The City of Children and Youth in Genoa, is located in the Old Port area next to the Genoa Aquarium.
It saw new light at the end of November 2022, with a completely renovated look.
Previously, the City of Children and Youth, was located inside the Magazzini del Cotone, also in the Old Port, near the de Amicis Library and the FantaCinema.
Taking advantage of a rainy day, we took the opportunity to organize a visit and in this article we will tell you about our experience and provide you with useful information for your visit to the City of Children and Young People, in Genoa.
You will also find our impressions of the cost of the entrance ticket because being us grumpy Genoese by nature, we immediately thought it was a high price, especially for the accompanying person.
Off we go!
The City of Children and Young People in Genoa: where to park
Accessed from the Aquarium of Genoa building, the entrance is right in front of the Biosphere.
The closest parking lot is the Aquarium parking lot. Once you get to Via Gramsci, you will find directions. The rate for cars is 2.20 euros per hour.
There are also many other parking lots in the Porto Antico area, again within a few minutes’ walk of the Aquarium and the Children’s City. The rate is 2 euros/h.
List of parking spaces in the Old Port area:
- Park 1 Calata Gadda;
- Park 2 Autosilo;
- Park 3 Porta Siberia;
- Park 4 Cannoniere;
- Park Mercanzia.
The City of Children and Teens in Genoa: tickets and schedule
Where to buy tickets for The City of Children and Young People
The advice is to purchase tickets online thereby securing a reservation for the desired day and time slot. There are several options:
buy on the official website;
buy on other booking portals such as GetYourGuide.
There is no difference in price however, the ticket bought on The Children’s City website is neither cancellable nor changeable, with Get Your Guide on the other hand you can get a full refund if you cancel your purchase within 24 hours before your visit.
* We would like to point out that we are Get Your Guide partners, which means that if you purchase tickets through our site, you will not spend more and we will earn a small percentage that we will use to keep our blog active.
Both the official website of The City of Children and Get Your Guide, offer two types of tickets namely single ticket or cumulative ticket with the Aquarium.
Opening hours of The City of Children and Young People.
The Children and Youth City is open daily from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm with last admission at 4:00 pm.
From April to September, it is open daily from 10:00 am to 7:00 pm with last admission at 5:00 pm.
There are no visiting time limits.
Always check the hours on the official website.
The City of Children and Young People in Genoa: what to do
The exhibition space within the City of Children and Teens, is about 2000 square meters divided into four rooms (taste and smell, touch, sight, hearing) within which children and teens (0-12 years old). can use their 5 senses to take a journey of discovery of themselves and the world around them.
You will also find the Building Room for children aged 3-5 years and the Splash Area that is the room dedicated to toddlers aged 2-4 years.
The watchword is experimenting: playing, running from room to room, taking time to understand how various things work.
There is no set path, based on what catches their attention the most, children can choose which room to go to and how long to stay.
Hearing Room
The Hearing Room is the first one encountered and is recognizable by two giant headphones placed at the entrance.
There are tubes on the walls where the child can put his or her ear close and hear the parent or friend talking on the other side.
Particularly exciting for my daughter and her little friend, was the squealometer: a little room where they can yell as loud as they want.
Finally, the “sound surfer” is a platform on which children, moving their weight from one foot to the other, have to find their balance while listening to sound through a pair of headphones.
Touch Room
The Touch Room is aimed at recognizing various objects through precisely touch.
For example, there are “mystery boxes” where you can stick your hand in and try to figure out the contents through touch. Our brains register various information from our fingertips so we can “read without seeing.”
Another game that my daughter really enjoyed is to create her own 3-D footprint by leaning on a wall with various pegs so that she can imprint her own footprint with her body and can later see the silhouette on the other side of the wall.
Smell and taste room
The Room of Smell and Taste is characterized on one side by a huge tongue and on the other side by a nosegay i.e., a giant nose where spheres must be inserted.
Each of these orbs has a different smell and one must try to guess it.
By inserting the orb inside the nostril of the big nose, the correct answer will appear on the screen next to it.
There is also an interactive table where you can discover trivia about various foods.
View Room
The vision room features a giant eye drawn on the wall. Spotting scopes, microscopes and optical telescopes are located there. In our opinion, it is the one that aroused the least interest in the girls.
Construction room
The last room that one encounters along the exhibition route is the construction room dedicated to children aged 3 to 5 years old: it is the room that, on the other hand, was the most successful among all the children present, busy building (and knocking down) house walls, among wheelbarrows, pulleys and level crossings.
This is the only place where more than an hour can be spent without the child getting bored. Truly beautiful!
Splash Area
Finally, for children 2-4 years old, there is the Splash Area: this is a colorful playground featuring soft, fall-proof flooring (it is the only room where you have to take off your shoes), where children can play amidst octopuses and soft pillows shaped like starfish. There are also small tables with papers and crayons where they can color and later hang their drawing on the wall.
The City of Children and Teens in Genoa: from what age is indicated to visit and how long to stay
The exhibition route within The City of Children and Young People, is aimed at the age group 0-12 years: in our opinion to best appreciate the visit and especially to understand how to play and in what way to use the 5 senses, it is necessary that the child is at least able to read so indicatively from the age of 7 years.
On the other hand, to spend a fun day in a colorful and indoor place maybe during a rainy day, it can be fine from 3 years of age. Our daughter and her friend (3 1/2 years old both), really enjoyed it.
The visit has no time limit, in any case keep at least a couple of hours.
Since there is no obligatory tour route, our advice is to take a look at the various rooms and then enter the least crowded one so that you can enjoy the various games without queuing.
Informations
Bulky backpacks and bags should be left inside a locker at the entrance, as should the stroller.
Toilets are clean and equipped with changing tables and diapers; there is a dedicated nursing room.
There is a refreshment area where you can sit and eat food brought from home otherwise there is a cafeteria.
You can also celebrate your birthday with your little friends inside the facility (every day except Sunday). For info and prices, you can take a look here.
Ticket price and conclusions
Now we come to the fateful moment of ticket price considerations: 12 euros full, 7 euros reduced for children 2-3 years old (free for children 0-1 year old) in our opinion is absolutely a fair price given the originality of the Museum and the amount of games inside.
In our opinion it is also a very good price for 3 year olds who mostly appreciate the Splash area and the Building Room as they can have fun like in a Playroom at a price if you will even lower considering that we at the end between games and snack, we were more than 3 hours inside.
Maybe it could be a little bit lower the price of the accompanying person because if for example you have two children, in total you will spend 50 euros and that is not little. If you then have to add the car parking, it will take another 10 euros.
You have to make your own considerations. In any case, we and our girls liked it and we recommend it!
You might also be interested in:
