This museum is in a perfect spot right across from the train station! It covers the history of Switzerland and also has special exhibitions as well! First off, the building itself. It dates to the late 19th century and the style feels a bit like a chateau. There are lots of details on the outside so don't miss the chance to look up and peek! The current main special exhibition is on colonialism. It's quite a small space that does get busy as certain exhibits are more of a pinch point than others. I found it interesting, it reached more widely than others however possibly could have added more about the global context to explain more about how events developed. Certain artifacts are really quite unique and very interesting to see so well worth a look. Watch out with the layout of this exhibit- if you enter first, the natural exit takes you all the way back down to the first floor and you'll need to go back up to see the rest of it!

The main exhibits take a look at different parts of Swiss history from clocks to cheeses to dresses. It's quite a big museum with little rooms- the historical rooms salvaged from old buildings are fantastic with beautiful restorations and details in them. It's worth taking a map as you enter, just to make sure you don't miss anything! Don't miss the tower section, it has great views out of the little turret windows and quite a few rooms of historical items and clothing too!

The other thing to be aware of is, there are two special artifacts that you can't take any photos of (i.e. stand over you and make you delete it from your phone kinda can't). I don't know why, it's not immediately obvious (I.e. delicate fabrics) but the sign is really small and way below eye level so incredibly easy to miss and the staff, oh boy, it must happen a lot so they're very firm about it! The first one is the reclaimed stone memorial room and I think the second is close by FYI.

There's a cafe and bistro (very busy when I visited) and also a shop too. The shop has fantastic postcards in so if that's your thing, definitely visit! They are strict on bag sizes and there's a cloakroom and lockers in the basement for oversized bags.