Science Travel

In a nutshell

Below are the visits we can describe from official sources: the big machines for organised groups, and a museum, a science centre, a cable car and an alpine garden for everyone. The ESRF and the ILL are on the Presqu’île, near the end of tram line B; the Lautaret Garden is a mountain day trip.

Group visits to the big machines

ESRF. Standard visits are for high-school and university students aged 15 or over, in groups of 15 to 45, and last about two and a half hours. They usually take place on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, in French or English, and must be requested at least two months in advance. Visitors need a valid original ID. For safety reasons, pregnant women and people with a pacemaker or other device sensitive to magnetic fields cannot visit.

ILL. The ILL welcomes student groups on weekdays. Because of security checks that can take up to 21 days, requests should be made at least three weeks before the visit. There are no visits at weekends or on public holidays.

For everyone else, the best chances to see inside are public events such as the Fête de la Science or Parvis des Sciences, described on Conferences & Events.

Muséum de Grenoble

The natural history museum at 1 rue Dolomieu stands in the Jardin des Plantes, a garden with rare trees and greenhouses. Built in the 19th century, it holds more than three million specimens, including a notable mineral collection, tens of thousands of fossils, insects and birds, and a herbarium used in botanical research.

According to the departmental tourist board, the museum is open year-round from Tuesday to Friday, 9:15 to 12:15 and 13:30 to 18:00, and on weekends and public holidays from 14:00 to 18:00; it is closed on 1 January, 1 May and 25 December. Admission to the permanent and temporary exhibitions is free, and so is the audio guide (status as of 3 November 2026).

La Casemate

La Casemate, at 2 place Saint-Laurent, is Grenoble’s centre for scientific, technical and industrial culture. It has a Fab Lab with 3D printers, laser and vinyl cutters, sewing and embroidery machines. It is reached by tram B (Île Verte stop) or bus 17 (St Laurent stop).

In November 2017 the building was devastated by a fire, and the centre’s activities were suspended for a time. The tourist boards list La Casemate as open from Tuesday to Saturday and closed on Mondays, Sundays and public holidays; check its own site before you go (status as of 3 November 2026).

The Bastille cable car

Opened in 1934, the Grenoble–Bastille cable car was the first urban cable car in France. Its round “bubbles” of metal and plexiglass, designed by Denis Creissels, date from 1976. From the fort at the top there is a 360° view of the city and the mountains, and on a clear day a glimpse of Mont Blanc.

The Lautaret Garden

For a day trip in summer, the Lautaret Garden is a botanical garden and research support unit of Université Grenoble Alpes and the CNRS at about 2,100 metres, with more than 2,000 plant species from the Alps and other mountain ranges. It is open to visitors from the first weekend in June to the first weekend in September.

Created in 1899 and moved to its present site in 1919, it is one of the places where research and visitors meet: next to the garden stands a laboratory chalet where scientists study how alpine plants cope with extreme conditions and with changes in climate and farming.

Further along the route

Grenoble is the first stop on the Big Machines route of the TheScience.fm Atlas. The journey continues to Geneva (geneva.science), Lausanne (lausanne.science), Villigen (villigen.science) and Frascati (frascati.science).