A Sanctuary for Barbary Macaques in Alsace

Montagne des Singes


Montagne des Singes or "Monkey Mountain" in English is a sanctuary for Barbary Macaques in Alsace...

It's real close to Haut Koenigsbourg castle and Volerie des Aigles in case you want to spend the entire day in the area...

It's been around since 1969...

The 280 or so monkeys are free to do as they please inside the sanctuary...

We spent a little more than an hour inside the protected area itself watching the monkeys up close and...

Feeding them...

When you enter the refuge, the guides will give you something to feed the Barbary Macaques...



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Our kids really liked going to Montagne des Singes

Even the 14 year old thought it was cool...and of course the 8 year old absolutely loved it!

We walked around inside the monkey sanctuary...

  • watching the young monkeys playing...
  • especially the babies...
  • feeding the monkeys and
  • watching the guides feed the monkeys...


When the guides feed the Barbary Macaques, they spend some time explaining about them, what they eat, their social structure, and other interesting things to know...

Unfortunately they only do it in French and German...

But I don't think our kids really cared as much about what the guides had to say...

They were too busy staring at the adorable baby monkeys...

And feeding any monkey that was close enough...

And of course there is the "Monkey Mountain" store with every stuffed animal monkey you could imagine...

And a little cafe with sandwiches, hot dogs, french fries and other snacks if you get hungry before or after you go feed the monkeys...



How to Get to Montagne des Singes?


Like all of the other outdoor attractions in Alsace, this monkey refuge isn't open year round...

It opens in March and closes in November...

You can see exactly where it opens and closes here...

It's very easy to get to "Monkey Mountain" because it is very close to Haut Koenigsbourg castle...

You could just follow the signs from Highway A35 towards Haut Koenigsbourg until...

You see the sign for "Montagne des Singes"...

You can take a shuttle from the Selestat train station...

The shuttle starts running mid March Saturdays, Sundays and French public holidays only.

From the beginning of June until the beginning of September it runs everyday. After that it's back to weekends and holidays until the end of the year.


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