This is such an amazing sensory experience. You can smell new versus 100-year old scents of the same material, eat chocolate prayed with your selection of tasting scent, and take home a few dipped paper scents of your own. Totally cool and fascinating experience

Aftel Archive was amazing! Truly a personalized and intimate experience from beginning to end.. the owner, Mandy Aftel, was incredibly hospitable and educated us on the process and intracacies of perfume-making. Will definitely visit when in town again!

A wonderful and absolutely unique sensory experience! The archive includes a large number of experiential elements, from containers of raw materials (sourced from travels all over the world), to over 300 natural scents to smell and test. Very eye-opening; highly recommend!

I couldnt think of a scent they didnt have. There were so many interesting things I learned about perfumes and scents and the workers knew so much. They were very friendly and had a great sense of humor! I plan on coming back and showing other people!

It was totally a fabulous experience! Host Devin was very thorough in his explanation and kind welcoming all curious visitors.

If you cant resist smelling candles at target or perfumes at Sephora then you should definitely take the time to visit this hidden gem. The owners are experts in their field, friendly, and attentive without being overbearing. You can smell ancient scents and their modern counterparts, transformative scents derived from animals, and browse vintage books about perfumes and smells. The most special part of this experience was remembering the moments of my own life that I associate with specific scents

A gem in the neighborhood. Mostly a self-guided tour, with lots of antiques to admire, hundreds of scents to explore and experience, and the hosts are excellent and welcoming. A must visit if you are in the area.

Very inspiring and playful experience. It inspired me to smell more when I cook and shop.

Amazing! A Bay Area gem!

Perfect for a quicky date night, especially if you love scents and the art of perfume making!

This is a very cool experience. Ive never been to a museum quite like it. Theres the history of perfumes, some fascinating specimen from around the world and even some great old books about the distilling, processing and manufacture of scents. If you want to ask the polite docents about stuff, theyre super helpful. If you want to be open ended and just explore on your own, you can do that too. This would be an amazing date.

This is a hidden gem! Visited on a rainy day and loved it.

The Aftel Archive of Curious Scents is an amazing place to visit. I wished I had booked more than one hour to spend even more time with all of the beautiful, interesting and carefully curated exhibits. There is so much to smell and see, and the perfumer and her son are welcoming and knowledgeable guides. If you are even slightly interested in fragrance, chances are you will enjoy it - there are rare scents youve likely never smelled before, and common scents like rose deconstructed into its constituent elements. I highly recommend a visit, and Ill likely be back!

It was an amazing olfactive experience

A very unique and interesting experience!

Quirky, educational, and a lot of fun! Definitely worth a visit on a weekend afternoon.

This was a mind blowing sensory experience not to be missed.

AMAZING!! One of the most fantastic experiences ever! I’ve been a perfume fanatic for 40 years and of natural perfumery for 30, and visiting here was a dream come true. It’s unlikely you’d be able to view...and touch, and sniff...such beautiful displays (with descriptions) of antique items related to perfumery...raw materials, finished blends, bottles, books, etc...all in one place anywhere else.It’s impossible to say which area(s) were my favourite(s): the antique little apothecary and watchmaker’s chests of drawers filled with raw ingredients to touch and inhale; the exquisite delicate flacons, coffrets, and other receptacles; the side-by-side aged and new raw materials for scent comparison; the step-by-step compositions of top, middle and base accords and finished product; the scent organ...it all overwhelmed in the best possible way. I was in ecstasies.Mandy Aftel is THE doyenne of natural perfumery and it was an unexpected pleasure and a privilege to meet and chat with her. Her husband Foster was also a delight and very knowledgeable. I’m a bit of a fangirl and still have five or six perfumes from Aftel’s line Grandiflorum, dating back around 25 years or so, as well as earlier Aftelier scents that are no longer available. It is my hope to some day take the course she offers from her studio in Berkeley.You’ll be given an additional treat of two coins of dark chocolate spritzed with Aftel’s Chef’s Essences...as my husband declined his, I got to have four! I chose Pink Pepper, Cardamom, Fresh Ginger and Peru Balsam...all were wonderful. I also purchased four of her perfumes, traditional and solid...it was very hard to choose as there are so many I want! Her books are also available.If you are interested in perfume, its history, and natural perfumery in particular, do not miss this!! Thank you, Mandy, for sharing your collection!!

This place is a gem in the Bay Area. It will show you the details of the art of perfume, that is now lost in the beauty world. You get to smell all kinds of authentic scents, familiar and exotic, and peruse the antique books and whatnot. It was such a wonderful experience, and I definitely want to go again.

Very cool place. Totally recommend as a place to bring a friend or even to go alone. Ive been to many museums, but this is one of a kind.

So fun. Lots to smell and super hosts. Well worth the visit and even a second time. Its so fun and off you go home to concoct your own after all this inspiration.

This is a fun, but low-key museum to visit and/or take out of town visitors. The curator gave us a quick introduction and turned us loose on the on the exhibits. Smell things from a whale - they got that! Smell things from animals butts - they got that too. Smell 300 different scents in a smell-a-thon - yep they got that. At the end, you can take 3 scents home and eat a couple of chocolates! Great berkeleyian experience for the natives and out-of-towners!

Fantastic experience! Anyone who Nose perfumes should check it out. Its a lovely little adventure through perfume making and history.

This is one of the coolest places I have ever been!

This cabinet of curiosities walks you into a highly informative world of scents and perfume. Highly recommended for synesthetes and the like. Definitely coming back.

Totally unique and amazing. Experience and learn from the master of scents.

A truly magical place that I cannot recommend more. The Aftel Archive of Curious Scents opened my eyes, I mean nostrils, to the rich and rewarding world of scents I had been taking for granted. It’s not just your sense of smell that’s in for a treat as the experience engages all of your senses. The hour long visit would’ve already been especially memorable even if it wasn’t focused on the sense with the strongest tie to memory. The various stations explain and entertain scent in a way that is fun and enlightening. My girlfriend and I smelled a candle the other day and were attempting to break down the scent with what we learned during our visit. And we learned a fair amount as the exhibits are flat out brilliant and positively inspired. You could feel how every detail was lovingly considered. Even ignoring scent, the space itself was decorated and laid out in an exceptionally classy, creative, and cohesive manner. From vintage prints to taxidermy critters, the decorative flourishes were aesthetically beautiful, thematically enhancing and you could tell, arranged just so. Honestly, just inhabiting the space was not only pleasing to the eye, but also elevating to the spirit. As if that isn’t enough, you also get to interact with the hearts, hands, minds and noses behind the archive as Mandy Aftel, the world class parfumier, her husband, Foster, and son, Devon, who all teamed together to create the archive, were there to provide detailed answers and insights. My only complaint, which isn’t a complaint, is that I wish I would’ve had more time to thumb through Mandy’s amazing collection of rare books related to scents. I’m already looking forward to making a return trip!

I had a truly amazing experience here. If you like museums and are curious about how fragrance is created, you are in for a treat! They have done a great job with the displays - most items are for you to touch and smell. Since you need quite a lot of time per display (lots of little things to open and smell), it was great that the place wasnt crowded. They likely control this with the tickets that are for specific 1-hour time slots. The hour went by really fast. When we first heard of this place we were a bit concerned the smells might be over-powering, but that was not the case at all - does not smell like a mall for sure! Owners were great, provided a lot of facts / explanations on the displays. Not wanting to give away too much in the review, I would say that I had an amazing time and learnt a lot on perfume making!

An amazing window into the world if perfume. Many amazing and odd things to smell, wonderful hosts.

Fascinating and beautifully done! So much to see and learn and SMELL!

A superb unmissable experience!