Altmühltal Dinosaurs' Museum
Travel back to the age of primeval giants at the "Dinosaurier Museum" in the Altmühltal Nature Park!
Visitors walk on a 1.5 km long path through the forest and also through 400 million years of Earth’s Geology. On their way, they meet more than seventy life-sized reconstructions of dinosaurs and other primeval animals, some of them event taller than treetops.
Other highlights can be admired in the museum hall, where the real skeleton of the T. Rex called "Rocky" is exhibited next to other original fossils. "Rocky" is a remarkable specimen among dinosaurs: it is the first extraordinarily well preserved skeleton of a young Tyrannosaurus rex ever found in the world. It gives an insight into the life of primeval giants towards the end of the Cretaceous (66 million years ago). Though it had a short life, he got over threatful experiences as witnessed to by horrific tooth-marks on its skeleton. Another sensational exhibit is "Dracula", the largest and heaviest Pterosaurian ever found up today. When rising, it was as tall as a giraffe and it featured a wingspan of at least 12 m.
In addition, at the Dinosaurier Museum you can also observe the geological oldest specimen of Archaeopteryx as well as the Archaeopteryx albersdoerferi, which is the geological youngest specimen of this primeval bird.
The special exhibit "A Treasury in the Heart of Bavaria - The Unequalled Fossil Finds of Painten" ("Schatzkammer im Herzen Bayerns - Die einzigartigen Fossilfunde von Painten") presents for the first time sensational finds to the public. Officially opened by Prime Minister Dr. Markus Söder in the early summer of 2019, it unveils fossil world's firsts such as the Dakosaurus (a 5.5 m-long marine crocodile) and the Sciurumimus (a baby predatory dinosaur with a coat of hair).
At the Dinosaurier Museum, knowledge is transferred also through active experience. Visitors can act as they were palaeontologists, for example by uncovering fossils in the Altmühl valley's Jura stones that they can then keep as a souvenir. Special stations involve visitors directly as they can compare their own ideas of dinosaurs' dimensions, speed and strength to the actual capabilities of those giants. Each section that they experience at the Dinosaurier Museum increases their knowledge of a period of time ranging from the Palaeozoic era up today, e.g. by taking part into amusing races or uncovering the skeleton of a Diplodocus.
In 2018, the Dinosaurier Museum Altmühltal won the prize of the German Automobile Club "ADAC Tourismuspreis Bayern".
More information about tickets, opening hours, current exhibitions and the route to follow for reaching the museum is available at www.dinopark-bayern.de.
Costs
TICKETS
Adults: 19.50 €
Children (4-14 years): 9.50 €
Groups of schoolchildren and kindergarten children: 8.50 €
Children 0-3 years: admission free
Family ticket (2 adults and up to 4 children): 49.50 €
Yearly season ticket - Children (4-14 years): 26.00 €
Yearly season ticket - Adults: 55.00 €
Yearly season ticket - Families (2 adults and 2 children): 145.00 €
ATM cards are accepted.
Opening hours
January till 6. January
10:00AM till 4:00PM
22. March till 2. November
9:00AM till 6:00PM
December till 16. March
Saturday and Sunday, on public holidays: 10:00AM till 4:00PM
20. December till 23. December
10:00AM till 4:00PM
26. December till 30. December
10:00AM till 4:00PM
Heiligabend, Erster Weihnachtstag and Silvester
Closed
Open all year round. Updated information about opening hours is available at www.dinopark-bayern.de.
Dogs on lead allowed.
Veranstaltungen
Lage
POSITION
The Dinosaurier Museum Altmühltal is located near Denkendorf (2 km from the highway A9) and can be reached also by public means of transportation.