Museums on Lanzarote Holidays

There are a surprising number of museums on the small island of Lanzarote. Most tourists on Lanzarote holidays come to the island for the sun and the beaches. However, the museums here are very interesting and deserve to be investigated. They range from state-of-the art displays in modern buildings to those museums covering aspects of island life. There are also the decidedly quirky museums, like 'Nazaret', built for the film star, Omar Sharif, who as legend has it, lost it on a high stakes bridge game, just days after buying it. Whatever your interest, there's bound to be a museum covering some aspect of it, on Lanzarote.

The Airport Museum (Museo Aeronautico) is right next to the Arrecife airport at Playa Honda in Lanzarote. The museum is actually housed in the old terminal building that was in use from 1946 -1970. Different floors have different exhibition themes. These range from the History of Flights in The Canaries, Tourism and Travel Activity, to Control Tower and Weather Station displays. The museum is open from Monday to Saturday, from 10am. to 2pm.

In Puerto Calero's marina is The Whale and Dolphin Museum, which is a great hit with the kids. Inside you will learn everything about these fascinating creatures via life-sized replicas, scale models and audio-visual displays. You can touch real whale bone and teeth, listen to a recording of whale song and see an absorbing film showing whales and dolphins in their own natural environment. The museum is open all year round, Monday to Saturday and is recommended for those on family holidays to Lanzarote. As a further incentive, children under the age of 7 get in for free and the whole museum is wheelchair friendly.

The whole family will love 'Tiagua'. It offers an insight into the agricultural traditions of the island. Housed in one of the largest rural houses on the island, it is a working farm with free ranging farm animals and where the traditional Lanzarote crops are still being grown. Other attractions at this excellent museum are a chapel, a wine museum and a cactus garden. Visitors can buy the wine and the goats' cheese produced on the farm. Admission is 5 euros and 'Tiague' is open from 10-5 on Mondays through to Fridays and 10 to 2.30 p.m. on Saturdays.

Many tourists on holiday deals to Lanzarote make sure they visit the Museum of International and Contemporary Art, housed in the old historic fortress, the Castillo San Jose. The art museum houses top quality and important paintings and sculptures by some of the leading artists in the modern art movement today. As well as an art museum, it also boasts a stylish restaurant that overlooks the main port of Arrecife. Admission to the museum is free and it is open every day from 11 a.m. through to 9 p.m.