La Casa de Los Balcones House-Museum: Stepping into 17th Century Canarian Life
3.9
50 Ratings
La Orotava
Step into the 17th century Canarian life at La Casa de Los Balcones House-Museum. Explore the rooms, discover antique objects, and learn about traditional Canarian customs and tools.
Duration:
1 hour
Cancellation:
1 day
learn more
Highlights
- Casa de Los Balcones - Just show your ticket with your mobile phone at the ticket point and you’ll start the visit at the house museum.
What's Included
- Free parking available
- Shop for typical Canarian crafts
- Complimentary audioguide
What's Not Included
- Hotel pickup and drop-off
- Transportation to/from attractions
- Food and drinks
Additional Information
Journey back in time with a visit to the La Casa de Los Balcones house museum, otherwise known as Casa Fonseca, constructed in 1632.
Throughout this tour, you’ll get a glimpse of the daily lives, practices, and traditions of a Canarian family that resided in this very homestead in the 20th century.
The tour commences on the upper floor, where various rooms host an extensive assemblage of the home’s original artifacts.
Among these, you’ll find traditional Canarian items and age-old tools that are hard to come by these days.
Next, find your way down the stairs to explore the functioning of a winery. To round off the tour, unwind in the internal courtyard, encircled by an exquisite balcony handcrafted from Canarian tea pine.
- The House-Museum is opened from 10:00 am to 6:00pm. The last visit starts half an hour before the closing time.
- Children must be accompanied by an adult
- Wheelchair is accessible only on the ground floor and the interior patio. The first floor is not accesible.
- You will receive confirmation at the time of booking
- Keep in mind that you must take a printed voucher or show your smartphone with the reservation to access the museum house.
- All houses are accessible, except the second floor of La Casa de Los Balcones (in this case, people with reduced mobility can access the interior patio and the first floor).
- Smoking is not allowed inside the houses, except on the terrace of the Gastrolercaro restaurant.
- You have the possibility to visit all three houses with an official guide. For this, it is necessary to book in advance. Get in touch through the contact form on the official website
Location
Casa de los Balcones
Calle San Francisco
Cancellation Policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Customer Ratings
3.9
(50 Ratings)
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Petercwray
Mar 10, 2024
Nice little insight into Tenerife life - Lovely little stop on our trip the La Orotava. Small museum but plenty to see and for just 6 euros it provided us with some insights into Tenerife history and some lovely photos.
Well worth a visit.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Helenbm8733sq
Mar 4, 2024
Worth a visit - I really enjoyed the content of the house. Beware though if you have knee or back problems as after entry there is a very steep, windy staircase with no handrail which was difficult to ascend to the first floor. The shop has some lovely handcrafted ware.
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Lolottetravel20
Feb 26, 2024
Nice visit - A great visit to make if you are passing through La Orotava. You don't expect to find beautiful wooden balconies behind the facade. The price is nevertheless a little high (6€) for a fairly short visit
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Gogelle35
Sep 24, 2023
The Bretons in Tenerife - When you see the facade, you don't think you'll see this magnificent decoration. Pretty, well decorated rooms. Sublime wooden balconies. A beautiful courtyard with pretty vegetation.
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Stevesw5628ev
Sep 4, 2023
Small but worthwhile - This is one of the recommendations to visit in Tenerife and whilst a small museum it was still interesting although you can only access one floor plus the garden. Some but not enough info about the rooms. A family tree in the courtyard details the family dates back to Peter Rubens but not clear if he ever visited the property- I doubt it. Conclusion of visit is a glass of beer which u can sip in the dappled shade of the garden. 6 euros per person.
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Ashadam
Mar 14, 2023
Beautiful old building - Beautiful old house. You need to go up a small spiral staircase to get to the first floor. It is 5 euros to enter. The woodwork is stunning, each beam had been decoratively carved. There are a couple of nice photo opportunities on the balcony or through the windows. There is also a old wine press in the back of the property.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Phileas_flogg
Nov 20, 2022
Interesting but overhyped - Casa de Los Balcones is a fairly modest experience which doesn't quite deliver on the considerable hype and promotion that surrounds this attraction.
Access is limited to one floor and you only get to walk around a small part of the first balcony. Obviously aware that they need to justify the entrance fee, they have tried hard to add further interest but after you have seen what they are going to let you see of the building itself, everything else feels token and a bit of an afterthought.
Included in the entrance fee is an audioguide (which you can download) but it is delivered in a strangulated english accent which makes it quite hard to listen to for very long without wincing.
On the plus side, there is a free car park opposite which is much appreciated in a town with few parking spaces. Though the gift shop is mostly full of tourist tat, the highlight for us was the collection of Canarian embroidery which Casa de Los Balcones is clearly making considerable efforts to preserve and make available to those that can appreciate the craftmanship and distinguish from the Chinese garbage that most tourists buy thinking it's Canarian. The memory of this beautiful work will live with me long after I have forgotten the museum proper.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
147vb
Sep 29, 2022
A little taste of the past - A little taste of the past. 5 euros entrance free (with promise of glass of beer at end of tour). Rooms behind glass and barriers, laid out to emulate the past. Information limited. Clean, tidy, small exhibition. Not suitable for people with mobility challenges. Lace section closed off. Loos clean. No beer!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Worldlink123
Feb 16, 2023
What Were They Thinking? - Here is a beautiful historic house that was turned into a tacky tourist spot. I should have been warned when standing at the door was the common tourist draw of 2 mannequins dressed in the obligatory Canary costumes. And again, upon entering to pay, the lobby was filled with tourist trinkets of every kind. Yet we still paid 5 euros each to enter. The upstairs rooms were the only saving grace containing mostly original furnishings. But it was short lived for when descending to the courtyard one was confronted with the classic "stick your head" in the facial cutouts of two Canarians, a souvenir coin machine and other items non related to the tour. Thinking there must have been other rooms of interest we found that there weren't any and the tour was over. The remaining part of the house was reserved for tourist shopping. It was a very sad display of what could have been lovely historic house tour.
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50jorgeu
Jan 27, 2024
Not worth the scam - It's a scam, it's not worth it, I don't recommend it, spend the 6 euros on something worth it. In 5 minutes you see three rooms and a patio, just the dirty bathrooms.
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