A Guide for the Auto & Technik Museum Sinsheim

The Auto & Technik Museum Sinsheim in Germany is a fun and engaging museum to visit. We loved our visit there during our 6 Week European Road Trip. We had driven by this museum already several times on our way to Austria and were curious because we saw planes sticking out above the railing on the highway. The Auto und Technik Museum Sinsheim is a technology museum with a focus on motorized vehicles. Such as cars, planes and trains. The museum is kid-friendly and next to all these objects on display it has an IMAX 3D cinema.

Where is it

The Auto Technik museum is located in Sinsheim, Germany. It’s about an hour South of Frankfurt. Sinsheim is a city in the state Baden-Württemberg, in the South of Germany. The museum is next to highway A6 (E50) in between the cities of Mannheim and Heilbronn, making it a perfect stop on road trips.

Address:

Museumplatz

D-74889 Sinsheim

Telephone: +49 07261 9299 0

What is there to see and do

The museum is divided into several large buildings and an outside part. There’s a large map outside near the entrance where you can see which buildings there are and where everything is.

There are over 3000 objects on display in an area of over 5 acres. With those 3000 objects the museum lets you go on a trip through time. They let you discover the landmarks in the technological history.

Inside

The collection inside the buildings is displayed in different themes. The displays are large since there are cars, planes, trains and so on in them. They’ve made the displays come to live by adding props such as mannequins, sandbags and so on. Each car and vehicle has a sign with some explanation in German and English on it. For example there’s a Cadillac Fleetwood with bullet holes on display. The sign explains that the car first belonged to President Dwight D. Eisenhower and then went to President Paz Estenssoro. There was an assassination attempt on this last president, hence the bullet holes.

The building consists of two floors, from the second floor you can look down on the displays below.

The different areas are: American Dream Cars, Oldtimers, Formula One, Motorcycles, Planes, Locomotives, Sport Cars, Machines and Tractors, War History, Historical Sportscars, Music, a Mercedes-Benz Collection, a Maybach Collection, Special Pieces and a Race Bike Collection.

Highlights are Brutus (a race car), The Blue Flame (rocket car) and the Delorean DMC-12 (from Back to the Future).

We loved wandering through the different buildings, there was so much to see and so many highlights for us. Paul and I loved seeing cars from famous movies and shows. Paul also loved all the military objects on display. There were some famous and some unique ones in between.

Outside

The displays of the museum aren’t only in the building. They’re also on the parking lot, on the roofs of the buildings and on the terrain around the buildings. Planes and some military objects are displayed outside. Some of these planes were visitable from the inside. Among them a Concorde and a Tupolev TU-144. They are both on the roof of the museum.

Circular steps lead up to the entrances of the planes, where you can venture inside. The planes were largely standing diagonal, which made walking in them a little less comfortable. One of the planes had a slide to go down from. Paul and Yuri thought this was fun.

IMAX 3D Laser 4K Cinema

The IMAX theatre was unique in Germany when it opened. Since 2016 it works with the 4K laser technology. This makes sure visitors have crystal clear and sharp vision on the 22 by 27 meters screen. There’s excellent sound through a 12 canal surround sound with megabass system.

Hollywood Blockbusters and Adventure documentaries are being shown in the theatre.

We didn’t watch a movie here, since the movie at that moment on show was in German and our son doesn’t understand German yet.

Other

Outside is a large playground next to the IMAX theatre. Our then 6-year old son loved the playground, he had a lot of fun in it for a while. There are also driving simulators and a large play area with remoted controlled mini cars.

There’s also a souvenir shop inside the museum. They have a large selection of objects suitable as gifts, books, DVD’s and plane and car models. The museum also has an online shop where you can order stuff.

Information

Opening times:

The museum is opened 365 days a year, from 9am till 6pm. On Saturday and Sunday it’s even open till 7pm.

The souvenir shop is opened from 12pm till 6pm.

Ticket prices:

Museum: Adults €17

Kids 5 till 14 years €13

Kids 0 till 4 for free.

IMAX 3D Cinema: Adults €12

Kids 5 till 14 €8

Kids 0 till 4 for free.

There are combination tickets available.

One Day Pass: entrance to the museum and to one show in IMAX (no blockbusters).

Adults €22

Kids 5 till 14 €17

Kids 0 till 4 for free.

Two Day Pass: entrance to the museum, the Technik museum Speyer and one show in the IMAX at Sinsheim or Speyer (no blockbusters).

Adults €40

Kids 5 till 14 €30

Kids 0 till 4 for free.

Parking is free of charge.

We visited the museum for about 6 hours. We enjoyed ourselves the whole time. Paul and I could have stayed longer, but 6 hours was enough for our son.

The museum was opened in 1981. It also hosts events such as Agri Historica and Ostalgia Meeting. More events and when they take place can be found on the museum website. The museum was founded by car enthusiasts who wanted to display their collection. Eberhard Layer was the lead in the initiative. The museum yearly receives some one million visitors.

How to get there

At autobahn A6 (E50) take exit Sinsheim-Süd (exit number 33b). From this exit there are signs leading you to the museum.

The museum can also be reached with public transport. Close by is the train station Sinsheim-Museum/Arena. This is just 5 minutes walking distance from the museum.

Where to eat

There are two restaurants at the museum: Concorde and Airport. They offer hot and cold dishes, drinks, coffee and cake. Restaurant Concorde is a self-service restaurant with German cuisine. We had breakfast and lunch here and enjoyed it. The Airport restaurant offers snacks, like quiche and sandwiches. Everything is freshly prepared in the restaurants.

The restaurants are opened 365 days a year, just as the museum.

Where to stay

We stayed at a spacious apartment in downtown Sinsheim. We booked the Appartment Friedrich through Booking.

The museum has 4* Hotel Sinsheim close by where you can stay at.

That’s everything you need to know for your visit of Auto & Technik Museum Sinsheim

Hope you get to visit this fantastic museum and have an interesting day, just like we had. Another interesting museum is the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision.

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