Neanderthal Museum — Attraction in Mettmann

We parked at the Bahnhof Neanderthal P2 parking area. From there it is about half a mile to the museum. The path from the Bahnhof to the museum is downhill but obviously on return it becomes a small climb. Part of it also passes through the thickly forested hillside behind the museum. The museum displays were quite informative. Life-size reconstructions of various hominin species including the Turkana boy, Lucy and Australopithecus Sediba were quite impressive. A full size adult Neanderthal wearing a suit and standing at the gallery was a nice touch. It shows how similar our cousins were to us. The tower in the valley takes you above the tree tops and gives you a 360 degree view of the valley. Unfortunately the cave where the first Neanderthal fossils were found no longer exists. During our visit there were a lot of school groups also visiting the museum. Most younger children were well behaved and were listening to their teachers but a lot of teenagers were creating a racket and were in general making a nuisance of themselves. Therefore it was almost impossible to hear the commentary on the audio guides at various stations. Overall its a very good place to visit if you wish to know a bit about our long...

Fascinating and full of history and education. There are points to plug in the headphones they give you which are available in a few languages, plug the headphones in and in a moment or 2 the sound will start. It is mostly stories of the pre-human people, told from their perspectives, which gives insight into what life was like tens of thousands of years ago for Neanderthal and Austrolopithecus as well as early Homosapiens and our other closer ancestors.

The entire museum has great accessibility, including specific areas with braille and replicas of artifacts for a tactile experience for blind and/or visual impaired visitors.

I recommend going by car or public transport (bus) as close as possible. We used Google maps to get us to a nearby train station which was not the Neanderthal S-Bahn stop, and then it took us on a walking route where there were steep hills and no footpaths! Always check satellite of routes before committing to the journey, Google maps is not reliable in this area.

Oh also there's a nice little cafe at the top of the museum, which was nice to relax in before we left. Highly recommend the whole place for anyone interested in this...

Every time I go here, something new is happening, and the exhibition has always been interesting. Now they have lockers in the basement with power outlets inside for phone charging. Next to the lockers, they have kindly provided bottle warmers and a bottle heater for parents with babies. The archeological dig site (a sandbox with a partial skeleton to be discovered at the bottom) is the biggest hit with smaller children, and the scale of time and human evolution is discussed in ways that are engaging for older (probably school-age) children to adults.

The current special exhibition about Greenland provides a relaxing space with bean bags and views of the scenery on projector. In the walk-through part, my daughter and I enjoyed learning about the different animals that live there, including feeling samples of their fur.

Most museums don't charge entrance fees for children under 6, but Neanderthal Museum does. However, regular visits pay off for small children who want to run through quickly and direct attention differently each time. In this case, a Düsseldorf art::card pays for itself after the second visit, and one can be...