the classic
Essential
€49per person
19:30–01:00 · about 5.5 hours
- Saturn, the Moon or the planets: whatever is up that night
- Double stars, clusters, a nebula or two
- A tour of the constellations with a laser pointer
km 0downtown, streetlights, 3 stars
Zenit
You'll see the rings of Saturn with your own eyes. Live, through a telescope.
In the evening we pick you up and drive out to where the city glow ends. Telescopes, an astronomer guide, hot tea and blankets. Groups of up to 12, home after midnight.
km 12the streetlights thin out
What you'll see
This is a slice of the autumn sky. Tap any object to look at it through the eyepiece, exactly as it appears in our telescope. No Photoshop, no boosted colours: the eye sees less than a camera does, but it sees it live.
eyepiece empty
the telescope is waiting
Tap an object
Hover, tap or pick an object with the keyboard and we'll show you what it looks like in the eyepiece.
km 25the last traffic light
How the evening goes
A sample route. Times move with the season: it gets dark earlier in winter, so we leave earlier.
19:30km 0
We meet
Meeting point, a minibus, a guide with a thermos. We say hello while the streetlights are still shining in our eyes.
19:45km 0 → 70
Out of the glow
A little over an hour on the road. Watch through the window as the sky turns from orange to black. The guide tells you where to look, no formulas involved.
21:00km 70
Tea and blankets
Your eyes need about twenty minutes to get used to the dark. Just long enough for tea. Everyone gets a red torch: white light is banned out here.
21:30telescopes
Saturn, then down the list
Three telescopes, each with a queue of 3–4 people and a guide. Rings, Jupiter's belts, craters, nebulae.
23:00loungers
The sky, no telescope
We lie back on loungers while the guide traces constellations with a beam. We count meteors, make wishes and argue about where the Big Dipper is.
00:00 → 01:00km 70 → 0
Heading back
The drive home. Half the group sleeps, the other half tries to spot Saturn through the window. Back at the meeting point by 1 a.m.
km 40no more streetlights
Programmes
Four nights, four different skies. Every one includes the ride there and back, telescopes, a guide, tea and blankets.
kids 8+
Family
€45adult€29child 8–14
18:30–23:30 · about 5 hours, home before midnight
- We start earlier, so everyone is home by midnight
- A find-the-Dipper quest and a sky map to take home
- Cocoa instead of tea, spare blankets, a kids' step up to the eyepiece
double star
Date Night
€149per couple
19:30–01:00 · your own telescope
- Your own telescope and table, a little apart from the group
- Mulled wine or tea, one big blanket for two
- The guide points you to Albireo, a gold star and a blue one that look like a couple
2 nights a season
Meteor Shower Night
€69per person
21:00–04:00 · the long one
17 November · Leonids13 December · Geminids
- Loungers, sleeping bags and a meteor counter for the whole group
- Telescopes in the breaks between “oh, another one!”
- Midnight snacks and bottomless thermoses
km 55the sky is getting darker
Night calendar
The honest truth about the Moon: when it's bright, faint stars and nebulae drown in its light. On those nights we look at the Moon itself and the planets, which is lovely too. Moon phases are calculated for the actual dates.
km 62the Milky Way… almost
Guides
We couldn't find photos of them, but we did find them in the sky. Each constellation is a guide's initials.
Liza Tikhonova
planets and the Moon
“Saturn is my winning argument in any debate.”
Mark Nilov
galaxies and nebulae
“Galaxies are like cats: look at them out of the corner of your eye and they come closer.”
Gosha Amirov
kids' groups and meteors
“If a kid yawns at midnight, Jupiter did its job.”
km 70Bortle 1, we're here
Booking
Four stops down the road and a spot at the telescope is yours. This is a concept: nothing gets sent anywhere.
Step 1 of 4 · ~2,500 stars overhead
You're booked
This is a concept, so the request went nowhere. At the real Zenit you'd now get a message with the meeting point and a what-to-bring list.
km 70talk at the telescope
Reviews
I thought “the rings of Saturn” was a figure of speech. And there it was: real, tiny, with actual rings. I cried into my blanket.
dad can we go see jupiter again
and have cocoa again
That was at 7 a.m. The answer is yes.
23:14 saw a meteor
23:15 saw another one
23:16 stopped counting, started yelling “THERE”
23:40 hoarse, happy
We booked Date Night for our anniversary. The guide pointed us at Albireo: “Look, another couple, gold and blue.” Now it's our star. Well, our stars.
Five stars out of five. Although technically we saw about three thousand.
km 70while the tea cools down
FAQ
Dress 5–7 degrees warmer than you think you need: nights in an open field are colder, and standing at a telescope isn't jogging. A hat, warm shoes, layers. We bring the blankets and the tea; socks are best your own, and woollen.
We watch the cloud forecast all day. If a clear sky looks unlikely by lunchtime, we message you and offer another night or a full refund. We won't make you stare at clouds through a telescope.
Yes, from age 8. Families have their own programme: we start earlier and are back before midnight, there's a step at the eyepiece and cocoa in the thermos. Under-eights usually fall asleep before Saturn rises, so we don't take them yet.
A little over an hour each way: that's how far it takes for the city glow to stop getting in the way. We travel by minibus, you're welcome to nap, and motion sickness is rare.
No. If you can look through something with one eye, you're set. The guide explains the rest in plain words, no lectures, no formulas.
km 70 → 0the road back
Contacts
- Phone
- Meeting point
- 00 Example Street, at the park entrance
placeholder address - We reply
- every day, 11:00–19:00
This is a concept: Zenit has no phone line or messenger accounts.