Museums in Aude, South France

Esperaza, which is 5 minutes from Couiza, boasts a Dinosaur Museum and Hat Museum that stand side-by-side, with one ticket allowing entry to both.

As might be expected, the Dinosaur Museum is the larger, with 3000 m2 of expositions. Signs are written in English and French, which is a big help and their are numerous skeletal reconstructions, models of dinosaurs, collections of fossils and the like. While it is breathtaking to see life-size reconstructions of dinosaurs, it is worth noting that there is little to do that is interactive and therefore young children tend to want to go through the exposition relatively quickly.

The hat museum provides a fascinating history of hat making, with various traditional pieces of machinery, which can be played with, so this is a much more hands on experience.

Scroll down for photos, or click for more photos of the Esperaza Museums. A list of other museums in Aude, can be found on Aude Cathare (which is in French, but includes information such as opening times and prices, which are simple enough to understand even if you don't speak French).

Dinosauria, as it is known, is open all year round in the afternoons and all day from February to October. In July and August it opens from 10 am to 7 pm. It is located at 11260 Esperaza, Haute-Vallee de l'Aude, tel 0468 74 26 88 or 0468 74 02 08.

Also locally is the Musee des Automates in Limoux, with over 100 marionettes, open all year round in the afternoon, located at 4 Rue Anne Marie, Javouhey, Limoux, Haute-Vallee de l'Aude, tel 0670 39 01 74.

Allosaur Skeleton - a dinosaur found uniquely in Aude	Skull with big teeth!	Archopterix Dinosaur
Dinosaur_Museum Entrance, Aude	Display cases in the Languedoc Museum	Simulation of ancient French terrain
T-Rex at the Esperaza Musee France	More Dinosaurs in South France	Triceratops Skull