Techmania Science Center

Techmania is a hands-on learning center with many interactive exhibits, built by Škoda and housed in its sprawling tech park. The displays appeal to kids of all ages, and teach adults a few things, too.

Borská St., Plzeň

It takes a little over an hour to drive to Plzeň from Prague. You can also take a bus, or one of the trains – including the Prague-Munich train.

We gave the place a solid 2.5 hours before feeling “scienced out”, and it was us, the parents, who’d had enough – not the kids.

On the website, the address is given as Týlova 1/57, but this is just one of several streets that surround the enormous industrial complex. You actually need to drive to Borská street, and drive through Gate V. There we were greeted by a friendly person who gave us a map and explained how to get to the parking in front of the center.

To the left of ticket sales is a daily program. There are permanent and temporary exhibits – check the site out beforehand. There are lockers in the šatna, free to use with a 10 CZK deposit. The entire area is wheelchair accessible. Do not miss the Espionage exhibit, where you can learn about ballistics, code, safecracking and surveillance.

Indoor. There’s not much seating, but when legs start to get tired there are lots of chairs next to tables filled with puzzles – something here for all levels.

The cafeteria is modern and clean. The food is a basic assortment of baguettes, pastries, ice cream, párek in a rohlík, and the like. We actually found the donuts to be amazing! They also had something I’ve not seen yet: pizza rohlík for just 8 CZK. They were great. Oddly, there was no alochol for sale, not even beer.

40 CZK for the day.

Techmania is open every day of the week from 09:00 – 05:00.

This is a place that’s perfect for all ages.

Adults are 140 CZK; Children, 90 CZK. Family ticket for a maximum of five people is 300 CZK. Kids under 4 are free.

Anything that turns kids onto learning is worth every penny, and Techmania could double its prices and I’d still recommend it. It’s great value considering the quality of the exhibits and how long you can stay there experimenting and being creative.

http://www.techmania.cz/

We visited the center on a Sunday and it was not crowded at all. We had fun for hours. We made sand patterns, sparks and rainbows. We drew perspective drawings on glass, spoke through a giant balloon, learned how airport security works, saw a Marx steam engine demo, played spies, and shone light through a water lens. My husband and I took a little break at a cute faux French café – there was no food, but it was pleasant under the striped awning of Chez James. Only later did we realize that the table where we took a break was bugged – it was part of the spy exhibit – and someone could have been listening to every word we said! We never did see a man with his arm on fire, but both kids definitely thought it was very much worth the trip.

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