We like to visit local attractions as well as visiting destinations further afield. To add to the challenge these need to be toddler friendly. I headed to the Museum in St Anton am Arlberg with a toddler in tow. This is somewhere I had never visited in around 7 winters here, so it was about time for a look.
The Museum
You may recognise the building from the film Chalet Girl…
The museum itself takes up several rooms on the first floor. The ground floor is taken up by a fairly posh restaurant. I have only been for lunch, when it was baby-friendly, although we took our own travel high chair. I would guess that the evening is a more sophisticated affair best saved for when you have a babysitter.
If you are not eating, the museum has a small entrance fee; in 2017 it was 4 Euros for adults and children under 6 are free. For this you also get an audio guide in either German or English. Baby D liked pressing the buttons. Don’t expect to actually listen to much of it with a toddler – it is hand-held, so I had to keep putting it down to chase after D. It might work better if it had headphones.
The museum is small and starts with some general history of the building and the area. It also covers the building of the railway and the Arlberg tunnel. The second half of the museum is dedicated to the growth of skiing in the area and information on some local skiing heros.
Outside in summer there is a mini golf course and a garden, but these are inaccessible in winter.
Is it baby and toddler friendly?
I would say that this museum is best suited to crawlers and early walkers. Not because of anything to do with the museum, but because it gives them a nice space to crawl or toddle around on a snowy day. There is very little at their height for them to destroy, apart from some leaflets and a few books. For this reason, I think it would be a pretty boring destination for older children.
There isn’t much to look at – mainly pictures and a couple of scale models and a few artefacts. For me, the most interesting was a set of photos comparing past views of the village with the present. Or a pair of Mario Matt’s skis. However, it would be more exciting to go and see the man himself, often found in his bar Krazy Kanguruh.
If you are taking a pre-crawling baby, I would definitely recommend a sling as the museum is upstairs.
When we went, at around 3pm on a winter Sunday afternoon, we were the only people there. So it should be quiet enough for people to not be annoyed by a baby crawling or toddling around. We were there for about an hour which would have been plenty enough time to look at the exhibits (if that had been what we were doing).
The highlights for D were staring out the window at the snow, redistributing leaflets and walking round and round and round and round…
Museums where toddlers can toddle are so good, it’s really hard to find the balance in busy places between letting your child explore and annoying everyone else with a toddler underfoot.
Such a wonderfully picturesque building!
It is a nice building – no wonder they picked it for the film set!
It’s so hard finding “the right museum” for that age group isn’t it? I do find it so much easier when we’ve been lucky enough to have a place almost to ourselves for our son to explore, it just takes the stress out of it! It does look like a lovely place! Thanks so much for linking up to #take2trips.
Yes, it’s nice to find somewhere for them to wander about without annoying anyone!
Its great that everything is at a safe level that parents can relax a little and not worry about little hands, thanks so much for linking up #MondayEscapes
Thanks 🙂
I should think you were quite relieved to find somewhere warm in which your toddler could wander! Thanks for linking up with #CULTUREDKids
Indoor spaces to roam are few and far between!
Its pretty building – shame there’s not more for kids.Maybe the summer is a little better for them? #culturedkids
The summer in the mountains is great – playgrounds, cable car rides, swimming pool, wandering around in the sunshine!