3 Best Sights in Geneva, Switzerland

Through the use of period artifacts, carefully preserved documents, and engaging audiovisuals, the museum takes visitors on a thematic and chronological journey of the Protestant Reformation. This remarkably friendly museum explores its influence as a religious, cultural, and philosophical phenomenon and traces its roots from the early 16th century through today. The sparkling 18th-century premises, on the site where Geneva voted to adopt the Reform, connect by underground passage to the Site Archéologique. There are free audio guides in 10 languages including English.

Vaulted cellars and ground-floor kitchens display medieval graffiti, 15th-century tiles, and a guillotine in Geneva's oldest house, now a museum focused on life in the city from 1334 to the 1800s. Seventeenth-century ironwork, doors, and other fragments of long-demolished houses fill the first floor; a bourgeois home complete with 18th-century wallpaper is re-created on the second. The enormous Magnin Model (which depicts Geneva as it looked before its elaborate defense walls came down in 1850) is housed in the attic. Audio guides are available in English, French, German, and Russian.

Large, evocative wildlife dioramas complete with sound effects cover most major animal types at this spacious museum. Large quantities of fossils, gigantic crystals, precious stones, and a case full of polyhedrons ensure that the place is always swarming with local school groups. Swiss geology, the history of the solar system, and thematic temporary exhibits round out the collection; most labels are in French. The museum is a short walk away on the outskirts of the Vieille Ville.