Quick guide to the Best Motor Museums in Europe (that we have visited so far)
- theleavers
- Apr 10, 2025
- 5 min read
Updated: Jul 4, 2025
If you are like my husband and sons then you may have an interest in everything car and motorbike related - vintage, sports, luxury, race. Over the years I have had to tailor our travel itineraries to ensure that we visit motor and car museums as much as possible. Here are the top museums we have visited so far. I am sure we will continue to add to this list in coming travels.
Here is a link to my Instagram post showcasing our visits. If you have visited these museums or have any suggestions for other car / motor museums please feel free to leave your comments below.
Tucked away in Alsace, the museum houses over 400 cars, including the largest Bugatti collection in the world. Yes, the world. There’s something whimsical about this place. The atmosphere is elegant but not snobby—classic cars lined up under vintage streetlights, as if waiting to come alive after dark. This museum was definitely in the top 5.
As soon as you arrive, you can admire the entrance to the museum by crossing the footbridge that passes over the canal. It was designed by Studio Milou in 2006 combining glass and steel, embellished with suspended cars.
Where to stay and how to get here: We were staying in the Hotel Bristol in the city centre. It was a 1km walk from the hotel, which made it very easy to access.
BMW World is another of our top 5 favourites. If there’s one place where car culture, architecture, and futuristic vibes collide, it’s BMW Welt. Nestled in the heart of Munich, just across from the Olympic Park, this place isn't just a showroom—it's a full-on experience. Think luxury-meets-technology-meets-German-efficiency... all wrapped in sleek steel and glass
BMW, MINI, Rolls-Royce—all on display. You can sit inside most models, which is wildly fun (especially the M-series beasts and the electric i-models). There are even futuristic concept cars on display that feel like they were dropped in from the year 2040.
After soaking in the glitz of BMW Welt, you walk across the street to the BMW Museum, which is all about history, legacy, and iconic models through the decades. Think vintage motorcycles, racing legends, and design evolution from 1916 to today. Total must-see.
Admission to BMW Welt is free. BMW Welt is super easy to get to. You catch the U-Bahn and get off at Olympiapark, walk about five minutes. This futuristic-looking building rises like a spaceship, all curves and reflective surfaces.
This place is not just another car museum. It’s a living, breathing ecosystem for petrolheads, gear junkies, vintage lovers, and anyone who ever stared at a Lamborghini as a kid and thought, “someday.” Tucked away in Munich’s north—on the historic grounds of the former Munich-Freimann railway repair depot—Motorworld is where car dreams live and breathe.
The site is massive and beautifully restored, with original industrial architecture from the 1920s and 30s. Think red-brick buildings, high ceilings, steel beams—and parked in between them? Some of the most jaw-dropping machines on Earth. There are no ropes, no glass cases—just machines, parked and proud.
Oh, and there’s a hotel on-site called AMERON München Motorworld. It’s car-themed, super stylish.
Best of all - admission is totally free. Easy to reach by U-Bahn (U6 to Freimann), with parking available if you’re driving.
Some museums feel like places where history sleeps. The Enzo Ferrari Museum in Modena? This one roars. Tucked into the charming streets of Modena, Italy—just an hour from Bologna or a quick drive from Maranello—is a museum that doesn’t just celebrate cars. It celebrates passion. Design. And above all, Enzo Ferrari himself—the man behind the most legendary name in automotive history.
The museum is cleverly split into two sections: a striking modern structure and the original yellow house where Enzo Ferrari was born in 1898. Yes, born. That yellow house, still standing proudly over a century later, holds handwritten letters, old family photos, and early sketches. It's intimate and emotional—the kind of place where you don’t just learn about Ferrari; you feel it. You’re walking through the quiet beginnings of a man who would go on to create some of the most iconic machines on the planet.
The highlight for our visit was the chance to drive a Ferrari. A bus will take you to Ferrari Museum in Maranello, just 20 minutes away. That one focuses more on the F1 and production history.
In the quiet, cobbled heart of northern Italy, tucked between the lakes and the Alps, lies a small city with a massive legacy: Brescia—birthplace of the legendary Mille Miglia. The Mille Miglia Museum is housed in an old Benedictine monastery. The Mille Miglia ("Thousand Miles") was a grueling open-road race from Brescia to Rome and back, held between 1927 and 1957. It wasn’t just a race—it was a national event, a spectacle, and a test of man and machine across the Italian countryside. The Museum is dedicated to the ‘Red Arrow’ race and was brought to life by the Mille Miglia Museum Association. It was established in December 1996 by a group of Brescian businessmen known as the “Friends of the Mille Miglia”.
The museum is laid out like a journey, just like the race itself. Each room represents a stretch of the Mille Miglia route, guiding you decade by decade through the evolution of cars, racing, and Italy itself. Many of these cars actually raced in the original Mille Miglia. They still bear the patina, the race numbers, and sometimes even the scuffs of their journeys. What sets the Mille Miglia Museum apart is how deeply human it is. Vintage posters, driver journals, telegrams, newspaper clippings, racing gear—all bring the people behind the wheel to life. There’s even a reconstructed 1950s garage that smells faintly of oil and leather.
We found this museum on our way to Mulhouse (see Cité de l’Automobile – Mulhouse, France, above). The museum is right next to the still-operating Peugeot factory in Sochaux—making it feel less like a museum and more like a living, breathing extension of the brand. The building itself is modest compared to other car museums.
Wait… Peugeot Made Coffee Grinders?! Yes and pepper mills and sewing machines- it was interesting to learn about Peugot. Before becoming one of Europe’s most iconic car brands, Peugeot was a powerhouse of everything. The museum starts at the very beginning, with the original 1810 workshop and early inventions that shaped French daily life long before motors ever entered the picture.
When we visited Riga in Latvia we didn't expect to visit another car museum but tucked away in the suburbs of Riga lies one of Europe’s most unexpectedly amazing car museums: the Riga Motor Museum.
The museum is organized chronologically, so your visit starts with the dawn of motoring—early 1900s contraptions that look more like horseless carriages than cars. These wooden-wheeled wonders are jaw-dropping in their simplicity and charm.
Then, as you ascend through the floors, time moves forward—into the elegant 1930s, the practical post-war era, the boom of the 50s and 60s, and right through to modern supercars and concept designs.
Each exhibit includes multimedia displays, restored footage, and interactive features. It's not just about standing and staring—it's about hearing the engines, reading the headlines, and feeling the eras come alive.
What makes this museum unique is its focus on soviet automotive history. You won’t find this kind of collection anywhere else in Europe.
The ZIL-115 armored limousine used to transport Soviet leaders.
Stalin’s personal limousine, eerily displayed under dramatic lighting.
Experimental prototypes and government-only models that once symbolized power and secrecy.
Even a "Brezhnev-crashed" car, complete with a theatrical reenactment of the accident!
To get here we caught an uber as public transport wasn't an easy option.
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