Museums/Parks:
Switzerland

ABOVE: Olympic Museum, Lausanne, Switzerland.

General

SwissArt Network
Select a region on the map for lists of gallery exhibitions, some with links.

Aargau

Castle of Wildegg
Tour the castle, gardens, aviary, and farm at this Swiss National Museum site between Aarau and Brugg, which you can reach easily from Zürich by train or car.

Basel

Augusta Raurica
Some 20,000 people lived in this Roman town near Basel 1,800 years ago. In summer, you can reach the museum and animal park by boat.

Antiquities Museum and Ludwig Collection
Egyptian, Greek, Etruscan, and Roman artworks are featured here.

Basel Historical Museum
The city's history since Celtic times is chronicled in the Barfüsserkirche, a restored Franciscan church from the 1300s. If you don't read German, see the tourist office's English-language information page.

Basel Public Art Collection
The ÖKB encompasses two museums: the Basel Art Museum and the Museum of Contemporary Art.

Museum of Cultures
Basel's ethnological museum displays objects from around the world, with an emphasis on the Americas, the Pacific, and rural Europe.

Zoo Basel
See everything from Aafen to Zebras. (In German, but the hours, prices, and restaurant listings are easy to figure out.)

Bern

Bern Museum of Fine Arts
Among its other exhibits, the Kunstmuseum Bern has one of the world's largest collection of works by Paul Klee.

Kunsthalle Bern
Contemporary art is on display at the Helvetiaplatz every day but Monday.

Natural History Museum Bern
Mounted specimens include Barry, the world's most famous St. Bernard.

Bernese Oberland

Swiss Open-Air Museum, Ballenberg
The Freilichtmuseum is celebrating its 20th anniversary in 1998. It has more than 80 buildings, 250 farm animals, and demonstrations of historical crafts in an 80-hectare (200-acre) site.

Wichterheer Museum of Timepieces and Mechanical Music
A 13th Century mansion houses this lakeside museum, which opened in 1995 near the Swiss capital of Bern. The museum has watches, clocks, a replica of an antique clock shop, music boxes, and an horological library.

Fribourg/Freiburg

Fri-art
Click the photo, then move your cursor over the lower frame on the next page to see what's on tap at Fribourg's modern-art museum.

Geneva

International Car Museum
More than 400 cars are on display here, and you can see examples online.

Lausanne

Château de Prangins
The Swiss National Museum operates this "fairy-tale castle" in a garden setting between Lausanne and Geneva, near Nyon. A restaurant is on the premises.

Olympic Museum Lausanne switzerlandforvisitors.com
You've seen the medals and torches on TV, and now you can see them in person--along with sporting equipment, costumes, 3D movies, on-demand video clips, and other items at the International Olympic Committee's modern museum.

Lucerne

Swiss Transportation Museum, Lucerne switzerlandforvisitors.com
This lakefront museum complex has trains, planes, automobiles, boats, a planetarium, a 360° panoramic movie tour of Switzerland, and an IMAX theater.

Art Museum Lucerne
The Kunstmuseum's new home in the Kultur- and Kongresszentrum opened in summer of 2000.

Glacier Garden
Lucerne's Gletschergarten has Ice Age potholes, a relief model of Central Switzerland, an "Old Lucerne" section with antique furniture, and other attractions.

Historisches Museum Luzern
Visit once for the general displays, then return for special exhibits that range from Samichlaus (Santa Claus) to zithers.

Natur-Museum Luzern
The permanent collection at the Nature Museum includes a section on Lucerne's prehistoric residents.

Picasso Museum
See a collection of Picasso paintings and a photo documentary in the Am-Rhyn-Haus, next to the Rathaus in the Kornmarkt.

Lugano

Swiss Customs Museum
Take the motorboat from Lugano Giardino to Gandria to visit this museum. Boats depart daily at 1 p.m. from late March through late October.

Swissminiatur, Lugano-Melide
If your feet aren't up to a hike around Switzerland, this scaled-down version of the Confederation is a handy substitute. The park has more 100 buildings and 3.5 km (2.2 miles) of model-railroad tracks.

Schwyz

Forum of Swiss History
Helvetian culture between 1300 and 1800 is highlighted at this museum, which occupies a restored granary in the town that gave Switzerland its name.

Thurgau

Conny-Land
Switzerland's only theme park is in Thurgau, on the Bodensee (Lake Constance). In German; translate with AltaVista.

Winterthur

FotoMuseum Winterthur
This museum has organized nearly 40 exhibitions since it opened in 1993. It has a growing collection of works by world-famous photographers and an archive of applied photography.

Solothurn

Museum of Musical Automatons
Nearly 400 music boxes and mechanical orchestras are on display in Seewen, not far from Basel.

Valais

Alpine Museum, Zermatt
Don't miss this fascinating history museum if you visit the skiing and mountaineering resort of Zermatt. Its exhibits include photos, models, and historical objects (such as the rope that broke after the first ascent of the Matterhorn, sending two climbers to their deaths).

Zernez

Swiss National Park
The Nationalpark has been a refuge for chamois, deer, ibex, marmots, and other wild animals since 1914. No camping is allowed in its 40,000 acres of forests, and tourists must stay on the marked paths.

Zürich

Kunsthaus Zürich
The city's leading art museum has a multilingual Web site.

The following museums have Web pages at Musée Suisse Gruppe:

Swiss National Museum
The main building of the Schweizerisches Landesmuseum is right behind the main Zürich railway station, and it's the perfect place to spend a rainy day.

Museum of the Bärengasse
Get a taste of Zürich's material culture and living conditions in the 18th Century at this restored house, which also incorporates the Sasha Morgenthaler Museum of Dolls.

The Guild House "zur Meisen"
Swiss earthenware and crockery are on display in rococo rooms overlooking the Limmat River. The house is a short walk from Paradeplatz.

Other Museums/Parks Pages

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