Highlights
- All year round, temporary exhibitions, multimedia shows and workshops
- An early learning space for children under 3 years old
- A playful discovery of creatures from all over the world
- Mediators present in all rooms
- Yoga workshops for children with animal postures and drawing workshops
- Halfway through the tour allows for a pleasant visit with break times (lounges, folding seats available at the reception, and even … changing tables at the Early Childhood Museum)
The Museum of Bordeaux – Science and Nature
It is the natural history museum of Bordeaux. It is located in the 18th century Hôtel de Lisleferme, in Bordeaux’s public garden. It offers a permanent tour, temporary exhibitions, multimedia shows as well as workshops, guided tours, etc.
This museum will fascinate young and old alike with its incredible zoological collections, where animals, stuffed plants and shells rub shoulders, accompanied by sound effects evoking the fauna and flora of the Aquitaine coast, its ecosystem, its geology. In the large gallery, on the 2nd floor, you can’t miss Miss Fanny, an Asian elephant who spent the end of her life in Bordeaux, as well as the skeleton of a blue whale, the largest mammal that ever lived! Many themes are dealt with in this permanent exhibition where we observe the diversity of species, the richness of a nature where man has assigned himself a place. The squirrel game, a visual landmark, invites children to take a real journey from continent to continent where they will travel through Europe and then Africa and its wildlife, the incredible Madagascar with its strange animals that only exist there, Asia, but also America, Oceania and the Poles!
A team of mobile mediators, in white coats, is present in all the rooms to answer questions and exchange with the children. There are also interactive screens that allow the most interested to be autonomous in their visit.
The Workshops
- Animal Yoga Workshop: one Sunday a month, the museum offers a fun discovery of some specimens from the collections, followed by yoga postures inspired by the animals observed.
- Open to children over 5 years old accompanied by a parent, from 11:00 am to 12:30 pm.
- Price: €7 per participant, by reservation on the museum’s website
- Drawing workshop offered one Saturday per month from 2:00 pm to 4:30 pm
- Open to everyone from 16 years old, but limited number of places so reservation is necessary.
- Prices: €10 full price; Reduced price : €7
A “welcome” visit
- For groups (excluding schools and leisure professionals) – depending on availability and booking slots:
- From 10 people to 40 people: scientific mediators recognizable by their white coats will be present on all floors to quickly present each of the exhibitions and answer all your questions. Don’t hesitate to meet them!
- Booking at least one week before your arrival through an online form
- Prices: €4.50 (group rate)
The Toddler Museum
- It is a reserved space specially designed for the youngest on the ground floor, from 3 years old. Children must be accompanied by at least one adult
- The place is designed for children who have not yet mastered reading or writing
- For children under 6 years old
The exhibition of the moment: “All babies”
(until December 31, 2025)
An exhibition on the theme of baby animals. This exhibition aims to answer all the questions that toddlers have about animals: nesting, animal feeding, baby animals and their parents… An interactive and educational exhibition deliberately without screens in these spaces, but designed with audio devices to arouse the curiosity and awakening of toddlers.
Prices of the Museum of Bordeaux
- Adult rate (excluding temporary exhibitions): €6
- Adult rate (including temporary exhibitions): €8
- Youth rate from 6 to 18 years old : €3.5
- Free : for children under 6 years old and free on the 1st Sunday of each month (except July and August)
Opening hours of the Museum of Bordeaux
- Opening days : Tuesday to Sunday (and July 14 and August 15)
- Closing days : Mondays and public holidays (closed on public holidays except 14 July and 15 August)
- Opening hours : from October to March from 10:30 am to 5:30 pm and from April to September from 10:30 am to 6 pm
What to do after visiting the Museum of Bordeaux?
The museum is ideally located in the heart of the public garden, which in turn offers you several attractions to continue your outing in a green setting. Children will love the different playgrounds, as well as the Guignol Guérin theater (session at 4:00 p.m. or 5:00 p.m.) or the Carousel merry-go-round. On the large basin and for sailors at heart, there is even a boat for a cruise, the Va, Petit Mousse – the replica of a historic boat half Drakkar, half gondola! which has taken entire generations on the basin – which offers daily outings during the school holidays (Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday the rest of the year).
If you feel very thirsty or hungry after all these activities, the mythical café in the public garden, L’Orangerie will meet your desires. Looking for a slightly more unusual snack? Surround yourself with felines at NEKOMATA, a cat café, 40 rue Lafaurie de Maubadon. Nine adorable cats are waiting for you to cuddle while your taste buds marvel at the Japanese delights of this cozy little café.
And if you still feel like culture after all this, consider trying a visit to the Chartrons district to discover works of Street Art, or visit the Cotton Candy exhibition at the CAPC. To be discovered until May 14, 2023, this exhibition brings together works by about fifty artists at the Museum of Contemporary Art around the theme of the funfair.
To complete the visit of the museum and for young prehistory enthusiasts
- The cave of Pair-non-Pair located in Prignac-et-Marcamps , a little more than 40 minutes from Bordeaux, in the footsteps of our prehistoric ancestors and to discover exceptional engravings of more than 30,0000 years of horses, mammoths and megaceroses
