5 interactive museums in Switzerland
Hands-on museums for the whole family: try things out, experiment, create.
WOW Museum in Zurich: Sensory Deceptions and Illusions
At the WOW Museum in Zurich, children and adults alike will be amazed: three floors of rooms filled with astonishing and amusing sensory illusions await. Distances, perspectives, perceptions – what is right, what is wrong?
You will experience worlds of light, lose yourself in patterns, and sink into mirrors. Each installation offers new perspectives and an entertaining, interactive, and immersive experience. At some spots in this colorful world of adventure for the whole family, you can also capture the optical illusions with your smartphone.
Good to know: If you go to museums often, the Swiss Museum Pass is worth considering. It gives you unlimited access to more than 500 museums and castles throughout Switzerland for one year.
Technorama in Winterthur: The wonderful world of technology and natural phenomena
If your hair is standing on end due to static electricity, you are probably at Technorama in Winterthur, where natural and technological phenomena are vividly illustrated. You are welcome to touch and try everything. The experiments in physics, chemistry, and biology are both enjoyable and educational.
Children can build their own machine in the inventor's workshop or start their career as a scientist in one of the seven laboratories.
The "Windy Picture" is also very popular: you stand in a photo booth with a built-in wind tunnel, let the wind blow your hair around, and take funny photos. The pictures can then be downloaded from the website.
Gameorama in Lucerne: the interactive game museum
The interactive game museum Gameorama in Lucerne is ideal for a visit with children. Here you can try out all kinds of games, such as board games from all eras and genres, old consoles, and arcade machines.
Or the first computers suitable for gaming, such as the legendary Commodore 64. Often, it is the parents who can't get enough of what this interactive Swiss museum has to offer and reminisce nostalgically.
In all areas of Gameorama, information boards provide you with additional information and fun facts to give you a good background knowledge. The game museum also has four escape rooms, a virtual reality arena, and a board game café where you can try out games at your leisure.
Stapferhaus in Lenzburg: every visit is a new experience
The Stapferhaus in Lenzburg is different almost every time you visit: each exhibition at this interactive museum offers a new experience – not only does the content change, but so does the design of the building. The exhibitions focus on the major issues of our time: time, money, home, truth, and health.
Entitled "The main thing is to be healthy. An exhibition with side effects," an interactive trail was recently created that focuses on visitors' personal well-being. It presents facts about health, but also addresses the question of how society and the healthcare system are doing.
Good to know: The exhibition on the topic of health has been extended until mid-2026.
Umwelt Arena Switzerland in Spreitenbach: Environmental and energy issues
At the Umwelt Arena Switzerland in Spreitenbach near Zurich, you can explore sustainability in an interactive way. There are more than 45 exhibition worlds to touch, experience, and learn about in the futuristic building. The topics: environmental and energy issues, environmental education, sustainable mobility, and energy-efficient living.
You will receive tips on how to implement sustainability in everyday life in a clear and playful way. Aspects of healthy, sustainable nutrition are also addressed. Team challenges, winner trails, and the indoor course with a large fleet of electric vehicles provide variety.
Interactive museums in Switzerland: excitement, education, fun
Switzerland has more than 1,000 museums to offer – and in some of them, touching is expressly encouraged: in interactive museums, visitors are encouraged to touch and try out the exhibits, with the focus on personal experience and understanding through active participation. This makes interactive museums excellent Swiss destinations for excursions with children.
The museums presented here could be expanded to include many others, such as the Swiss Museum of Transport in Lucerne or the Museum of Communication in Bern.
If you are traveling in Switzerland or elsewhere in the world, take your American Express credit card with you. It makes traveling a particularly pleasant experience. Depending on the card model, you can enjoy various travel benefits – from insurance services and discounted car rental rates to special dining benefits for first-class culinary experiences.
Frequently asked questions and answers
In an interactive museum, visitors don't just look at the exhibits, they can touch them and, in some cases, experiment with them. They respond and interact with the content, either physically or digitally.
That's a matter of taste, but the museums presented here are recommended for both children and adults. The most visited interactive museum is the Swiss Museum of Transport in Lucerne.
Switzerland has a total of around 1,100 museums, dozens of which are interactive or have interactive elements.
