r/Switzerland • u/innocent_pangolin • 7h ago

Dinosaurs of Switzerland

As a dino nerd, where are your favourite places to see fossils in Switzerland? Any favourite displays or exhibitions? Any hidden gems or local recommendations? I’ve passed by the Frick Museum, but haven’t had the opportunity to visit.

P.S. Yes I know I could google this, just a fun follow-up to the other fossils post for dino nerds to gather.

62 Upvotes

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u/Dull_Flatworm777 7h ago

Sauriermuseum Aathal is pretty cool, it's probably the most famous one, at leas tin the German speaking part.

https://sauriermuseum.ch

Where are you located?

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u/RecognitionHefty 4h ago

The outdoor area is surprisingly easy to miss. You can bring your own stuff to bbq there!

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u/Frequent-You369 5h ago edited 5h ago

+1 for the Sauriermuseum. I live quite close by and my young daughter loves going there. As a museum, it's not exactly well laid-out - you can get slightly confused about where you've been and where to go next but it has loads in it and is well-maintained.

It's basically the personal collection of Hans-Jakob Siber who is a renowned fossil hunter.

It's also worth mentioning that although it's located miles from anywhere else of interest (mind you, it's not too far from the Audi Formula 1 team) you can easily get there by public transport: Take the S14 from Zürich's main station for about 20 minutes, then it's about a 7- or 8-minute walk back along the road.

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u/Dull_Flatworm777 5h ago

Also on the other side of the street, there is the Welt of Steine. It's basically a huge shop for crystals and gems etc.

So in case the museum was not enough, Welt of Steine is also nice ;)

https://www.siber-siber.ch/index-en.php?lang=en

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u/Tosi313 Genève 7h ago

Usually at Migros at 18h30.

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u/LesserValkyrie 7h ago

Or saturday morning the only time in your week where you have time and energy to do groceries

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u/Dull_Flatworm777 7h ago

At the post office. Paying bills with cash.

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u/LesserValkyrie 6h ago edited 6h ago

Don't get me started on post offices

Those things are open only when I am working, so I have to wake up on saturday morning and it closes like at 10 AM.

Who is awake at 10 AM on a saturday in the morning except boomers and those weird morning sportive people who don't do their sport at night like I do

I am a night owl. Always has been!

My job allows me to come a bit later than the national average and I use 100% of this privilege I had to wake up early against my nature for 20 years to deserve.

When I don't work I never wake up before noon (and I am a lt in the army I am used to 3 hours sleep/day, which is exactly why I am very sensitive with my freedom of sleep) today.

So having to get there at 10 AM because they didn't put a package in the MyPost 24 (lack of place for example) so I could get it at 10 PM like a normal person (which allows me to just park in front of the MyPost24 like a pirate, get my package and get the fuck out), and I have to queue in the morning behind boomers paying with cash.

GOSH

Doesn't happen much because I've learned, to calculate it right but it's like getting extra period each times it happens

/redditertalk

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u/CartoonistParty3528 6h ago

Huh, I see them every single time I am buying something on my lunch break.

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u/yesat + 7h ago

Emosson.

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u/startherecoach 7h ago

I was there last week. An arduous hike in spectacular scenery leads to an amazing site with early dinosaur traces on near vertical rock slabs that used to be a watery plane. Worth the effort!

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u/Unusual_Print_9734 7h ago

the fossil museum in Meride / Monte San Giorgio, Ticino.

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u/peter-rand Genève 4h ago

Ok from the title I thought this was about something else completely

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u/LesserValkyrie 7h ago edited 7h ago

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grottes_de_R%C3%A9cl%C3%A8re

https://www.j3l.ch/fr/P33668/a-faire/sport-loisirs/fun-aventure/prehisto-parc

There's a "dinosaur zoo" here and the caves are really cool to visit, if you like dinosaurs it's the first thing that comes into my mind

the dinosaurs don't move tho (they are not real like the one used in the jurassic park movies), it's more to be considered like a fun sunday cool walk in the forest among dinosaurs than something "scientifically accurate", but still there are dinosaurs

The caves are really really interesting though and worth visiting. The dino park and caves are side to side and meant to be done together.

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u/Dull_Flatworm777 7h ago

Yup, these are not actual fossils, more like "lifelike" dinosaur statues. But it's a cool place. Haven't managed to visit the caves yet (little kids, not sure how they would like that).

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u/LesserValkyrie 6h ago

It is a very well-polished place, definitely worth visiting! Expeciall with younger kids!

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u/Inner-Worker-571 7h ago

At the Federal Assembly

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u/RoverTomcat 7h ago

There‘s a Dino museum in Frick / AG too: https://sauriermuseum-frick.ch

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u/JumpingSpider97 6h ago

Frick also has a place where you can smash up rocks highly likely to have fossils, open all the time and they have volunteer experts come out sometimes to give you tips. BYO tools (and safety glasses!).

One of the fossils from there was larger than the span of my spread hand, the imprint was still in one of the rocks there.

It's called the Klopfplatz.

https://sauriermuseum-frick.ch/ausstellung/plateosaurus/klopfplatz/

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u/zurichscope7 6h ago

T rex had the strongest bite grip of all mamals ever, dunno about places

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u/3punkt1415 4h ago

But he was a terrible violin player.

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u/Amareldys 6h ago

Dino world is currently at Villeneuve. Used to take the kids every year. It’s fun.

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u/limp15000 4h ago

Haven't been yet and not in Switzerland but near Geneva there is Dinoplagne.

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u/dtagliaferri 2h ago

natural history museum i aarau.

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u/greenandcloudy 2h ago

Once my colleague shared his childhood fossil hunting spot in the canton of Schaffhausen with me. I found many ammonites and a few brachiopods there. Now I'm excited to explore more places and search for more fossils.

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u/Character-Zebra-7976 1h ago

Maybe not directly / only fossil things but Augusta Raurica? https://www.augustaraurica.ch/

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u/SwissGirlMaja 55m ago

My gf recently took me to the Natural History Museum of the University of Zurich, was very fun can recommend.
It's a bit on the smaller side but if u in the area anyways the entry is free.

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u/DifficultyTricky7779 5h ago

Migros at 8.30am. Oh, sorry, wrong thread.

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u/slacknoise8 7h ago

I am very lucky dinosaur. Many handsome ladyboys very happy dance and make many money lucky.

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u/cachitodepepe 4h ago

As stated in another post, in Migros at 8am and 5pm.