Cité de l'espace
On Gingerguide's self-guided Toulouse audio tour, Cité de l'espace is a stop worth about ~90 min. Stand in front of it, press play for a short narrated story, and put any follow-up question to the built-in AI guide.
- Type museum
- Suggested visit ~90 min
- Toulouse Toulouse guide
About Cité de l'espace
Toulouse's space-science park opened in 1997, with a full-scale Ariane 5 rocket replica, a walk-through Mir station model, planetariums and an IMAX dome for a hands-on tour of spaceflight.
The Cité de l'espace is a space-science education and theme park in eastern Toulouse, opened on 27 June 1997. It was set up by the City of Toulouse together with partners including CNES, the French space agency, and the Midi-Pyrénées regional council. Its outdoor landmark is a full-scale model of an Ariane 5 rocket, standing about 55 metres tall. A full-size model of the Mir space station lets visitors walk through its modules, and scale models of Soyuz spacecraft sit alongside.
Indoors, the park runs to roughly 2,000 square metres of exhibition space across a 3.5-hectare site. It holds two planetariums, an IMAX theatre with a large hemispherical screen, and the Terr@dome, a dome about 25 metres across devoted to planet Earth. Interactive exhibits include a rocket-launch control-room simulator. The rockets and stations on show are models rather than flown hardware. By 2012 the park had passed four million cumulative visitors.
Did you know? The towering Ariane 5 rocket and the walk-through Mir space station are both full-scale models, not flown hardware. The Ariane replica stands about 55 metres tall as the park's outdoor landmark.
How much time do you need at Cité de l'espace?
Around ~90 min works well for Cité de l'espace — time to look properly and listen to its story on the spot. Linger if you like; nothing on a self-guided walk is on a clock.
Should you stop at Cité de l'espace?
Yes — Cité de l'espace made the cut as one of 13 places the Gingerguide team researched and narrated across Toulouse. The story tells you why it is worth the stop, and the AI guide fills in anything you still wonder.
Nearby stops in Toulouse
Sources and further reading
Where to check the facts about Cité de l'espace and read more:
Day 2 of the Toulouse in 2 days itinerary →
Updated:
Hear the story of Cité de l'espace
Preview the Toulouse tour free in the Gingerguide app.