10 Best Museums in Tenerife

Tenerife’s museums offer an engaging account of the island’s history. Through the temporary and permanent exhibitions at each of these venues, you can learn about the major contributions this land and its people have made to the human, artistic, social, architectural, and scientific spheres, among others.

Indeed, there are a large number of museums on the island, and visiting them is certainly one of the best things to do in Tenerife. For example, you can visit the Museum of Nature and Archaeology to discover Guanche artifacts, the Canary Islands Military History Museum to learn all about military history, or the Casa de los Balcones Museum, where you’ll 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 constructed in the 18th century.

There you’ll be able to enjoy interesting Guanche artifacts that shed light on the island’s indigenous culture. You’ll also learn about the region’s natural wealth.

Archaeological Area

In this part of the tour, you can learn about the Guanche people, who inhabited Tenerife before the European conquest. To do so, you can explore the following exhibits:

• Biological Anthropology: features valuable archaeological finds, such as the Guanche mummy, dating from the 11th to the 13th centuries. You’ll also find funerary objects, bowls, instruments, and other Guanche artifacts.
• Educational Classroom: This area hosts a series of educational activities focused on the island’s culture. It’s the ideal place if you’re visiting Tenerife with children.
• Gallery: Through various images, you’ll learn about the aspects that shaped the identity of the Guanches and how this influenced new civilizations.

Nature Area

In this room, you’ll find an extensive natural history collection that serves as a testament to the changes the island has undergone over the centuries:

• Botanical specimens.
• Mineral specimens, including some amethyst quartz, silica crystals, and a variety of rocks, including some lunar rocks.
• Recreations of fossil sites featuring tropical marine fauna. Also, terrestrial vertebrates and invertebrates.

Points of Interest

• Price: The average admission price is €5 per person.
• Hours: Monday through Saturday (9:00 AM to 7:00 PM) and Sundays (10:00 AM to 5:00 PM).
• Where: Museum of Nature and Archaeology. Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

If you want to make the most of your 3-day visit to Tenerife and learn about the evolution of military art on the islands, you must visit the city’s Military History Museum.

During the tour, you’ll explore the museum’s collections chronologically through its galleries: Conquest of the Canary Islands, Fortifications and Militias, Gutiérrez’s Victory over Nelson, Civil War, and Spanish Economic Command and West Africa.

In these rooms, you’ll see models depicting what the island looked like in the past, maps showing war strategies, bladed weapons, collections of flags, cartography, telemetry, artillery, and measuring and calibration instruments.

Meanwhile, in the museum’s garden area, you’ll see heavy equipment such as the so-called Hercules Cannon, coastal gunboats, and a series of historic vehicles, among other items. Additionally, from the upper level, you can enjoy a privileged view of the coastline and the city’s port.

Points of Interest

• Price: free admission.
• Hours: Tuesday through Friday (9:00 AM to 3:00 PM), Saturdays and Sundays (10:00 AM to 2:00 PM).
• Where: Canary Islands Military History Museum, Almeyda Barracks.

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

There you’ll find an exhibition explaining the domestic customs of Canarian families through a series of antiques displayed in its rooms.

Upon arriving at this three-story colonial house, you’ll feel as though you’ve been transported back in time. You’ll immediately notice its façade, featuring a central stone window and, above it, a total of nine windows framed in sgraffito wood (an ornamental technique). You’ll also see a continuous balcony, characteristic of the island’s traditional architecture.

Once inside the house-museum, you’ll have the option to dress in period attire and experience the tour in a unique way, allowing you to observe:

• The everyday objects of the house’s former owners: furniture, beds, artifacts, art, and more.
• An interior courtyard, offering a peaceful, natural atmosphere surrounded by palm trees and a beautiful blue sky, where you can relax.
• The gift shop, where you can purchase handicrafts or typical island products.

Points of Interest

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

If you plan to spend 4 days in Tenerife , you’ll have plenty of time to visit the Casa Chacona Museum, where you’ll learn a bit about societies of the past.

The museum is located within the Güímar Pyramids Park. It’s a building constructed in the 19th century, open daily from 9:30 AM to 6:00 PM.

Upon entering the museum, the first thing you’ll see is an impressive recreation of the statue of the pre-Inca sun god (Kon Tiki). Next, you’ll find several rooms:

• Engravings and sculptures, which will introduce you to some of the deities of Mexican and Peruvian cultures.
• Cultural artifacts, prevalent on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, which serve to illustrate Norwegian anthropologist Thor Heyerdahl’s theory of cultural parallels.
• Reed boats, crafted by the Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilizations, as well as others built by the indigenous peoples of Bolivia and Peru. You will also see maps indicating other locations where these legendary vessels were used.
• A photographic collection showcasing a large number of stepped structures (pyramids) discovered around the world.

Points of interest

• Price: starting at €18 per person.
• Hours: Monday through Sunday (9:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.).
• Where: Casa Chacona Museum, Güimar Pyramids Ethnographic Park.

Another destination to add to your itinerary is the Sacred Museum “El Tesoro de la Concepción,” where you’ll find important collections of artistic and textile pieces dating from the 16th century to the present day.

During your visit, you’ll explore a total of seven galleries, which house a historical collection spanning over 500 years:

• Textile art collection, where you’ll see a series of ecclesiastical vestments.
• Over a thousand works of art, including sculptures, paintings, and furniture.
• Religious art objects, including chalices and a Gothic-Manueline monstrance from 1520, considered a treasure of great historical and cultural value. You’ll also see the imposing filigree cross (2.45 meters tall), crafted in solid silver by Jerónimo de Espellosa in Cuba during the 17th century.

The museum is usually open until 1:30 p.m., so by the end of your visit you’ll have plenty of time for other activities, such as sailing around Tenerife to admire the seascape, visiting one of the theme parks, exploring the historic center at your own pace, and more.

Details of interest

• Price: starting at €4 per person.
• Hours: Monday through Friday (9:00 AM to 1:30 PM).
• Where: Museo Sacro. La Orotava, Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

In the galleries of the Municipal Museum of Fine Arts of Tenerife, you’ll find paintings, sculptures, and decorative arts.

All of these are works of art dating from the 16th to the 19th centuries. You’ll see important works by renowned Canarian artists and those of the Flemish school.

On the first floor of the building, you’ll find a space dedicated to the storage of sculptures and paintings. You’ll also find the research and restoration workshop, where the value of each collection is studied.

On the second floor, you’ll be able to view a large collection of paintings, organized chronologically:

• 17th-century Flemish paintings, which highlight the relationship that existed during that period of history between the Canary Islands and the ports of Flanders.
• 17th- and 18th-century Canarian Baroque paintings, in which religion is the central theme.
• 19th-century paintings, featuring illustrations and portraits.
• 19th-century historicist paintings, depicting Christian historical events of the time.
• 19th-century Canarian landscape painting, featuring a series of works that showcase the island’s natural beauty from various perspectives.

Points of interest

• Price: free admission.
• Hours: Tuesday through 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 attractions on the island, you might not know what to do during your 5-day stay in Tenerife. If that’s the case, a great option is the Museum of Science and the Cosmos. There, you’ll learn while having fun interacting in each of the exhibits.

During the tour, you’ll notice that this museum breaks away from the conventional, as its rooms don’t feature exhibits with artifacts of significant value. Instead, you’ll find a series of interactive displays with objects and brief explanations that will help you discover science on your own:

• The Sun: You’ll understand the importance of the sun for life on Earth.
• The Human Body: You’ll learn about cells, the senses, embryonic development, and more.
• How It Works: You’ll learn how certain devices function and the principles behind some scientific phenomena.
• The Earth: you’ll discover the constant changes experienced by the Earth and the atmosphere.
• The Universe: You’ll be introduced to the topic of astronomy and the vastness of the cosmos.
• Microcosmos Children’s Room, featuring activities that stimulate children’s senses and creativity.

Details of interest

• Price: The average ticket price is €5 per person.
• Hours: Monday through Saturday (9:00 AM to 7:00 PM) and Sundays (10:00 AM to 5:00 PM).
• Where: Museum of Science and the Cosmos, San Cristóbal de La Laguna.

If you want to enjoy wine culture, then Tenerife is the place to be. You can visit the wine museum and enjoy a delightful experience, where you’ll learn in detail about the cultivation and production process of the so-called “drink of the gods.”

The museum is located in a historic 17th-century Canarian estate, so you’ll have the opportunity to admire this iconic architectural complex. You’ll also enjoy the landscaped grounds and have a privileged view of another of the island’s main attractions: Mount Teide, which you can visit on an excursion.

The museum’s permanent exhibition will help you discover the history, traditions, and secrets of the island’s wines. All of this is presented through a chronological series of images.

You can also taste some wines in the tasting room, purchase your favorite vintage in the wine shop, explore the gift shop for souvenirs, and sample Tenerife’s cuisine in the restaurant area.

Points of Interest

• Price: Admission costs an average of €12.
• Hours: Tuesday through 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 great option to visit during your 7-day stay in Tenerife.

Here you’ll find permanent exhibitions featuring national and international art from the 20th century, as well as some temporary exhibitions in the building’s galleries.

Throughout the exhibition halls, you’ll see works of art by iconic Canarian artists:

• Óscar Domínguez (surrealist painter).
• Manolo Millares (painter and printmaker).
• Lola Massieu (avant-garde painter).

You’ll 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 leading figure of Pop Art in Spain).
• Angel Ferrant (Spanish surrealist sculptor and geneticist).

In addition to all these art exhibits, you can admire the architectural design of the famous “Casa de la Aduana,” considered one of the oldest buildings on the island.

Points of interest

• Price: Admission costs an average of €3 per person.
• Hours: Monday through Saturday (10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.).
• Where: Museum of Contemporary Art, Las Lonjas Street.

The Fisherman’s Museum is a small space spread over two floors. There, you’ll find an extensive exhibition featuring objects of great cultural and artisanal value that tell the maritime history of the island of Tenerife.

In the museum’s galleries , you’ll discover an important collection of old photographs and a series of scale models, through which you’ll learn about the different types of boats and how they’ve evolved over the years.

You’ll also be able to view images of all the fish found in the island’s waters, organized by region.

Additionally, you’ll see a display of fishing gear, including hooks, lures, sinkers, and all the components tied to the end of the line when fishing.

Points of Interest

• Price: free admission.
• Hours: Friday through Monday (9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.) and Tuesday through Thursday (9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.).
• Where: Fish Museum in Puerto de la Cruz, Tenerife.