The best of the 2026 Science Festival in Paris: free museums
SCIENCE FESTIVAL IN PARIS
October 2-12, 2026
From October 2nd to 12th, 2026, the Science Festival opens Paris's science museums free of charge, and this year's theme is edible: "Scientific Flavors." Our selection, weekend by weekend.
Science Festival at the Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie (City of Science and Industry)
Two days of free admission, and the first weekend is the one to aim for. On Saturday and Sunday, researchers and science communicators will be set up throughout the Cité: mini-conferences on Mars and the oceans, acoustics demonstrations on instruments, mathematics performances, workshops on invasive species, not to mention the space mission recounted by those preparing it. Suitable for ages 3 and up, with some workshops requiring reservations on-site when space is limited.
City of Science and Industry, Paris 19th arrondissement
Saturday, October 3, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday, October 4, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. - Free admission
Science on Your Plate at the Grand Palais
The Palais de la Découverte (Science Museum) hasn't yet reopened, but it's taking over the Grand Palais for two days of free demonstrations, no registration required. On the program: levitating on the Magsurf using superconductors and liquid nitrogen, making giant bubbles, observing living things under a microscope, seeing the Pascaline, Blaise Pascal's calculating machine, in action, and facing MENACE, a wooden artificial intelligence. The weekend will feature encounters between science and comics, podcasts recorded live, original artwork by Marion Montaigne, and the show "Lady Pipette, Rap ta Science." Next door, at the Children's Palace, the Transparency exhibition is free for children aged 2-10 for both days.
Grand Palais, Paris 8th arrondissement
Saturday, October 3, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday, October 4, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. - Free admission, subject to availability
Science Night and Science Village at the Arts et Métiers Museum
This is the only Parisian museum to kick off the festivities on Friday evening, starting at 7 p.m.: four pairs of chefs and scientists share the stage for culinary demonstrations, tastings (including insects and chili peppers), talks on smell, wine, and music, and quizzes. Over the weekend, more than a dozen laboratories set up their Science Village among the Vaucanson machines, covering everything from computer science and quantum physics to virtual reality and botany, with "Flavors and Knowledge" workshops on the science behind everyday recipes. It's a chance to see Lady Liberty without paying the entrance fee.
Musée des Arts et Métiers, Paris 3rd arrondissement
Friday, October 2nd from 7 pm, Saturday, October 3rd and Sunday, October 4th from 10 am to 6 pm - Free admission
Sparks at the Palais de la Découverte
The Palais de la Découverte branch in the 15th arrondissement maintains its reputation for live presentations where a presenter demonstrates electrostatics right before your eyes, and adds a special program for the weekend: black holes, volcanoes, artificial intelligence, the brain. Free, no reservation required, ages 6 and up, and this is the format that children love most: a table, an experiment that either fails or succeeds right before their eyes.
Sparkles at the Palais de la Découverte, Paris 15th
Saturday, October 3 and Sunday, October 4 - Free admission
A Sunday of Flavors at the Quai Branly Museum
The Quai Branly Museum celebrates science for just one afternoon, but it falls on the first Sunday of the month, the day when the collections are free. From 2 pm to 6 pm, the museum takes the year's theme literally: a "Masked Vegetables" workshop to make plant-based masks, a talk on the secrets of ancestral dyes, short tours on the foods, spices, and drinks that shape world cultures, tasty stories, and recipe postcards to exchange. For ages 3 and up. Then it's on to First Nations, the major exhibition of the season, included in the free admission for the day.
Quai Branly - Jacques Chirac Museum, Paris 7th arrondissement
Sunday, October 4, from 2 pm to 6 pm - Free admission
Living at the Palais de la Porte Dorée
Between the Tropical Aquarium and the Museum of the History of Immigration, the Palais de la Porte Dorée is offering a program over the ten days of the festival, focusing on biodiversity and food: a talk on meals as rituals on Saturday the 3rd at 4:15 pm, and an evening on the future of coral reefs on Wednesday the 7th at 7 pm. Tickets can be booked online, and the Aquarium remains a great outing for children who don't have the patience for lectures.
Palais de la Porte Dorée, Paris 12th arrondissement
October 2-12 - Sessions by reservation
And also, the second weekend. On October 10 and 11, the festival moves to the Latin Quarter: Sorbonne University Science Village at Jussieu (Saturday and Sunday, 12 pm-6 pm, mini underwater drones and the neuroscience of taste), École Normale Supérieure Villages on rue d'Ulm and rue Lhomond (Sunday 10 am-6 pm, laboratory tours by reservation), Institut de Physique du Globe (Saturday 10 am-6 pm, meteorites and paleomagnetism), Institut Pasteur (Saturday 10:30 am-5:30 pm, apprentice researcher in a white coat) and Climate Academy (Saturday and Sunday, almost everything by reservation). The Sewer Museum opens its underground tunnels on Sunday the 11th. Everything is free. Also check out free museums on the first Sunday and the top new exhibitions in Paris.
