waterslides, wibit games, paddling pools and parcs aquatiques au Pays du Mont-Blanc (and beyond)
🇨🇭🌷 « La Fête de la Tulipe » in Morges celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2020, and this year’s 53rd edition will run from 1st April ⇒ 14th May 2023 . . . You don’t have to travel too far from the 🏔 Pays du Mont-Blanc to experience total dépaysement, to distance yourself from the mountain valleys and high snowy peaks; just the other side of 🇨🇭 … Continue reading « Fête de la Tulipe » in Morges ( 1st April ⇒ 14th May 2023 )
Throughout the year in 🇨🇭 Geneva and Nyon, from September ⇒ May in 🇫🇷 Cluses, and from October ⇒ May in 🇫🇷 Annecy, several 🖼 museums & temporary exhibitions are FREE on the 🗓 FIRST Sunday of the month! In addition, the museums often put on some 🎨 wonderful workshops & guided tours for children and families (also FREE) on this day. The next FREE Sunday will be 🗓 Sunday 5th March … Continue reading [ Geneva, Nyon, Cluses & Annecy ] – FREE museums on FIRST SUNDAY of the month!
The MBFF family visited 🎨 La Maison de la Créativité in 🇨🇭 Conches (on the outskirts of Geneva), on a crisp, sunny day in 2016 . . . what a magical discovery, for children and adults alike! A beautiful house (Villa Calandrini) set in copious grounds and surrounded by 🌳 woodland, with views of ⛰ the Salève mountain, and it even has its very own Faraway Tree ® (reference to … Continue reading LA MAISON de la CRÉATIVITÉ (Conches, Geneva)
🖼 La Fondation Pierre Gianadda in 🇨🇭 Martigny (Switzerland) is one of my all time favourite museums! The building itself is an architectural gem, 🖼 the exhibitions are varied and ambitious, and the 🐑🍏 sculpture garden is a real treasure trove. La Fondation Pierre Gianadda : three museums in one (and a sculpture garden) The 🖼 Fondation Pierre Gianadda (indoors) is three museums in one: 🖼 there is the space … Continue reading La Fondation Pierre Gianadda (Martigny, SWITZERLAND)
One of MBFF’s 🖼 favourite museums in Geneva is the MEG (Musée d’Ethnographie de Genève) . . . we watched as it was being built and we were excited when it opened its shiny new doors to the public! The adventure starts before you even enter the museum – the architecture is modern and audacious (designed by Graber Pulver Architekten AG) and there is a 🌷 pretty landscaped garden (Hager … Continue reading MEG – Musée d’Ethnographie de Genève (GENEVA)
One of the largest museums in 🇨🇭 Switzerland, the 🖼 MAH – Musée d’Art et d’Histoire, displays over 650 000 sculptures, 🏺 objects and 🖼 paintings across 5 floors. Built in 1910 by the architect Marc Camoletti, the museum is located in the old town, and so is a short walk from plenty of other family delights. Espace #mahfamily & restaurant We thoroughly enjoyed our last visit to … Continue reading MAH – Musée d’Art et d’Histoire (GENEVA)
Mont Blanc Family Fun 