10 Best museums in Tenerife

The museums of Tenerife tell the history of the island in an interesting way. Therefore, through the temporary and permanent exhibitions of each of these enclosures, you can learn about the main contributions that this land and its people have made to the human, artistic, social, architectural, scientific, etc.

Certainly, there are a large number of museums on the island, whose visits you can include among the best things to do in Tenerife. For example, you can go to the Museum of Nature and Archaeology to discover the Guanche findings, the Military History Museum of the Canary Islands to learn all about military art or the Museum of the Casa de los Balcones, where you will travel back in time to learn about the domestic customs of Canarian families.

The Museum of Nature and Archaeology is located in an old neoclassical building built in the eighteenth century.

There you will be able to enjoy interesting Guanche findings that explain the past of the aboriginal culture of the island. You will also learn about the natural wealth of the region.

Archaeological Area

In this part of the tour you can learn about the aboriginal Guanches, who inhabited Tenerife before the European conquest. To do this, you can access the following exhibits:

• Biological Anthropology: contains valuable archaeological finds, such as the Guanche mummy, dating from between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries. You will also find funerary objects, bowls, instruments and other Guanche antiquities.
• Didactic classroom**:** in this area there are a series of educational activities focused on the culture of the island. It is the ideal place if you are visiting Tenerife with children.
• Gallery: through various images you will learn about the aspects that forged the identity of the Guanches and how it influenced the new civilizations.

Nature Area

In this room you will find a large collection of nature that serves as a testimony of the changes that have taken place on the island over the centuries:

• Botanical samples**.**
• Mineral samples**,** with some amethyst quartz, silica crystals and a series of rocks, including some lunar rocks.
• Recreations of fossil sites with tropical marine fauna. Also, terrestrial vertebrates and invertebrates.

Details of interest

• Price: the average entrance fee is 5 ¤ per person.
• Hours: Monday to Saturday (9:00 to 19:00 hours) and Sundays (10:00 to 17:00 hours).
• Where: Museum of Nature and Archeology. Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

If you want to make the most of your 3-day visit to Tenerife and learn about the evolutionary process experienced by the military art of the islands, you have to visit the Military Historical Museum of the city.

During the tour you will discover chronologically the preserved funds through its rooms: Conquest of the Canary Islands, Fortifications and Militias, Victory of Gutierrez over Nelson, Civil War and Economic Command and Spanish West Africa.

In these rooms you will see models showing what the island was like in the past, plans with war strategies, white weapons, flag collections, cartography, telemetry, artillery, measuring and calibration instruments.

In the garden area of the museum, you will see heavy material such as the so-called Hercules Cannon, gunboats of the sea front and a series of historic vehicles, among others. In addition, from the top you can enjoy a privileged view of the coastline and the port of the city.

Details of interest

• Price: free admission.
• Hours: Tuesday to Friday (9:00 am to 3:00 pm), Saturdays and Sundays (10:00 am to 2:00 pm).
• Where: Museo Histórico Militar de Canarias, Acuartelamiento de Almeyda.

Among the best activities in Tenerife is the visit to the house-museum La Casa de Los Balcones. It is an old family building built in 1632 and now converted into a museum.

There you will have an exhibition that explains how the domestic customs of the Canarian families were through a series of antiques exhibited in its rooms.

When you arrive at this three-story colonial house, you will feel like you are transported back in time. You will immediately appreciate its façade, which features a central stone window and, above it, a total of nine windows framed in sgraffito wood (ornamental technique). You will also see a continuous balcony, characteristic of the island's traditional architecture.

Once inside the house-museum, you will have the option of dressing up in the attire of the time and take a tour in a different way, thus being able to observe:

• The objects of daily use of the former owners of the house: furniture, beds, artifacts, art, among others.
• Inner courtyard, which offers a quiet natural atmosphere, surrounded by palm trees and a beautiful blue sky, for you to rest.
• Visitors' store, where you can buy handicrafts or typical products of the island.

Details of interest

• Price: 5 ¤ per person.
• Hours: Monday to Friday (8:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.).
• Where: La Casa de Los Balcones Museum, San Francisco Street.

If you plan to stay 4 days in Tenerife you will have enough time to go to the Casa Chacona Museum, where you will learn a little about the societies of other times.

The museum is located in the facilities of the Pirámides de Güímar Park. It is a building erected in the 19th century, which opens its doors every day from 9:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

When you enter the museum, the first thing you will see is an imposing recreation of the statue of the pre-Inca sun god (Kon Tiki). Next, you will find several rooms:

• Engravings and sculptures, which will reveal some of the gods belonging to the culture of Mexico and Peru.
• Cultural objects, prevalent on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean and that serve to exemplify the theory of the Norwegian anthropologist, Thor Heyerdahl, about cultural parallelism.
• Reed boats, made by the Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilizations, as well as others built by natives of Bolivia and Peru. In addition, you will see some maps indicating other places where these legendary boats were used.
• Photographic collection showing a large number of stepped sculptures (pyramids), discovered all over the world.

Details of interest

• Price: from 18 ¤ per person.
• Hours: Monday to Sunday (9:30 am to 6:00 pm).
• Where: Casa Chacona Museum, Ethnographic Park of the Pyramids of Güimar.

Another destination to incorporate in your itinerary is the Sacred Museum "El Tesoro de la Concepción", where you will find important collections with artistic and textile pieces, dating from the sixteenth century to the present.

Throughout the visit, you will go through a total of seven rooms, which house a historical sample of more than 500 years old:

• Collection of textile art, in which you will appreciate a series of ecclesiastical vestments.
• More than a thousand works of art, composed of sculptures, paintings and furniture.
• Objects of religious art, among which you will see some chalices and a Gothic Manuelist monstrance from 1520, considered a goldsmith treasure of great historical and cultural value. You will also see the imposing filigree cross (2.45 meters high), carved in solid silver by Jerónimo de Espellosa, in Cuba, during the 17th century.

The museum is usually open until 1:30 p.m., so at the end of the visit you will have enough time to do other activities, such as sailing in Tenerife to admire its marine landscape, visit one of the theme parks, explore the historic center at your own pace, etc.

Details of interest

• Price: from 4€ per person.
• Hours: Monday to Friday (9:00 am to 1:30 pm).
• Where: Museo Sacro. La Orotava, Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

In the rooms of the Municipal Museum of Fine Arts of Tenerife you will find paintings, sculptures and minor arts.

All of them, artistic samples dating from the sixteenth century to the nineteenth century. You will see important works by renowned Canarian artists and the Flemish school.

On the second floor of the building you will have access to a space dedicated to the storage of sculptures and paintings. Also, you will find the research and restoration workshop, where the value of each of the collections is studied.

On the other hand, on the second floor you will be able to contemplate a wide collection of paintings, organized chronologically:

• Flemish paintings of the 17th century, which show the relationship between the Canary Islands and the ports of Flanders during that period of history.
• Canarian Baroque painting of the 17th and 18th centuries, in whose works the central theme is religion.
• 19th century painting, referring to illustrations and portraits.
• 19th century Historicist painting, with representations of Christian historical events of the time.
• 19th century Canarian landscape painting, with a series of works that show the natural beauty of the island from different perspectives.

Details of interest

• Price: free admission.
• Hours: Tuesday to Friday (10:00 am to 8:00 pm), Saturday and Sunday (10:00 am to 3:00 pm).
• Where: Municipal Museum of Fine Arts, Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

With so many cultural venues on the island, you might not know what to do during your 5-day stay in Tenerife. If this is the case, a good alternative is the Science and Cosmos Museum. There, you will learn while having fun interacting in each of the rooms.

During the tour you will notice that this museum escapes from the conventional, since in its rooms you will not see exhibits with findings of significant value. On the contrary, you will find a series of modules with objects and brief explanations that will help you discover science on your own:

• The sun, you will understand the importance of the sun for life on earth.
• The human body, you will learn about cells, the senses, embryonic development, etc.
• How it works, you will learn how some devices work and the principles of some scientific phenomena.
• The Earth, you will discover the permanent changes experienced by the Earth and the atmosphere.
• The Universe, you will be introduced to the subject of astronomy and the immensity of the cosmos.
• Microcosmos children's room, with activities that stimulate the senses and creativity of the little ones.

Details of interest

• Price: the average entrance fee is 5 ¤ per person.
• Hours: Monday to Saturday (9:00 to 19:00 hours) and Sundays (10:00 to 17:00 hours).
• Where: Science and Cosmos Museum, San Cristóbal de La Laguna.

If you want to enjoy the wine culture, then Tenerife is the right place. You can go to the wine museum-house and live a pleasant experience, in which you will learn in detail the process of cultivation and production of the so-called drink of the gods.

The museum is located in an old Canarian hacienda of the seventeenth century, so you will have the opportunity to contemplate this emblematic architectural ensemble. You will also enjoy a landscaped environment and have a privileged view of another of the island's main attractions: Mount Teide, which you can reach with an excursion.

The museum's permanent exhibition will help you discover the history, traditions and secrets of the island's wines. All this, through a chronology of images.

You can also taste some wines in the tasting room, buy the vintage of your choice in the wine shop, explore the gift store in search of souvenirs and taste the gastronomy of Tenerife in the restaurant area.

Details of interest

• Price: the average entrance fee is 12 ¤.
• Hours: Tuesday to Saturday (10:00 am to 8:00 pm) and Sundays (10:00 am to 6:00 pm).
• Where: Wine Museum,

The Eduardo Westerdahl Museum of Contemporary Art is another good option to visit during your 7-day stay in Tenerife.

In it you will find permanent exhibitions with samples of national and international art belonging to the twentieth century and also some temporary exhibitions in the halls of the building.

Throughout the exhibition halls you will see works of art belonging to emblematic Canarian artists:

• Óscar Domínguez (surrealist painter).
• Manolo Millares (painter and engraver).
• LolaMassieu (avant-garde painter).

You will also have the opportunity to appreciate the work of non-Canarian painters and sculptors:

• Wolfgang Paalen (Austro-Mexican surrealist painter).
• Luc Peire (Belgian painter dedicated to Flemish expressionism).
• Eduardo Úrculo (painter, sculptor and the greatest exponent of pop art in Spain).
• Angel Ferrant (surrealist sculptor and Spanish geneticist).

In addition to all these art exhibitions, you can contemplate the architectural design of the famous "Casa de la Aduana", considered one of the oldest buildings on the island.

Details of interest

• Price: the average entrance fee is 3 ¤ per person.
• Opening hours: Monday to Saturday (10:00 to 14:00 hours).
• Where: Museum of Contemporary Art, Las Lonjas Street.

The Fisherman 's Museum is a small space with a total of two floors. There, you will find a large exhibition with objects of high cultural and artisanal value, which tell the marine history of the island of Tenerife.

In the rooms of this museum you will find an important collection of old photos and a series of scale models, through which you will learn about the different types of boats and how they have evolved over the years.

You will also be able to observe images of all the fish found in the waters of the island, organized according to each region.

On the other hand, you will see a sample of fishing tackle, consisting of hooks, lures, weights and all the elements that are tied to the end of the line when fishing.

Details of interest

• Price: free admission.
• Hours: Friday to Monday (9:00 to 14:00) and Tuesday to Thursday (9:00 to 16:30).
• Where: Fish Museum in Puerto de la Cruz, Tenerife.