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CERN Accelerating science

We want our visitors to engage with CERN and science through authentic and inspirational experiences. Find out more about what we have to offer. 

What's on today?

Exhibitions, science shows, lab workshops, guided tours, public events, virtual tours and talks.

CERN Accelerating science

Find below the answer to frequently asked questions. Should you not find the information you are looking for, do not hesitate to  contact us .

Preparing for your visit

CERN visits are free of charge, whether they are guided tours, exhibitions, labs, science shows or public events. Do not pay any third parties who claim that CERN is charging them.

Only if you take part in a guided tour, as some tours may take place on both sides of the Swiss-French border.

Yes. A paid car park is available next to the Globe of Science and Innovation. The bus parking available before the car park is reserved for groups with a booking. More details on our dedicated page .

No, but CERN can be reached by  public transport  and taxi. CERN is located 5.5km away from Geneva airport and 9.4km from Geneva Cornavin train station. Those arriving at Geneva airport can get bus and tram ticket from the machine in the baggage collection area of the arrivals hall. For further details please click here .

Our Resources menu  provides numerous resources for you to learn more about CERN before your visit.

French and English. Some of the team members also speak other languages.

Accessibility

Yes. There are seating areas in the exhibitions and you can borrow a wheelchair or a folding stool in the reception area upon availability. Click here for more information about accessibility .

While pets are not generally permitted on site, guide dogs for the visually impaired are welcome. Please inform the Reception personnel when you arrive.  Click here for more information about accessibility

Families and individual visitors

Families, individual visitors and small groups (less than 12 visitors) do not require prior booking. Simply show up at Reception, register on out web app, exclusively available on site, and off you go. More information here .

Booking is not required for families and individual visitors. Access to exhibitions, science shows and films (when available) is free within capacity limits. Guided tours and lab workshops can only be booked on site.  A dedicated page explains why .

Group bookings (12 visitors and more)

If the date you want cannot be selected, it means that we cannot take any more groups on this date.

CERN receives twice as many requests as it has places available , so you are advised to book your tour as early as possible. Group (12 visitors and more) booking are opened 9 monts in advance and slots fill up in days.

Some of the places visited on guided tours are a long way from the CERN Reception (up to 15 km away). It is therefore important to organise transport. CERN has a limited number of coaches/minibuses to transport visitors. If you have your own coach/minibus, we will use it during the tour to travel between the visit points. Please make sure that the driver is aware of this and is prepared to drive you. Please note that the use of private cars is not allowed. Only coaches/minibuses (with 20 to 50 seats) are allowed to bring tour parties onto our sites.

You can request for your group to have lunch in one of CERN’s on-site cafeterias at the registration time. This request has to be accepted by CERN Visits service as we have limited capacity. You will be informed quickly of the decision.

If you omitted to request for this option, please contact us and provide your group booking reference number.

If your request has been accepted, and about 2 weeks before your visit, CERN Visits Service will assign you the restaurant and the time which suits the best your programme. You will be informed of the restaurant and the time your group has been assigned to at your arrival at CERN Science Gateway reception.

Please note that it is not possible to change the restaurant nor the time assigned to your group. Refrain from contacting any CERN restaurants' management directly (unless instructed by us).

Cost for a meal in CERN restaurants vary from around 10 CHF to 20 CHF depending on the restaurant and the meal. Payments are possible in cash in CHF and EUR (but change is always returned in CHF) or by most credit/debit cards.

No. As the applicable laws differ from one country to another, CERN is unable to provide a standard risk assessment document. A medical service and fire brigade are based on the Meyrin site, and strict safety rules are in place to protect everyone working at or visiting CERN.

Connect to  http://myguidedtours.cern.ch  with your login, select the request and click on Cancel the visit  in the Other actions menu at the top.

Please submit a request using the contact form , quoting the reference number of your request. This number can be found in the automated e mails that have been sent to you and on the myguidedtours.cern.ch website.

Only if you have requested a guided tour as the visitors will enter the CERN fenced sites.

Once your guided tour request has been approved, you will be given access to a form available on myguidedtours.cern.ch to provide details of all the members of your party (first name, last name, nationality, date and place of birth).

If you have not requested a guided tour, the list of visitors is not required.

Make sure you enter only unaccented Latin characters, as shown in the machine-readable part of your identity document.

No. You can save the form and come back later to enter additional information. All visitors' details must be provided within 48 hours in the case of individual guided tours or at least 21 days before the guided tour in the case of group guided tours, otherwise visitors whose details are incomplete will be removed from the tour booking.

Yes, you are welcome to inform us of any changes, up to one day before the guided tour. No updates are possible on the day before the guided tour as this is when we need to print visitors' cards. You can inform the Reception staff of any last-minute changes when you arrive.

As soon as you arrive at the CERN Reception, please inform us of any last-minute changes. You will be requested to provide details of all visitors whose information has changed or who are not attending. Please note that the time needed to provide this information may reduce the duration of your guided tour. You are therefore advised to inform us of any changes online, up to one day before the guided tour.

No. Only the number of visitors registered on myguidedtours.cern.ch will be allowed to take part in the guided tour. Any visitors who have not been registered may visit the permanent exhibitions during the guided tour.

This information is not mandatory before your arrival, but you will have to provide it when you arrive at the CERN Reception at the latest. Make sure that you have this information with you.

No. The CERN logo is the property of CERN, and its use on any item produced by an external organisation is not permitted under any circumstances, including in the context of a school visit. However, the use of phrases such as “Visit to CERN, Geneva, Switzerland” is acceptable.

Yes, but availability is limited. School groups visiting CERN may apply to stay in the CERN hostel if all the members of the group are at least 16 years of age and have already been registered for a guided tour by the Visits Service. Teachers will be responsible for the group throughout the stay and must remain in the hostel with the pupils at all times. One teacher is required for every 10 pupils. Bookings cannot be made more than 90 days in advance of the tour and are limited to a maximum of three nights. Please note that no bookings are possible in June, July, August or September.

For all hostel bookings, please contact: CERN Hostel once your guided tour has been confirmed by the Visits Service.

Many school groups use the Geneva youth hostel . You can also find hotels nearby on Google Maps .

On-site services

Yes, CERN provides 321 lockers for free. Luggage is not permitted in our premises. All lockers must be emptied at 17.30 at the latest. A limited number of lockers can contain up to cabin-size luggage. Larger items are not allowed at CERN. We invite you to leave larger items in your coach or at your hotel. Luggage storage facilities are also available at Geneva airport and the  Cornavin train station .

Yes. The Big Bang Café welcomes you from 08.00 to 17.00. Selected groups with a booking will also be allowed to access the CERN restaurants inside fenced domain.

Yes. Free public Wi-Fi is available in and around CERN’s main buildings. Connect to CERN-Visitors Wi-Fi, and open a web browser to access our exclusive web app to register and get access to CERN Science Gateway. Should you need to access Internet, you will have to register your phone fully with a code.

Yes, the souvenir shop in the Reception area sells books, educational items, games, clothes and gifts. More information can be found here . Please note that the shop and reception close at 18:00, so set aside enough time for your shopping.

Depending on the restaurant assigned and menu chosen, a lunch cost between 15 CHF and 30 CHF. Swiss franc and euro banknotes are accepted. Change is always given in Swiss francs. CERN Restaurants accept all major credit and debit cards.

Not publicly accessible. Only groups granted restaurant access will be able to use the ATMs inside the fenced part of the site. The CERN shop accepts most credits cards .

Yes, most cards are accepted . You can also pay in cash using Swiss francs or euro notes. However, change is given in Swiss francs only.

Exhibitions

Yes, like all outreach activities at CERN, exhibitions are accessible free of charge.

Only if you are a group (12 visitors and more). Group bookings are available here .

For individual visitors, families and small groups, an onsite registration on our web app exclusively accessible onsite is the only registration needed to access freely the exhibitions and other activies. See more here .

The exhibition welcomes visitors of all ages, although it is best enjoyed by ages 8+.

The exhibitions are designed to be self-visited. But guides, recognisable with their red jacket, will be present in exhibiitions should you have a question. Don’t hesitate ask them.

Guided tours

Tours are conducted exclusively by members or former members of the CERN personnel, who give tours on a voluntary basis.

Tours last between one and a half hour (tours for individuals and families) and up to three hours (tours for groups). It is not possible to leave a tour before it ends.

Underground tours are extremely rare and limited to smaller groups. The LHC tunnel is never accessible to visitors. Only the experiment caverns can be visited during LHC shutdowns. But there are plenty of interesting places to visit above ground! The final tour programme is decided at the last minute to take operational and safety constraints into account and cannot be confirmed in advance.

Find our more on our dedicated page .

Yes, CERN has no secrets and you can photograph or film anything you wish throughout your visit, as long as you do not violate the privacy rights of individuals.

Top ways to experience CERN and nearby attractions

Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as wait time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

CERN - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (2024)

CERN Accelerating science

Scroll down to discover what CERN Science Gateway has to offer !

The case of the (still) mysterious Universe...

Cern 70th anniversary exhibition at geneva ..., science shows, exhibitions, our universe, quantum world, discover cern, more activities.

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Lab workshops

Guided tours, plan your visit, opening hours, getting here, accessibility, public events.

Public events at CERN are organised with the support of the CERN & Society Foundation

The case of the (still) mysterious Universe

Cern70 public event: exploring farther - machines for new knowledge, cern70 official ceremony: inspiring the future.

The CERN Science Gateway project is made possible thanks to the generous support of its donors. Click below to discover them all.

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CERN Science Gateway

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CERN – Globe de la science et de l’innovation Esplanade des Particules 1 1217 Meyrin

Discover the largest particle physics laboratory in the World. There are many options to visit this giant of science. Two permanent exhibitions, guided tours and a cycle route engage you in the discovery of particle physics.

General information

In the Universe of Particles exhibition, explore the issues CERN's physicists are trying to solve: given that the entire universe is made of particles, where do they come from? Why do they behave in the way they do? Discover the massive apparatus used by physicists at CERN and how the developed technologies impact your everyday life at the Microcosm exhibition. Interview engineers and physicists on their daily job. And if you have more time on site, follow the LHC circuit at ground level with the Passport to the Big Bang cycle path, to understand in situ this giant machine. Guided tours available by reservation only.

Group & pricing information

Booking information.

The contents listed here are maintained by the regional / local tourist offices or service providers, which is why Switzerland Tourism can not guarantee the contents.

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Conference rooms, globe of science and innovation - 1st floor, discover the surroundings.

CERN – Globe de la science et de l’innovation Esplanade des Particules 1 1217  Meyrin Switzerland

CERN – Globe de la science et de l’innovation Esplanade des Particules 1 1217 Meyrin Show Route

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Marriott Geneva Hotel, Geneva Marriott Promotion "Step Beyond"

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CERN and Mont Blanc: Dark and Frozen Matter: Switzerland and France

Contact an expert to book or discuss this tour.

Email us to book or discuss 2024

Phone +44 (0)20 7593 2284

Register for 2025

5 May  -  6 days - Sold out

8 October 2024 - Sold out

Register for 2025 now  at  [email protected] and we will contact you later this year with confirmed tour details.

Prepare to have your mind blown by  CERN, Europe's particle physics centre, where researchers operate the famous Large Hadron Collider, nestled near the charming Swiss lakeside city of Geneva.

This tour focuses on CERN and Geneva's fascinating history before heading to Chamonix in France to explore Mont Blanc and a nearby glacier. During the tour, you will enjoy a private lecture from particle physicist Darren Price, who will also give you a personal guided tour of CERN.

In Geneva, you will also explore the old town, cruise the lake, visit the Museum of the History of Science and learn about horology at the Patek Philippe Museum.

In partnership with Kirker Holidays.

  DAY 1: ARRIVE INTO GENEVA

On arrival, check into the 4-star Hotel Royal, located in the centre of Geneva. The remainder of the afternoon will be free for you to explore this beautiful city.

In the evening, meet with your tour leader and the group for a welcome session followed by dinner at a local restaurant.

Day 2: OLD TOWN AND AN INTRODUCTION TO CERN

This morning, you will start with a walking tour of the old town centre of Geneva, including the cathedral where John Calvin preached in the 16th century and a visit to the Patek Philippe Museum, where you will discover over 2500 watches, automata and precious objects representing five centuries of Genevan and Swiss horological innovation.

This evening particle physicist Darren Price will join you to give a talk on particle physics and his work at CERN, followed by dinner together.

DAY 3: CERN AND THE LARGE HADRON COLLIDER

Today is devoted to the CERN complex, where the European Organization for Nuclear Research operates the world’s largest particle physics laboratory, including the famous Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The largest machine ever constructed, with a circumference of 17 miles, the LHC is one of the most important research establishments in the world, and several areas are open to visitors. Darren will accompany the visit to the lab itself and you will see the Universe of Particles exhibition inside the Globe of Science and Innovation, a 27-metre-high wooden dome. CERN also has a new flagship building for science education, an innovative tubular structure called the CERN Science Gateway, with immersive exhibitions and hands-on activities.

DAY 4: CHAMONIX AND MONT BLANC

Heading out of Geneva for the day, you will travel into the majestic Alps, which provide the city’s striking backdrop. You will visit the charming small town of Chamonix-Mont-Blanc and take the mountain railway to the Mer de Glace, where you will visit an ice cave carved into the glacier. You will enjoy a traditional fondue lunch and there will be an option to take Europe's highest cable car up to the summit of the Aiguille du Midi. The views over the Alps from this 3800-metre-high peak are simply stunning. 

DAY 5: SCIENCE, DIPLOMACY, BOTANY AND LAKE GENEVA

Today, you will start at the Museum of the History of Science, which opened in the 1960s inside the neo-classical Villa Bartholoni. The museum, located by Lake Geneva, houses exhibits relating to astronomy, microscopy, meteorology and electricity, including a collection of scientific instruments from the 17th to 19th centuries, such as microscopes, telescopes, thermometers and astrolabes.

You will continue to the Palais des Nations, built for the League of Nations and still an important UN centre, before reaching the Botanical Gardens and Conservatory, where you can wander in 69 calming acres of grounds, which are home to more than 14,000 species, including rare medicinal plants plus a herbarium with nearly 6 million specimens.

In the evening, you will take a dinner cruise on Lake Geneva, on board a Belle Epoque paddle steamer.

DAY 6: MORNING AT LEISURE BEFORE DEPARTING GENEVA

This morning will be free for independent sightseeing. In the afternoon, there will be a group transfer to Geneva airport for the flight home.

• Guided tour of the CERN physics facility, home of the Large Hadron Collider.
• Evening talks and walking seminars from Professor Darren Price.
• Museum of the History of Science and the Patek Philippe Museum.
• Mont Blanc's Aiguille du Midi peak via cable car.
• Mer de Glace glacial caves.
• Historic and beautiful Geneva.
• Botanical Gardens and Conservatory.
• Scenic cruise on Lake Geneva.
• Maximum group size - 23 people.

Meet the expert

Darren Price (Tour expert - May and October)

Darren is a professor of particle physics at the University of Manchester, UK. He read mathematics at the University of Cambridge, followed by an MSc and PhD in experimental particle physics. He has 20 years of experience in this kind of research, working at and with laboratories and institutes worldwide. At CERN, he leads an international team working as part of the ATLAS Collaboration at the Large Hadron Collider. His research spans the search for new particles, the study of quantum chromodynamics, high-energy electroweak phenomena and the hunt for dark matter. Darren is a UK STEM Ambassador and regularly contributes to a wide range of public engagement activities.

Juliet Rix (Tour leader - May)

Juliet is an award-winning journalist working for UK national newspapers, magazines and online media, as well as the BBC. She is a regular traveller throughout Europe. She has written extensively in the national press about destinations and subjects ranging from Leonardo da Vinci in Italy and Rembrandt in Holland, to Georgia, Taiwan and Charleston, South Carolina - as well as numerous articles on the culture and history of the Maltese islands (including the 'Malta & Gozo' Bradt Guide, 4th Edition 2019).

WHAT’S INCLUDED

• Accommodation based on sharing a double/twin room.
• Breakfast every day and three dinners.
• Arrival/departure group airport transfers for those on the suggested group flights.
• The services of a tour leader and local guide.
• Guest lectures from Darren Price.
• All sightseeing and entrance fees.
• 24-hour support from tour leader.

WHAT’S NOT INCLUDED

• International flights.
• Gratuities.
• Private airport transfers.
• Travel insurance.
• Single supplement

HOW TO GET THERE

This tour begins and ends in Geneva. Please speak to Kirker Holidays, who can offer flight advice and book flights for those travelling from the UK. 

If you would prefer not to fly, we can book a Eurostar/TGV train journey for you from London or Paris.

PACE AND PHYSICALITY

This a relatively easy-going tour, but there will be walking on ice, up and down steps and through Geneva's Old Town. Therefore, you need to be mobile and sturdy shoes are recommended. The cable car journey up the Aiguille du Midi is optional.

SOLO TRAVELLERS

All of our tours, cruises, expeditions and weekenders are perfect for solo travellers. If you want your own room, you will need to pay a solo supplement.

Accommodation

Hotel Royal, Geneva

An elegant 4-star hotel located a 5-minute walk from Geneva train station, the Old Town and Lake Geneva. It has a bar, bistro and restaurant along with sauna, steam room and gym. All guests also receive a free pass for Geneva public transport.

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Visiting CERN – 11 Tips That Will Help You Make the Most of the Hadron Collider Tour

• By Traveling Anne
• February 28, 2024
• In Europe Travel Destinations

As promised in my French Alps trip report , here's a more detailed review of our excellent visit to CERN, near Geneva, Switzerland. There are several tips I want to share as well, about what we did right and what we could have done better.  Read through if you are thinking of visiting CERN so you can make the most of your time there.

What is CERN all about?

You may occasionally see the name Cern, not as an acronym. It's not the name of a town or a village though. Rather, it's an acronym for a long title in French:  Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire.  Which translates into: The European council for nuclear research. I will be using CERN and Cern interchangeably throughout this post because these days it's both a place and a concept.

The council was established back in 1954 in an effort to promote scientific collaboration between the nations of Europe, at the time still licking their proverbial and literal wounds of the second world war. They were allocated an area near Geneva where the CERN project was established on (and under) the ground. The name of the initiative has since changed into the  European Organization for Nuclear Research but it's still known as Cern (and not as EONR, thankfully).

There have been many amazing discoveries made in CERN over the years, some of which have lead to nobel prizes in physics and chemistry. It is best known for its huge particle collider, aka the Hadron Collider.

There are several underground looped tunnels where sub-atomic particles are accelerated in phases and then enter the largest loop of all: the Hadron collider. Beams of particles are made to smash into one another at specific stations within the collider and the results are recorded to be further analyzed by scientists across the globe. It really is an amazing feat of human ingenuity. That makes visiting CERN an uplifting experience for all, not just science buffs.

Visiting CERN: Can you actually visit the Hadron Collider?

Yes and no. You can visit Cern and be above the collider. The main road which runs through the main complex that surrounds the main research station - known as The Atlas Project - is open to the public. There is a visitors center there which includes two permanent exhibitions -

Microcosm - The story of collider and how it works, as well as a little bit about what life in Cern is for the 10,000+ scientists and engineers who work there.

In addition to the exhibitions, there is a guided tour that takes you "behind the scenes". I have seen photos of people wearing helmets and looking at what appears to be part of the collider. During our own visit, the guide explained that they do not take visitors down to the collider because the levels of radiation there are not safe.

So, no, we did not get to see the actual collider. We did get to see several models and hear a LOT about it. Considering its actual size (about 27 kilometers long!) I don't see how you can actually "see" more than a very small part of it going underground. Either way, you can't see it "working". According to our guide (who was also a physicist and a shift leader at Cern) there's not much to be seen. The particle beam is silent and invisible.

Who should be visiting CERN?

Cern is a must-visit for anyone who loves science and specifically physics. The exhibitions are thorough and our guide was a professional physicist who could answer all of the questions thrown at him by our group's science buffs.

Even if you're not into physics, I think the tour would be enjoyable. The exhibitions are interactive and exciting and there is something very moving about the entire project: European nations working together to promote science and peace.

And finally...

11 quick tips that will help you make the most of your visit

1. book the tour.

The tour is entirely free and it gets you that unique "behind the scenes" look into the project. Our guide was fascinating and it was really cool to walk past these gates:

The tour also takes you to a special exhibition with a 20 minutes long multimedia show projected on the walls and on the equipment around you. Really cool and great fun for kids.

2. Guided tours fill up really fast

They open up for registration 15 days ahead of the date, in the morning (Switzerland time) and as far as I could see, registration closes within a couple of hours. They re-open three days ahead of the date for latecomers and I guess if there are no-shows, you can try and wriggle your way into a group.

3. Be prepared to take pictures on the guided tour

With all the fences and guards, we thought they may ask us not to take pictures. Quite the opposite. Our guide said they want us to take as many pictures as possible! Keep your camera ready during the tour because photo-ops pop up literally as you walk around while visiting CERN. Like taking pictures of street signs -

4. Be prepared for a long visit

This isn't a place you can run through in 20 minutes. The exhibitions alone are well-worth 1-2 hours (possibly longer if you are interested in physics). The tour takes up another two hours of your time. All in all, three hours is the bare minimum. We spent five hours at Cern and could have stayed for longer if we had more time.

5. Check for opening hours

There are different opening hours for the exhibitions. The visitors center and the Microcosm exhibition open at 8:30. The Universe Of Particles opens at 10. There are several time slots for the guided tours. Check your times and make sure you allocate at least an hour for each exhibition and 2 hours for the tour (including showing up 15 minutes in advance to get your badges). The good news is that everything is close-by, so it only takes a couple of minutes to get from one exhibition to the other.

6. Bring your own food

Google maps knows of a couple of cafeterias at Cern which we had planned on checking out. Nothing quite like enjoying a croissant while rubbing shoulders with a local version of Sheldon Cooper, right? I thought this would add to our "Visiting CERN" experience.

As it happens, these cafeterias are out of bounds for us mere mortals. The only way to get a coffee or any food is at the local gas station. It's very close to the visitors center, so not a long walk, but the prices are quite Swiss (i.e. expensive!) and the food quality is nothing to write home about - basically what you'd expect to find in a gas station store. They do have a really cool espresso machine that generates so much steam while making your coffee, you might think they're running it through the Hadron collider itself!

7. Eat and drink before the tour

If you didn't bring anything to eat, grab something - anything - at that gas station. The tour isn't short and you can't eat or drink anywhere during the tour. You also can't leave the tour once you started because you have to be accompanied by the guide when inside Cern. So -especially if you're traveling with kids - make sure everyone is well fed before you start the tour.

8. Wear comfortable shoes and dress according to the weather

The guided tour has you walking about one mile on foot. Not too bad but enough to be more enjoyable with comfortable shoes. You will be walking outside for a short bit as well, so if it looks like it might rain, gear up accordingly.

9. Park near the big dome

There's plenty of parking, or at least there was on the day of our visit, but you can't just park anywhere. The best place for you to park would be next to the big brown dome. Just east of the dome, towards the Swiss side of Cern, there is a big parking lot that's free to park at.

10. Watch a movie about the project before visiting CERN

I wanted to get our kids acquainted with Cern before we came and to be honest, I didn't know a whole lot about it other than that's where they had recently discovered the Boson-Higgs and that people were afraid they might create a black hole in the process, swallowing up the entire earth (which turned up to be a slight exaggeration).

The movie we watched was available on Netflix. It's called "Particle Fever" and you can buy or rent it on Amazon too .

11. Don't worry about the language barrier

Cern is technically in both Switzerland and France (the border runs in the middle) but everyone there speaks English. More importantly, the exhibitions all have English labels or English narration options and the guided tour is available in English. That's not something you typically find in French science (or other) museums so it's worth mentioning here.

And one last tip...

12. Have fun!

Visiting CERN is fun! There's a lot of humor to be found in the exhibitions. Lots of red buttons to push and see whether you actually create a black hole that can swallow up the entire earth. It hasn't happened to us but who knows, you might just get lucky!

Have you ever visited Cern? Got any tips to add? Please share those in the comments section below. You can also leave me questions about visiting CERN and I'll try and give you the best answer I can.

Awesome tips i will give 5 out of 5 stars for these tips i totally loved it.❤

Thank you so much, Asher!

Is it possible to use photo in the chapter 3? I am writing a post for students and schoolchildren and I need photo like that.

Check your email 🙂 I sent you an email with a couple of questions so we can take it from there.

Thanks for the info. Our rental auto does not permit us to drive into Switzerland. Do you know if there is ample free car parking on the French side and we can just walk 5 minutes to Reception?

Hi Paul, I couldn’t find the answer on their website so I emailed Francois Briard, head of CERN’s Visits center who has visited and commented on this post before 🙂 He was very prompt and helpful but unfortunately the answer is that there is no available parking space on the French side that’s within walking distance from the visitors center. He added that you shouldn’t count on parking by the side of the road because French commuters have these filled up by 8AM. His suggestion was to get bus Y line from Saint-Genis-Pouilly and that can drop you at the CERN bus stop. I hope this helps! Enjoy your visit to CERN!

Thanks for the very accurate and useful tips! Our website has been rebranded a bit giving even more information.

François, head of CERN’s Visits Service 😉

Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment, François! I’m glad you liked my post!

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CERN Accelerating science

On-Site Visits

https://cms.cern/interact-with-cms/on-site-visits

Come to us and visit a unique place in the world!

Meet our guides, walk through the CMS corridors, look closely at some CMS detector components, take the lift to 100m underground and admire this astonishing machine only a couple of meters away!   Visiting the CMS detector at CERN is an incredible experience for everyone: school groups, families, science lovers and science amateurs!

After a short introduction, groups are guided by a cms engineer or physicist through the construction hall where the 15 sections of cms were lowered 100 meters into the underground cavern, near cessy, france. you will have the opportunity to visit the underground service cavern where the data from the cms detector is sorted before being sent for analysis, and finally you will see the working control room., cms is the only experiment where you can visit the underground facilities during the lhc running period.

Visits are possible Monday to Saturday from 9h00 until 18h00. To visit the CERN Laboratory please contact the CERN visit service directly.

For all enquiries or to reserve a guided tour of the cms site please send an e-mail to cms visits  at least a week in advance (1 month for larger groups) of the tour date, indicating your preferred date, time and the number of people in the group (maximum group size 48 people)., all groups are requested to make their own transport arrangements to the cms site..

Please note, for safety purposes or in the event of a major intervention CMS reserves the right to postpone or cancel visits at short notice.

We look forward to welcoming you to cms.

* As of December 2019