France national railway museum - Mulhouse (Cité du Train)

The railway museum in Mulhouse, La Cité du Train, is a grand showcase of French pride. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a fantastic museum, but the French certainly know how to pat themselves on the back.

You start in a beautifully designed hall where the history of railways is presented with great trains and scary dolls. With such enthusiasm that you’d think the French invented the whole thing. The fact that railways were actually a British invention? Well, that little detail gets conveniently glossed over. According to the narrative here, the French seem to have been the sole pioneers of rail transport. But hey, why let facts get in the way of a good story?

Then, you move into the grand hall with all the real trains. You begin with old steam locomotives and end with the latest TGV models. The museum is filled with stunning locomotives, from the oldest steam engines to the newest high-speed marvels. It’s a giant love letter to French industry, and it’s no coincidence that this shrine to all things French is located in Mulhouse, the birthplace of Alstom, the nation’s pride in train manufacturing. As you wander through, it’s clear that once the Brits had their moment, the French took over and never looked back—at least, that’s how the story goes here.

The level of national pride is almost amusing, but you can’t really blame them. These are gorgeous trains, after all. Who needs a Shinkansen or an ICE when you’ve got the sleek lines of the first orange TGV and so many Alstom products? They’ve packed the largest railway museum in Europe with enough French engineering prowess to keep you entertained all day. And if you are done inside, there is even more outside.

And when you’re done marveling at French ingenuity, you can pop over to the car museum next door for more of the same. It’s a full day of French excellence—or at least, that’s what they want you to think. In the end, this museum is a solid 9/10, with an extra point for the sheer audacity of it all.